Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Upper Cervical Care - Rockford


The question arises what we actually do in our office.
People often think of a chiropractic office as a place where you get "cracked," or "manipulated," or a place where you go to get rid of pain.
Getting rid of pain is a very good thing, but with chiropractic procedures, pain is often the last thing to go on the road to getting health restored. Along the way, there are steps to be followed.
The 1st Step is to find out why health is breaking down.
But let's take a moment to look at the modern history of these procedures.
In 1895, Dr. Palmer discovered that bones out of place prevented nerves from doing their job keeping you healthy. As soon as he began teaching his work, controversy developed.
That's a testament to the creativity and ingenuity of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
An early student, Alva Gregory, believed that restoring normal motion in the segments was key. He also believed that thrusting into a spinal segment had therapeutic value regardless of whether a subluxation had been identified. We still see this today in the physical therapy research world as they try to figure out the best place to mobilize when there is spinal pain.
We don't thrust into spinal segments, so check that off.
Solon Langworthy, a 1901 Palmer graduate believed that the problem was in the narrowing of the joint spaces, and hence began the practice of traction.
We don't traction, so check that off.
Oakley G. Smith, a Palmer graduate from 1899, rejected the bone-pinch concept in favor of the "cramping of connective tissue" concept. This was the beginning of Naprapathy, which works with loosening the connective tissue around the spine.
We don't work with the soft tissue, so check that off.
Other procedures, such as Naturopathy, work with educating the person in the ways of a healthy lifestyle using diet, herbal or food supplements, and other means to help the body maintain balance. Currently, the Naturopathic curriculum at one school includes training in "diversified" chiropractic manipulation. Remember Gregory?
We don't do Naturopathy.
Upper cervical chiropractic works with the insides of the system, deep, deep inside. Before the nerves get out to the joints of the spine, they move from the brain into the spinal canal. Right at that point is the most sensitive place in the spine. The top of the neck is the most likely to be damaged or misaligned in a whiplash injury, a biking injury, a sledding accident, a soccer trauma, a fall down the steps, a bump on the head while painting the house......the list is endless.
But when it gets misaligned, the entire spine goes out of balance, the spinal cord becomes distorted and ischemic, and your health begins to decline. Eventually the segments of the spine become individually misaligned and the ligaments and connective tissue squeezes the nerves. Pain ensues.
So put a big circle around this point - upper cervical care is about restoring health from the inside, so the body can straighten itself out, the ligaments and connective tissue can restore itself and pain can go away as the tissues "ungrow" the damage.
Even though other procedures have history, have miracle stories, we don't do them. Instead, we do what we find to be more efficient and more cost-effective for people, we correct the ability of the brain to manage its own processes.
Upper Cervical Care - Rockford, a division of 1st Step Chiropractic, S.C.
4519 Highcrest Rd, Rockford, IL 61107. 815-398-4500