Goode Integrative Health Care Services in Bloomington, Indiana
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SPINAL ADJUSTMENTS
What is a spinal adjustment? A spinal adjustment or manipulation is a highly specialized procedure your chiropractor uses to free your body from a serious form of health-destroying stress called the vertebral subluxation complex (also known as subluxations.) It takes years of training for a doctor of chiropractic to master the techniques needed to locate and correct subluxations. What is the correct adjustment? When you first visit your doctor of chiropractic, you will receive a spinal analysis to determine where and how many subluxations are in your spine. Then he/she will determine the location of your vertebral subluxation(s) using various tools of spinal analysis. While only your body knows exactly where the vertebra needs to be, the chiropractor can make a reasonable determination of the force and general direction of an adjustment using analysis tools such as X-ray, motion palpation, study of the electrical quality of the muscles (S-EMG), imaging tools such as MRI, X-ray and other spinal analysis instruments. Then he/she must determine how best to correct your problem. An experienced chiropractor also has a certain “feeling” when an adjustment is just right. This “feeling” can’t easily be put into words, but when the chiropractor has you under his or her hands, intuition and experience come into play. This includes sensitivity to the patient, knowing that every person is unique. No two adjustments are ever the same. Artistic and scientific All chiropractors have the same goal in common – the elimination or reduction of their patients’ subluxations, reducing the stress on the nervous system and permitting them to unleash their inner healing ability. Yet, an adjustment from two chiropractors may feel different. One reason for this is that each chiropractor is physically unique; some are tall, some are short, they have different sized hands and they use different spinal adjusting techniques. These differences are natural when dealing with adjusting, for it is an artistic as well as a scientific procedure. Chiropractic adjusting techniques Not all chiropractors work alike. The chiropractic profession has developed nearly a hundred different methods, referred to as techniques, used to analyze the spine for subluxations and adjust or release the vertebral subluxation complex. Most chiropractors are familiar with at least a few of them. Each chiropractor usually has a favorite one that he or she employs for the majority of patients. Why not ask your chiropractor what type of adjusting technique he or she uses and why? The body is always trying Your body is always trying to realign or adjust your spine and return to a state of ease or relaxation. Areas of stress or tension are unnatural states and need to be released. The back muscles are continuously working to pull the vertebra back to where it belongs. The chiropractor doesn’t actually put the vertebra back in place. He/she supplies just the little bit of force needed to free the vertebra so your body will realign it. It’s like when your car is stuck in the mud and the wheels are spinning and spinning. Then along comes a friend who pushes the car so the wheels finally catch and push the car free. Now, did your friend really push your two-ton car out of the mud? Of course not! He just supplied the right amount of force in the right direction that the car needed to dislodge itself. The chiropractor’s adjustment unlocks the jammed or fixated vertebra and nearby tissues from their “stuck” or fixated positions and frees them to move where the body wants them to go. |
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Do chiropractors need to be strong?
Strength is not necessary to give an adjustment. Skill is. An adjustment has little to do with actual strength, since the body is always trying to pull the vertebra back into proper alignment and release unnatural stress from your muscles, tissues and joints. Most of the force is already there, locked up but not moving. The chiropractor has the right “key” to open the “locked” areas. Just the right touch in the correct direction (at the proper moment) should be all that is needed. Some adjusting techniques use so little force that patients feel barely anything! In fact, a small female chiropractor of slight build can, with the proper adjusting technique, move man-mountains. |
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MASSAGE THERAPY
Professional massage therapy Goode Integrative Health Care offers massage therapy in a professional setting. Our massage therapy is performed by a professionally trained and experienced therapist. Whether you're looking for relief from muscle pain, injury or stress, or are simply in need of the overall sense of well-being that massage can offer, ours is the most comprehensive and comfortable. What are the benefits of massage therapy? Massage therapy can help release chronic muscular tension and pain, improve circulation, increase joint flexibility, reduce mental and physical fatigue and stress, promote faster healing of injured muscular tissue, improve posture and reduce blood pressure. Massage is also known to promote better sleep, improve concentration and reduce anxiety. What should you expect during a massage session? Before the first session, you will be asked to complete a questionnaire about health-related topics. This will help the therapist identify any contraindications and determine what techniques will best serve your needs. Feel free to discuss any concerns you have. During this session, you will be draped with a sheet that will comfortably cover you. Only the area of your body being massaged will be exposed. Relax during the session, and be sure to communicate with the therapist if you would like the pressure to be lighter or more vigorous. Speak up and ask questions – open communication is key to getting the most from a massage. Massages are available during normal business hours Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Intersegmental traction and spinal fitness Intersegmental traction is a way of inducing passive motion into the spine in order to achieve spinal fitness by flexing spinal joints, increasing mobility and preventing disc degeneration. Since discs have a poor blood supply, they get nutrients from the circulation of fluids surrounding spinal joints. Fixations prevent this natural circulation and can cause disc thinning and degeneration. Intersegmental traction helps increase and restore necessary elasticity and motion to the spine. With intesegmental traction, the patient lies face up on a bench table, which has roller-type cams beneath its surface. These rollers slowly travel the length of the spine, flexing spinal joints. Most patients find this form of treatment to be relaxing and very helpful. The gentle rolling action is restful, yet flexes and exercises the spine without effort. Anderson Chiropractic utilizes the ATT 300 electro-mechanical treatment table, which enhances the correction of a spinal subluxation by relaxing tension and mobilizing the area to be treated. This is done by adjustable, alternate pressure on the spine.
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