Q: Why don't Chiropractors prescribe drugs?
A: The chiropractic approach recognizes that only the body can heal itself and the role of the doctor should be to remove interferences to this inborn ability. While aspirin, muscle relaxers, and other drugs with analgesic properties have the effect of blocking pain, the underlying structural problem remains.
Q: How long does it take to start feeling better?
A: Some patients find they start feeling better with the very first adjustment. Others discover progress takes weeks or months. As with any healing porcess, every person responds differently. Children usually respond quickly. Adults often take longer because most spinal problems are the result of years of neglect. A patient's lifestyle, diet, exercise, and kept appointments all affect their progress.
Q: I feel fine, why do I need to be checked?
A: Our busy lifestyles continue to cause spinal problems. Improper lifting, long periods of sitting, emotional trauma, alcohol, and other so called "normal" activities can interfere with normal spinal function. Because of the body's adaptive abilities, many spinal problems get started without any associated symptoms. Like many diseases, early detection can prevent problems from becoming more serious. Patients who wait for obvious symptoms, especially after an accident or those who have a history of spinal-related problems, often require more visits and take longer to show improvement.
Q: Are subluxations painful?
A: They can be, however the body can accommodate some spinal distortion without pain or other obvious symptoms. Damage to the spine is cumulative, so the degenerative effects of uncorrected spinal problems worsen with time. Generally pain doesn't result from this condition unless there is massive trauma or the body can no longer adapt. Ill health, fatigue, and many other disorders can result long before "back pain" becomes obvious.
Q: Will I need chiropractic care for the rest of my life?
A: That depends upon how long the patient wants to experience the benefits of chiropractic care. Some spinal problems, neglected from early childhood, may require a lifetime of supportive care for optimum spinal function. Chiropractic care can be a conservative form of long-term health management and prevention, like regular dental and eye examinations.
Q: What's the best adjusting technique?
A: A great deal of controversy surrounds this subject, with each technique having a sometimes vocal following within the profession. Each Doctor of Chiropractic has chosen several different techniques and has become highly adept at their delivery. Most chiropractic patients report their symptoms are relieved and better health is experienced after spinal biomechanics are improved, regardless of the adjusting technique used.
Q: What is the sound the adjustment makes:
A: Not all adjustments make sounds. Nor can the presence of sound be an indication of the quality or effectiveness of the adjustment. Since bones don't touch each other, the sound is created by quickly shifting the normal fluids and gases in a joint. When these fluids and trapped gases move in resonse to the spinal bones regaining a more desirable position, sounds are made. Similar sounds are made by popping your knuckles. Because dense bone transmits sound so easily, adjustments delivered near the head and ears can seem louder or more intense.
Reference:
Esteb, W.D., What Every Chiropractic Assistant Should Know, Patient Media, Inc., 2002.