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Chiropractic care can alleviate many painful conditions and help your body to function at its optimal level. In fact, finding the right Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) could be a life-changing experience. Working together, you should be able to achieve the best possible state of physical health and emotional well-being. Reading the tips below can help you select the right chiropractor for your needs.

Personality & Philosophy

A critical factor in choosing any medical professional is to make sure that you feel comfortable with him or her. If you feel inhibited in his / her presence, you will not be able to get the most out of your treatment. Make sure that ALL of your questions and concerns are answered to your satisfaction.

Try to discover the chiropractor’s philosophy and the techniques they use. There are all types of chiropractic techniques, but all chiropractors adhere to the same basic philosophy; that your body is an organism that heals itself and chiropractic care aims at supporting this self-healing power.

Communication

It’s important to realize that while in certain cases chiropractic care may be an alternative to conventional medical treatment; it is often used in combination with traditional treatment. If you are receiving medical treatment for your condition, make sure that the DC you select is willing to communicate with your health care provider.

Credentials & Qualifications

A DC must finish 4 years of undergraduate study and 4 to 5 years of advanced study. In the U.S., Colleges of Chiropractic are accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education, which is recognized by the Department of Education. In all fifty states, qualified DCs are licensed by state licensing boards. Choose a chiropractor who is licensed to practice in your state and who is a graduate of an accredited College of Chiropractic. You can always research your local chiropractors on the Internet (find your State Board of Chiropractic Examiners on the web).

Specialization

The chiropractor you choose should be qualified to meet your particular healthcare needs. Many DCs specialize in specific areas and some follow programs that lead to clinical specialty certifications (diplomate certification) in fields such as sports injuries, nutrition, internal disorders etc. For example, many chiropractors undergo advanced training and specialization in pre-natal care. If you are pregnant, find out whether the chiropractor are considering has acquired specialized training in this area. Ideally, the DC you choose should have undergone some post graduate studies and be up-to-date with the latest research and technological developments.

Experience and Reputation

It’s always a plus if you can get a personal recommendation from a friend who has the same health concerns and who is happy with her chiropractic care. That brings you one step closer to finding a DC who has the experience to meet your specific needs and who is well-thought of by his patients. You can also learn a lot about a practice by visiting the chiropractic office (see if the staff is pleasant and efficient, the patients satisfied and the premises clean etc.).

Ask for Your Treatment Protocol

A good chiropractor, like any good medical professional, should explain what is wrong and how they can help. He or she should be willing to explain your care plan and to give you some information concerning expected timeframe. You should feel absolutely comfortable with both your treatment and follow-up plans.

Taking the above points into consideration should help you choose the right Doctor of Chiropractic for your needs. Remember also to consider more practical matters like office location, office hours, insurance coverage and cost. Finding the right chiropractic care can provide truly amazing results. To truly benefit from this health care discipline, choose your Doctor of Chiropractic carefully.

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Increasingly, women are including complementary care in their pre-natal routines, many of them benefitting from the services of chiropractors throughout their pregnancies.

A pregnant woman’s body naturally experiences a number of physiological and endocrinological changes that result in additional stress on the framework of the body, at a time when optimal function of all systems and organs is particularly important.

Some of the bodily changes occurring during pregnancy (increased back curve due to abdomen growth, pelvic and postural changes) could cause spinal or joint misalignments. A misaligned pelvis, for example, could restrict the room available for the developing baby, sometimes making it harder for it to move into the correct position for delivery.

Chiropractic care is drug-free health maintenance of the spinal column, discs and related nerves, primarily (but not only) by adjusting misaligned body joints, especially of the spine, to reduce spinal nerve stress and promote overall health of a person. By enhancing nervous system function, chiropractic care during pregnancy can enhance the health of both the mother and baby.

Women who receive pre-natal chiropractic care throughout pregnancy enhance pelvic balance, increasing the chances for optimal baby positioning at delivery and reducing the likelihood for breech and posterior presentations that can lead to difficult deliveries.

The Webster Technique is a technique sometimes used by chiropractors to promote balance in a pregnant mother’s pelvis, alleviating stress to the uterus and its supporting ligaments, making it easier for a breech baby to change position without medical intervention. Statistically, this technique has been quite successful.

Chiropractic adjustments also help to alleviate pain in the lower back and legs from which most pregnant women suffer, and may also help to reduce problems with nausea, headaches and elimination.

Including chiropractic care as a part of your pre-natal routine will help you to maintain a healthy pregnancy. Chiropractors are trained to work with pregnant women and use appropriate techniques and exercises to compliment any spinal adjustments that are necessary, and no known contraindications to pre-natal chiropractic care have been reported. Discuss this option with your pregnancy healthcare provider.

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More and more people today are including chiropractic care in their healthcare routine, and collaboration between chiropractors and medical providers is developing rapidly as the chiropractic profession becomes increasingly integrated into the health care system.

As a result, many people find themselves wondering whether they should seek chiropractic care. Unfortunately, much of the information that is widely available about chiropractic is based on third-hand accounts and unfounded myths, some of which are addressed below:

1. Fiction: Chiropractors are not real doctors. Fact: Earning a Doctor of Chiropractic degree requires 6 to 8 years of college education. Doctors of Chiropractic must pass National Board Examinations as well as state testing.

2. Fiction: Chiropractic medicine is not supported by scientific research. Fact: The benefits of chiropractic are backed by empirical data and independent research (randomized controlled trials) that demonstrate both its effectiveness and its safety.

3. Fiction: Chiropractors only treat back and neck pain. Fact: This misconception is a direct result of the success of chiropractic in treating neck and back problems. Chiropractic care actually focuses on the neuromuskuloskeletal (nerves, muscles, and bone) system as a whole. Chiropractic wellness care takes preventative measures to ensure that various health problems do not occur in the future.

4. Fiction: Chiropractic adjustments can cause serious side effects, including strokes. Fact: Chiropractic is widely recognized as a safe form of health care available. While no form of health care, including conventional medical care, is completely without risk, the likelihood of having a stroke from chiropractic care is infinitesimally low. In short, the risk of serious injury following chiropractic treatment is certainly much lower than the risk from invasive medical procedures or surgery

5. Fiction: Chiropractors crack your bones. Fact: Chiropractic techniques sometimes involve adjustments of the spine or extremity joints (where two bones connect). These adjustments affect connective tissue that holds the joint together, not the bones. The ’pop’ sound sometimes heard during an adjustment is created by the opening of the joint space. Adjustment is just one of many different chiropractic techniques.

Many other fallacies and misconceptions about chiropractic exist, but these will gradually disappear as more and more people experience the benefits of this form of healthcare and as other doctors (and insurance companies) continue the trend toward endorsing and corroborating chiropractic care.

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About one-half of the millions of people who suffer whiplash injuries fully recover; of those that do, many develop chronic long-term symptoms.

Primarily associated with car accidents, whiplash injuries can also result from amusement park rides, sports injuries, work-related accidents, or even from a powerful punch or a vigorous shaking. Of course, the extent and type of injury varies, but anything that causes the head to be suddenly and violently rocked back and forth or sideways, can lead to a whiplash injury.

Whiplash injury symptoms may be one or several of the following:

* Neck pain and stiffness
* Headache
* Shoulder pain
* Low back pain
* Pain or numbness in hands, feet or hips
* Dizziness and / or blurred vision
* Diminished concentration or memory

Neck pain and headaches are usually due to tensed or contracted muscles, a reaction to limit excessive movement and abnormal jolting of spinal joints. Numbness and pain result from pressure exerted on the nerves in cases of more severe disc damage. The violent jerking of the head and neck beyond normal limits often over-stretches or tears muscles and ligaments supporting the spine, and this type of soft tissue damage causes both neck and low back pain.

Whiplash injury symptoms often take weeks, months or even years to develop. This is because adrenaline released during an accident masks the pain for some time and also because it takes anywhere between a day and three days for an inflammation to develop. Disc injury symptoms may not appear until weeks after the event that caused the injury. Unfortunately, this delay in symptom manifestation means that many whiplash victims only seek treatment after complications have developed.

You should always see a doctor immediately after an accident, even you feel no symptoms. Make sure to get appropriate imaging examinations (CAT Scans, Magnetic Imaging or Ultra Sound), which, unlike X-rays, do show soft tissue injuries.

Whiplash injuries often leave people with long-term symptoms that can only be relieved by pain killers or, in some cases, by wearing a brace for temporary relief. In 1999, an article published in the British Journal of Orthopedic Medicine stated that, “The results from this study provide further evidence that chiropractic is an effective treatment for chronic whiplash symptoms.”

Chiropractic care after a whiplash injury can help to restore movement, strengthen and tone muscles, and reduce chronic long-term symptoms. Treatment strategies differ according to the type of whiplash injury, determined by a thorough chiropractic check up. Using chiropractic diagnostic techniques (such as palpation), your chiropractor will examine your entire spine to discover any restricted joints, disc damage, muscle contraction or ligament injury. As part of the diagnostic process, he or she will examine your gait, your posture and your spinal alignment to better understand your body and how your spine is functioning.

If you see your chiropractor immediately after your injury, he or she will first address the problem of reducing inflammation. As the muscle injury heals, treatment will revolve more on mobilizing restricted spinal joints, using gentle spinal manipulation, to restore motion. Other chiropractic procedures that may be used include muscle stimulation / relaxation and McKenzie exercises. You should also receive personalized lifestyle advice to help you manage your day-to-day activities without putting undue stress on your body and irritating your whiplash injury.

If you suffer a whiplash injury, you should immediately see a doctor to determine the extent of the damage. Do not wait until symptoms appear. After you have received appropriate urgent medical care, you will either make a full recovery – or you may be faced with a long period of painful, recurring symptoms.

It is during this healing period that chiropractic care can be most valuable to you. By enhancing your body’s self-healing power, chiropractic rehabilitation will help you to overcome the long-term physical and psychological symptoms of whiplash injuries.

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