Have you ever wondered about chiropractic care?  What does a chiropractor do for people anyway?

I run a holistic chiropractic practice in St. Paul, MN.  My approach focuses on restoring balance to the body so that a person can function at his/her optimal level of health.  I believe in a multifaceted approach to health and regularly recommend lifestyle changes and work with other care providers to find the best blend of therapies for each patient.

In chiropractic care, the foundational principle is that the body has an innate ability to heal itself.  This ability is known by different names: immunity, innate intelligence, homeostasis, and others, but the foundational principle is the same.  When working well, our bodies can recover from a fall, a cold, illness, or injury.  When compromised, healing takes longer or is not possible.  We have all experienced this and know that during times of high stress or multiple injuries, it takes us longer to heal than when we are fit and healthy.

Chiropractic care focuses on communication between the brain and body so that a person's innate healing ability can be optimized.  A chiropractor identifies areas of the spine that aren't moving correctly and, as a result, potentially irritating the nerves that exit between each vertebra in the spine.  Irritation of a nerve can cause increased or decreased firing between the organ or tissue the nerve innervates and the brain.  These changes in firing patterns can result in pain and/or dysfunction of those tissues.  It is the premise of chiropractic care that since the nervous system controls all parts of the body, when irritations to the nerves are reduced, the body's healing ability is optimized.

Chiropractors generally have a holistic view of the body and are considered by most to be alternative health practitioners.  They address irritation to the nervous system by performing a hands-on therapy called a chiropractic adjustment.  There are over 100 different named techniques of chiropractic adjustments, ranging from very light, gentle, low force adjustments to the more traditionally known manual adjustments.

Patients usually seek chiropractic care for one of two reasons:

1. To relieve musculoskeletal pain.
2. To improve health by ensuring that the body is structurally balanced.  This is done to ensure they can better handle the stressors of daily life and prevent pain and dysfunction from occurring.

For those seeking pain relief, the most common complaints brought to a chiropractor include:

• Low back pain
• Neck pain
• Shoulder pain
• Headache/migraine
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Hip pain
• Sciatica
• Extremity pains

Others, seeking to improve their overall health, look to chiropractic care to resolve any structural irritation to the nervous system, which will in turn aid in any systemic dysfunction the person is experiencing.

Some common systemic dysfunctions include:

• Acid reflux
• Asthma
• Chronic sinus infections
• Constipation
• Menstrual cycle irregularities

Since chiropractic care takes a holistic view of the body, it is hard to say that it is only appropriate for certain conditions.  The overall goal of chiropractic care is to balance the body and remove interference to the nervous system allowing the person to function at their optimal level of health.  For instance, the same area of irritation in the neck (say the first cervical vertebrae) in one person may cause headaches, contribute to chronic sinus congestion in another, and be completely asymptomatic in someone else.  A chiropractor’s focus is primarily to resolve the irritation.  The symptom relief is a very common, yet secondary consideration.

Do you have any questions about chiropractic care?  Have you seen a chiropractor?  Please feel free to ask questions or share your story.