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What are some of the conditions the Chiropractor treats?
Chiropractic treats: Arm pain, arthritis, disc problems, fibromyalgia, headaches, hip pain, low back pain, mid back pain, muscle spasms, neck pain, numbness/tingling ,painful joints, pregnancy aches and pains, repetitive stress injuries, sciatica, scoliosis, shoulder pain, sports injuries, sprains, strains, and trigger points, to name a few.
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What is an adjustment?
An adjustment is a treatment tool of the Chiropractor. It requires the doctor to place his hands on or around the affected joint using a quick, short thrust to return the joint to its normal motion.
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Does an adjustment hurt?
When done correctly, an adjustment shouldn’t hurt. On occasion, a patient may react as if in pain, but this feeling quickly dissipates as they realise it is simply the surprise of a new sensation. The vast majority of patients have an overwhelmingly positive response to an adjustment. Some may experience tenderness after a treatment.
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What is the popping sound during adjustment?
The popping sound is the result of gas within your joints responding to the change of pressure when an adjustment occurs.
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Can pregnant women see chiropractors?
Absolutely. Adjusting methods are always adapted to a patient’s size, weight, age, and specific complaint. In addition, most pregnant women find they have easier pregnancies and deliveries when they receive consistent chiropractic care.
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Will I have to continue Chiropractic care for the rest of my life?
This is a common misconception. While most people experience great relief with consistent chiropractic care, it certainly is not required. Chiropractic delivers care on three levels: pain relief care, corrective care and maintenance care.
The goal of pain relief care is to eliminate immediate symptoms requiring frequent visits.
Corrective care focuses on treating the underlying cause of your problem.
Maintenance care focuses on maintaining the progress of the corrective phase and preventing further subluxations, requiring less frequent visits. For optimum health, it is recommended that you progress through all three care stages.
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What type of education do Chiropractic doctors receive?
Doctors of Chiropractic are well educated. Chiropractic and medical educations are similar yet different in many respects, pointedly because Chiropractors do not prescribe drugs or perform surgery. A Chiropractor's education, however, never ends. Most chiropractors complete regular postgraduate instruction for license renewal, updated research development and adjustment techniques.
In South Africa this is a 6 year Master's Degree.
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Is Chiropractic safe?
Yes. Chiropractic has an excellent safety record. It is the result of a conservative and natural approach to health that avoids invasive procedures or addictive drugs.
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Can I adjust myself?
No. Since a Chiropractic adjustment is a specific force, applied in a specific direction to a specific joint, it is virtually impossible to adjust oneself correctly and accurately. It is not advised for one to attempt adjustments on their own. This type of self-joint manipulation is usually counterproductive and sometimes dangerous, often creating an already unstable spine or joint even more unstable.
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Can a person who had back surgery see a chiropractor?
Yes. It's an unfortunate fact that up to 50% of those who have had spinal surgery discover a return of their original symptoms months or years later. They then face the prospect of additional surgery. With the correct Chiropractic care repeated back surgeries can be prevented, and if initially utilized, back surgery can often be avoided all together.
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Spinal manipulation gives value for money
Most patients with acute back pain improve over time, but adding spinal manipulation followed by exercise to standard care moderately improves results. The UK BEAM trial team (p 1377) randomised 1334 patients with low back pain to additional exercise classes, spinal manipulation, or manipulation followed by exercise or to "best care" in general practice. Manipulation, with or without exercise, improved symptoms more than best care alone after three and 12 months. However, analysis of the cost utility of different strategies shows that manipulation alone probably gives better value for money than manipulation followed by exercise (p 1381).