Patients usually come to my office thinking that chiropractic is about a “bone out of place” and that as a chiropractor I am going to “put that bone back in place”. While this is how most people understand chiropractic, it is a very simply way of looking at a much more complex problem.
Realistically, chiropractic deals with the motion and function of the musculoskeletal system. When you are born, you are really flexible. When you are dead, you are not. You can have a spine that is perfectly “straight” but if the spine is very stiff and not functioning, then you will have pain and dysfunction. However, I have treated patients before with significant curvatures of the spine, but because the spine was "flexible" or functioning well, the patient was able to experience life in their body at a much higher level.
For me, as a chiropractor, my role is to assess the function of your musculoskeletal system, and help your body to work as effectively as it can given any limitations it may have, such as underlying degeneration, congenital malformation (bones that didn't grow properly, you would be surprised how often this happens), your physical conditioning, and many other such factors such as age.
The chiropractic "adjustment" is a method of using gentle forces applied to the body in order to restore the normal function of the musculoskeletal system. In addition, I also work with modality therapies such as ultrasound therapy, electrical muscle stimulation, decompression traction, and microcurrent therapy. All of these therapies are designed to assist us (you and me) in trying to get your body to function as effectively as possible.
Exercises are a huge part of this. When I adjust you, I am trying to improve the motion of your spine. When I give you exercises to do outside of the office, you are continuing to improve the motion of the areas that I have already adjusted. Chiropractic really is a partnership between you and me.
