HT: Does the treatment hurt?

DL: For most people, chiropractic adjustments are painless. Some people who are new to chiropractic adjustments may involuntarily stiffen or resist the adjustment and feel a small amount of discomfort until they are able to relax during the care. In addition, mild discomfort may be felt if the person had a recent trauma, such as whiplash or a lower back injury, due to inflammation. However, many people report a feeling of relief, calmness, and a sense of well being after the adjustment; others feel improved mobility.

HT: What is the “popping” noise often heard in an adjustment?

DL: When your vertebrae are adjusted, tiny pockets of gas are released from the joints, making a “popping” noise. It’s the same sound you hear when you pop your knuckles. Not all people hear this noise and not all adjustments create this noise. It’s not a sign that the adjustment is or is not working.

HT: When should a person visit a chiropractor?

DL: People like chiropractors because they approach healthcare in a unique manner. Instead of diagnosing and treating disease, your chiropractor’s purpose is to enhance your health by analysing your spine and eliminating your vertebral subluxations. Without subluxations, your body and mind have the ability to function better, heal better, and you feel better. So you don’t need to have a particular complaint to see a chiropractor. Throughout your life, you have your teeth, blood pressure and eyes checked – an examination by a chiropractor to check for the earliest possible presence of subluxation might be one of the most important check-ups you and your family have in life, because everyone needs a healthy spine.

HT: How often can a person visit a chiropractor?

DL: How often a person decides to benefit from chiropractic care is always up to them. The chiropractor will give a person their best recommendation to achieve their optimal state of health and then recommendations on how to maintain their optimal health for their lifetime. The true purpose of chiropractic is not as a treatment of aches and pains but to rid your body of subluxations so you are better able to adapt to life’s stresses. That’s what true health is all about. That’s why some people who choose a chiropractic lifestyle report better quality of life, improved physical health and emotional health, less perceived stress and drugs in their lives and more energy, vitality and enjoyment.

HT: How does it help with back pain?

DL: Up to 70% of working adults in Singapore suffer from some form of back, shoulder and neck pain at least once during their lives. Long periods of sitting, standing, improper lifting and many everyday activities can place a significant amount of stress on your spine; especially in your lower back (lumbar vertebrae). The lumber spines are the biggest and thickest of all your vertebrae, because, being at the bottom of your spine, they have the most weight to hold up. That’s a big reason lower back pain is very common. Chiropractors have helped millions of people with lower back problems, often saving them from pain, disability, drugs and surgery. 3 The chiropractor’s purpose is to gently and painlessly rebalance and realign your spine to relieve pressure on your nerves, discs and muscles, thus allowing your entire body, including your back, to function at its optimum.

HT: Can it be used to treat other problems besides back pain?

DL: For more than a hundred years, people with all kinds of health conditions have visited doctors of chiropractic. Many have initially come for back pain, but then discovered other ways of chiropractic care can help them and their family. The goal of chiropractic is to free your body from subluxations thus releasing pressure on your nerves so that your entire body may function at its optimum. By correcting subluxation, it has brought relief to millions of people suffering from a wide variety of health conditions such as migraine headaches, digestion problems, asthma and allergies, frequent colds/infection, low energy, poor posture and many more!4

HT: Can it help prevent health problems?

DL: There is an old Chinese saying: “There wouldn’t be any major health problems if we paid attention to minor ones.” Remember your nerves control and coordinate all body functions. Depending on which nerve is being affected, any nerve interference caused by a subluxation has the ability to create a lowered state of health in the affected area of the body. So essentially, if your spine is maintained in its optimal alignment, regular chiropractic care has the potential to prevent countless health problems before they appear. Maintaining a healthy spine and nervous system after it has been restored to its optimum level can help keep you truly healthy and avoid those small problems from becoming big (expensive) ones.

Reference:

3 Shekelle PG, Adams A, et al. The Appropriateness of Spinal Manipulation for Low-Back Pain: Indications and Ratings by a Multidisciplinary Expert Panel. RAND corporation, Santa Monica, California; 1991.

4 Graham, RL and Pistolese RA. Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research 1997: 1 (4): 1-8

This is the first in a three part article on Chiropractic by Dr David Lim. Part 2 will be posted on our blog this Friday.

HT: What is chiropractic?

DL: Modern chiropractic was discovered in Davenport, Iowa (USA) in 1895 when Dr. D.D. Palmer performed the first chiropractic “spinal adjustment” on his deaf janitor, Harvey Lillard. Lillard’s hearing returned and Palmer thought he had discovered a cure for deafness. But as patients with digestive troubles, sciatica, migraine headaches, menstrual troubles, epilepsy, back pain, heart problems and other conditions responded to his “hand treatments” (as he first called them), Dr. Palmer realised that he had discovered something far reaching indeed.

HT: How does it work?

DL: Chiropractors are trained to locate and free your body of a severe abnormality that interferes with your body’s proper function. It is called a vertebral subluxation. It is a misalignment of your spinal bones or vertebrae that affects your discs, nerves, ligaments and ultimately, your entire body. Subluxations can lead to a lowered resistance to disease, inefficient body function, altered chemistry, distorted posture and balance, accelerated aging and premature death.1 Once your chiropractor relieves you of your vertebral subluxation, your body has the potential to function at a higher state of health.

HT: Is there any science behind chiropractic?

DL: The nervous system – which consists of the brain, spinal cord, and all the nerves in the body – is the master control system of the body. Your brain controls all your body functions through a vast communication system of nerves travelling from the brain by way of the spinal cord to every part of your body. These nerves carry messages to and from your brain which is how your brain controls and coordinates the function of all your billions of body parts: muscles, organs, tissues and cells. Chiropractors spend years in highly specialised training to learn to locate misplaced spinal bones (vertebral subluxation) that are interfering with this communication network. After locating subluxations, your chiropractor, using various highly specialised techniques, is able to realign your spine and thus release pressure on your nerves and body structure. This procedure is called chiropractic spinal adjustment. Chiropractic is not considered an evidence-based medicine but as evidence-based chiropractic.

To be continued…

References
1 Health Benefits Of Chiropractic Adjustments Affect Entire Body; Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research; 2004 Apr 26.

2 Clinical Practice Guideline Number 1; Vertebral Subluxation in Chiropractic Practice; Council on Chiropractic Practice, 1998, p4.

Dr David Lim is a graduate of a five-year double degree course from Palmer College of Chiropractic (Iowa, U.S.A.) where he received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree with honours. He has been in practice for over eight years, working in successful offices in the U.S.A., Malaysia and Singapore.