Frequently Asked Chiropractic Questions in St Cloud FL

1. Visualization - Looking at your full posture while sitting, standing and walking.
2. Static Palpation - Feeling the bones of the spine and the surrounding soft tissue.  Noting elements like swelling, tenderness, pain, skin changes (dry skin, oily skin), muscle spasms, etc.
3. Motion Palpation - Putting the individual motion segments or bones through a range of motion to see if there is full range of motion or loss of motion.
4. Instrumentation - Utilizing a thermography based piece of equipment known as the Nervoscope to help identify areas of inflammation along the spine.  This helps us better determine if we need to adjust a certain bone.
5. X-ray-  To see is to know.  We want to see the spinal integrity to better comprehend what we need to adjust, but better yet, what we do not need to adjust.  X-rays help us get the full picture of what the spine is doing.

Chiropractic can help with a number of different issues, but it is through the effect of correcting the subluxation or misalignment within the spine.  If you have an area within the spine that is out of alignment and causing the corresponding nerve to generate too much or not enough signaling then the body can go into a state of dis-easement.  Meaning the correlating cells, muscles, tissues, organs that are related to that nerve can not operate properly.  This can result in certain conditions like, neck pain, headaches, lower back pain, sciatica, but other conditions that you may not be aware of can be digestion issues like acid reflux, IBS, constipation, diarrhea. Conditions like irregular menstrual cycles, urinary incontinence or bed wetting, asthma, allergies, sinus problems are just to name a few.

It is important to understand, we never treat the symptom.  We treat the spine and through doing so creates a cause and effect relationship, where the body then heals the dis-easement (symptom) through gaining the correct amount of nerve flow from the area of subluxation or misalignment.  We will always give the healing to God - your body knows what to do, we provide the support it needs. 

Chiropractic care is one of the safest healing professions in the world.  We do not focus on healing the body from the outside-in, through drugs and medicine, but rather focus on the healing from the inside-out, through spinal and neural correction.  With the Gonstead adjustment we reduce rotation as much as possible.  The majority of spinal injuries come from rotation, as your spinal discs do not like the shearing effect that rotation produces.

Research has shown that common side effects are usually mild and temporary, such as:

• Mild soreness or stiffness
• Temporary fatigue
• Slight muscle tenderness after an adjustment

These symptoms often resolve within 24–48 hours, similar to how someone may feel after exercise or physical therapy.

The answer to this question is based on a number of factors including;

• How long has your symptoms been present?
• What is the condition of your spine?
• What does your daily routine look like?
• How much stress do you put on your body each day?
• What is the type of stress your body is experiencing - emotional, physical, environment?

We determine the answer after we perform a thorough consultation, examination and postural spinal x-rays. 

The average time it takes to get in, get adjusted and leave it approximately 15 minutes.  This can be less (<10 min) on slower times of the day (midday), or more (>30 min) during the busier times (after 5pm).

The “crack” sound can be a by-product of the specific chiropractic adjustment.  During an adjustment, your spine undergoes quick, gentle stretching of the spinal joint, and you may hear a noise.  Small pockets of air being released from the fluid that surrounds your joints cause this sound.  When joint tissues are stretched during a chiropractic adjustment, the pockets of air “pop” or “crack”, which creates the sound you hear.  Sometimes you may not hear a noise, but that just means there were no pockets of air around the joints at that time.  The sound does not indicate the effectiveness of the adjustment.

You can not adjust yourself, but rather “manipulate” yourself.  The adjustment is based on specificity.  A “manipulation” is a general term used to describe moving a joint without the specific line of drive or vector of force.  You may manipulate your own spine, but we would highly discourage this due to it requiring rotation of the spinal discs/joints.  The spinal discs/joints do not like rotation and this is often the reason someone becomes injured.  General manipulation may also cause a misalignment to worsen and create more severe symptoms. It can potentially worsen spinal degeneration over time and be more difficult to correct. 

The differences are plenty and each profession serves as a valuable piece to service in the healing process, but the primary difference between the two involves the structure and the surrounding musculature.  Chiropractic involves moving the spinal structure into its correct position so as to allow the nervous system to function optimally.  Physical therapy involves increasing flexibility and strength into the muscles of the body.  The perspective we take at Avenue One Health Center is, when we get the spinal structure in the correct position it is invaluable to retrain the muscles surrounding the spine to help hold the structure in its proper position.  By correcting the spinal misalignment and strengthening the paraspinal musculature through physical therapy it gives the best outcome for the patient.

Chiropractic care can improve posture.  Posture and the spine have a direct cause and effect relationship.  Through poor posture we may create spinal misalignments, which as a result will continue to keep us in a poor posture.  If you try to stand erect with your shoulders back, but notice that you get a sharp pain between your shoulder blades after a period of time, then there is a good chance that an area within that region is out of alignment.

Yes, pregnant women can see a chiropractor. Pregnancy will cause a woman to go through a lot of changes hormonally and physically.  This can create symptoms like headaches, acid reflux, sciatica and/or lower back pain.  Chiropractic does a great job managing these symptoms through spinal alignment in the first trimester.  During the later weeks we utilize a technique known as Webster’s to hone in on the pelvic alignment and musculature to help allow for a smooth transition from pregnancy into delivery.  This technique does involve a lot of muscle work and is very gentle.  Science shows that chiropractic, in general, has shown to decrease labor pains and increase delivery times by 20-30%.

Yes, chiropractic care is safe for children.  We have seen children as young as a few hours after they have been born.  The process of adjusting a child is different then adjusting a teenager or adult.  Gentle pressure is applied to the spine to move the individual spinal segment.  The pressure we induce is as much pressure as you would use to check the ripeness of a fruit.

It is essential to assess an infant. This is due to the birthing process.  No matter how a child comes into our world, there is normally assistance with coming out of the womb, whether it be through c-section, forceps, vacuum or normal delivery, it is applied to the head and neck region.  This can cause the atlas (C1) or axis (C2) bone to misalign creating issues like colic or reflux.  If we can have these symptoms addressed sooner it gives the child the best quality of life as they turn into healthy adults.  As we say, healthy babies make for healthy children, which then makes for healthy adults.

Yes, you should continue chiropractic care after the symptoms improve. Pain is usually the last step in the equation when something is wrong, which makes it the first to leave. Feeling better does not mean the problem has been resolved, but only that we are headed in the right direction to let your body heal. If you stop when symptoms improve, they may come back and have the potential to be even stronger since the cause of the dis-ease was never fully addressed.

I would encourage you to research the chiropractors in the area and choose based upon what you are looking to accomplish with your health goals.  We take pride in correcting the root cause of the issue with as much specificity as possible.  We also pride ourselves in the fact that we do not adjust everything in the spine, simply for the fact that it is not necessary.  Our goal is to be as gentle, specific, and precise with our care so we can deliver you the results you are hoping to achieve.