What is Chiropractic?

What is a subluxation?

A subluxation means a slight dislocation (misalignment) or biomechanical malfunctioning of the vertebrae (the bones of the spine). These disturbances may irritate nerve roots and the blood vessels which branch off from the spinal cord between each of the vertebrae. This irritation may cause pain and dysfunction in muscle, lymphatic and organ tissue, as well as neurologic imbalance in the normal body processes.

What can cause a subluxation?

A fall, injury, sudden jar, trauma, or sometimes an inherited spinal weakness can displace a vertebra. Other causes include improper sleeping conditions or habits, poor posture (including sitting in front of a computer for hours), occupational hazards, incorrect lifting practices, obesity, lack of rest and exercise, and stress.

How can you fix a subluxation?

A chiropractor is trained to restore the misaligned vertebrae their proper position in the spinal column. A specific spinal adjustment, or spinal manipulation, is delivered using a controlled force into one or more "subluxated" vertebrae of the spine manually, either with hers or his hands or a specialized mechanical tool. The doctor applies pressure to the bone and "unlocks" it from its improper position. The bone will then be free to align itself correctly. Adjustments are frequently used in the pelvic region to normalize the sacroiliac joints as well as the extremities (arms, hands, legs, feet) of the body.

Does it hurt?

The adjusting techniques used at Chiropractic Health Institute utilize minimal force and gentle pressure, few patients feel any discomfort during the adjustment.

Why do adjustments make a cracking sound?

The noises you hear are just tiny pockets of gas releasing with a pop, which is completely normal. There's nothing breaking or cracking.

Women’s Health:

Pregnancy & Chiropractic:

Pregnancy is hard on the lower back, neck and shoulders. Over the nine months of pregnancy many hormonal changes take place that relax the ligaments stabilizing the lower back and pelvis. The pelvis begins to rotate down in the front and the muscles of the lower back become short and tight, causing an increase pressure on the pain sensitive joints of the lower back which produces achy low back pain.

Take a look from the side at a pregnant woman, her body shaped changes and often times, due to enlargement of breast tissue, her shoulders will roll forward, placing additional strain on the neck and shoulders. Increased weight gain and the growing child also places the lower back in a strenuous position.

Chiropractic care can help with these aches and pains. Dr. Julie uses gentle adjusting, often including Sacro Occipital Technique, in addition to sacroiliac belts with her patients during and after pregnancy to help strengthen and ease any pain in the low back and pelvis.