Services - Caring for your needs
Let’s work together to create a personalized health improvement program to meet your needs. My goal is to work with you in order to alleviate the cause of your health challenges instead of treating just the symptoms.
This is accomplished by:
- Listening
Symptoms are always caused by a combination of factors. Back pain, for instance, is rarely just a simple interference in the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. We always need to consider the structural, emotional and nutritional and energetic components of pain, discomfort and dysfunction.
For instance, physical or emotional stress may “lock in” a body pattern of dysfunction that leads to back pain. It may involve dehydration and nutritional deficiency associated with poor diet. A fight-or-flight response to stress may be a predisposing factor in any dysfunction associated with any symptoms you might have.
To better serve you, we have already provided you with the necessary forms we would like you to complete before your first visit. The Health History Questionnaire and Wellness Check provide the information needed to help us better listen to your needs and create mutual goals for your health care.
- Analysis/Examination
The information you have provided, combined with a thorough history interview, determines what exam will follow. A thorough exam will be completed on your first visit. Whether your complaint is back or neck pain, or nutritional in nature, the goal is to gather as much information as possible to assess the overall function of your body.
Chiropractic analysis involves the appropriate gentle and thorough orthopedic and neurological tests to locate the level and cause of your symptoms. Kinesiology and meridian-based muscle testing will be used to further assess information related to function and structure. If X-rays or other relevant testing is necessary, we will discuss it and order the appropriate tests.
Functional assessment incorporates various Chiropractic and nutritional testing to determine the individual health status of each patient. Based on the feedback gained from the questionnaire and from listening to your needs, the next process of assessment begins. Many of the people I treat in my practice have deficiencies or imbalances due to lifestyle, diet and emotional stressors that affect the physiology or function of the body. These imbalances lead to lowered resistance to disease.
Muscle testing and kinesiology provide a wealth of information. Functional lab tests for digestion, adrenal stress and nutritional imbalances may be suggested.
What is muscle testing?
Traditional Chinese medicine is based on the meridian energy channels that run through the body. There are acupressure points along these meridians that allow us to assess function in a noninvasive, painless way. This involves testing the body’s response while applying pressure to a specific muscle group (I usually use an outstretched arm). If there are energy blockages, the strength of the muscle will change under pressure, providing information about changes in function in these meridians. Through this analysis I can determine the nutrition and supplement needs that help correct imbalance. These meridians are connected with the nervous and musculoskeletal systems of the body, allowing a deeper understanding of functional problems we can solve together.
- Treatment
Chiropractic is a natural method of health care that treats subluxations. Subluxations interfere with the normal function of the nervous system. If adjusting is needed, there are various manipulations that I perform. After consulting with you, I can determine whether normal diversified adjustments (see techniques below), light force using a tool such as an activator, or trigger point and acupressure, or non-force techniques such as N.E.T or B.E.S.T will be the most appropriate and desirable technique for you. Or a combination of techniques may best address your needs.
Report of findings: I make it a point to always explain why you need a certain course of treatment and how long you may need to treat in order to meet your health care goals. I discuss proper at-home care, stretching, exercise and nutritional considerations to speed your recovery.
What is a subluxation?
A subluxation is a misalignment or alteration of the normal motion of a spinal segment or vertebra. It leads to an imbalance of the nervous system, resulting in inflammation and changes in the strength and integrity of muscles and ligaments. These changes may lead to discomfort, pain and resistance to disease.
Nutrition and functional needs. Once we establish what your individual nutritional needs are, supplement recommendations and dietary changes, eating habits and lifestyle recommendations specific to you will be suggested. Supplements will be chosen that match your individual needs. Diet plans, vitamins and minerals, as well as herbal remedies, are available through the clinic. Regularly scheduled classes allow me to teach broader, in-depth nutrition and health-related topics for both you and your family.
- Diversified adjusting involves a combination of Gonstead and other adjustment modalities. The Chiropractor’s hands are placed on the body in a very specific manner and applying a quick, gentle and specific thrust in a specific direction to mobilize and reposition subluxations and joints. Extremities such as feet, hands, knees and other related joints may also be adjusted in this way.
- Activator method uses a spring loaded adjusting tool to make corrections. This technique is gentle, low force and safe. It provides an alternative to diversified adjusting.
- N.E.T.-Neuro-emotional technique “is a methodology used to normalize unresolved physical and behavioral patterns in the body. NET practitioners are trained to assist the body’s healing process by identifying and balancing unresolved emotional influences- and compromised physiological underpinnings of emotions. It is a true mind-body approach”. (ONE Foundation)
- B.E.S.T.-Bio-Energetic Synchronization Technique-“B.E.S.T. is a non-forceful, energy balancing hands on procedure used to help reestablish the full healing potential of the body. “ (Morter Health System)