Overview

Chiropractic is a method of adjusting the bones of the body to maintain the correct alignment of the spine and to make sure the body’s nerve supply works efficiently.

It consists of a wide range of specific manual techniques designed to improve the function of joints, relieve pain and muscle spasm and irritation to the nervous system.

Government statistics show that back pain keeps 310,000 people away from work every day of the year. This is equivalent to the population of Leicester. Each year 22 million people suffer some form of back pain. But Chiropractic treatment is not only for back pain. Neck pain, arm pain and headaches also respond well.

History

Harvey Lillard, janitor of the Ryan Building in Brady Street, Davenport, Iowa USA, was not a happy man. 17 years before, while working in a cramped, stooping position, he had felt something give way in his spine. The immediate result was not only pain...he found he had lost his hearing.
 
He mentioned his problem to Daniel David Palmer, who had an office in the Ryan Building and was a keen student of anatomy and physiology. Daniel Palmer had a theory. He surmised that the spine was the highway along which ran the central nervous system. If that highway should become in need of repair and in any way restrict the constant traffic of brain impulses and orders carried by the central nervous system, other symptoms seemingly unconnected to the spinal column could result.

He examined Harvey Lillard and found that one of his vertebrae was misaligned. On September 18th 1895, he gave Harvey Lillard the first ever Chiropractic adjustment. Harvey's hearing returned...and Chiropractic was born.

Benefits 

The treatment can help back, neck and shoulder pain, stiffness in joints and bones, headaches and migraines, muscular aches and pains, whiplash injuries and sport injuries.

Procedure

Your practitioner will take a case history regarding general history as well as your current symptoms. This will help in assessing and analysing your particular problem.

They will then thoroughly examine all their joints in your body, literally from head to toe, using only their hands, and make the appropriate adjustments where necessary. Chiropractors have a very finely tuned sense of touch, developed in their 4 years of training, which enables them to feel the mis-alignments of the vertebrae and bones. Upon feeling a problem, your chiropractor will use one of a number of light, swift and dexterous techniques to adjust the bone.

If your chiropractor discovers or suspects a problem, which requires medical investigation or an x-ray, they will refer you to your GP. Wherever possible your chiropractor will work in co-operation with your GP and a letter is normally sent to your doctor informing them of your treatment.

Source of information: www.chiropractic.org.uk | www.mctimoney-chiropractic.org