How Many Chiropractic Visits Will It Take to Heal Me?

When people find out that I’m a chiropractor the most frequent comment I hear is, “Chiropractors keep you coming back forever.” I respond, “I only encourage you to keep coming in as long as you want to feel good and not hurt.”

Chiropractic is based on the philosophy that health is not an absence of disease, but a state of optimal performance by all the body structures. If you maintain your health properly, pain is a rare exception, rather than a normal problem (please note the oxymoron).

Nowadays, however, even though many people pay lip-service to wanting to be healthy, they really only want to get rid of the pain they are feeling as quickly as possible. Most patients don’t care about the next pain they will get until they get it.

As a profession, chiropractic has always been about helping minimize future pain by staying as healthy as possible. It is galling to most of us to try and compete with aspirin and other painkillers. In spite of that, many chiropractors are giving their patients the choice of getting rid of the pain using a natural approach, discontinuing the care, and then returning to get more treatment when a new round of pain occurs.

Keeping in mind that natural approaches generally have a slower response curve than chemicals which force an almost instantaneous change, chiropractic patients still experience their share of rapid improvments. One should also remember that the medical doctor often provides as many treatments as I do, I just can’t bottle my treatments and send them home with you.

Some of my patients see major improvement in three to five treatments. Many, however, have actually had the base problems for a long time (sometimes for many years), and the body has to sift through layers of repairs in order to accomplish the desired pain reduction. All healing can only progress to the limits of the body’s maximum healing capabilities – no drug or surgical procedure extends it any further. Every healing art follows their own philosophy to assist the body in its efforts.

If you want to be healthy and have a better life, we at Val Vista Chiropractic can help you with that. If you want to just get rid of your pain, and then get on with your life, we will do our best to assist you with that. The choice is yours.

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

Daily Inspiration From Your Chiropractor

Today's Inspirational Quote:

“Everyone is your best friend when you are successful. Make sure that the people that you surround yourself with are also the people that you are not afraid of failing with.”

-- Paula Abdul

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

Daily Inspiration From Your Chiropractor

Today's Inspirational Quote:

“'Patience is passion tamed.'”

-- Lyman Abbott

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

Three Causes of Subluxation – Why We Need Chiropractors – Part 2

In the previous post I explained what conditions are necessary for the vertebrae to move out of their correct position (subluxate). In this post we will discuss the three things which cause them to move out of place.

1. Mechanical – This is anything which physically forces the vertebrae out of place:  getting hit with a baseball bat, falling off the roof and landing on your head, an auto accident, or repetitive stress injuries where you do the same movement over and over again, day in and day out, until the soft tissues finally give way and let the vertebrae move.
2. Chemical – Anytime we are exposed to chemicals we have the possibility of what has been labeled an allergic reaction. Those we are most familiar with are that our breathing becomes difficult, or that we develop a rash. Both of these have a muscular component. For some reason that I am not aware of, we have muscle tissue in our bronchial tubes which is capable of completely stopping the flow of air to our lungs. Exposure to certain chemicals cause these muscles to tighten sufficiently in some people until they have difficulty getting oxygen sufficient for their needs. We also have muscle tissue in the arteries and other blood vessels which allows the body to shunt blood to other areas as needed. Again, chemical exposure causes these to tighten in a manner that fluid is forced into the surrounding tissues, causing a rash. (I realize that there are also other mechanisms in play with each of these examples)  It stands to reason that if some muscle groups react to chemical exposure, others would as well. Spinal muscles tighten unevenly which makes it easier for vertebrae to move out of their correct position.
3. Stress – this used to be labeled ‘Psychological’ but everything lumps together pretty well under the heading of ‘Stress’. When I list this one, many people say, “But I don’t have any stress!”  My reply, “Did you get here today by driving on a road? Then you have been stressed!” We learn to ignore most of the stresses we experience, but they are still there working on us. I have heard so many people say, “I carry my stress in my upper-back,” or “in my neck.” Spinal muscles tighten up and cause pain and discomfort, and make it easier for vertebrae to move out of their correct position.

We have little control over most of these. Chemicals are in the water, food, and air, and the only way to avoid them is to stop eating, drinking, and breathing. While we can avoid some stresses, and learn to decrease, somewhat, their effect on us, overall, stress is here to stay. We do have the option to avoid doing stupid things, but many of our injuries are either due to accidents (which means that they weren’t planned), or necessity – most people don’t have the luxury to move to a different line of work because it hurts their back, and most parents will choose to risk serious injury in order to protect a child, and so, many of the mechanical causes can’t be avoided either.

New traumas are more likely to re-injure the previously damaged areas than the healthy ones, and with the muscles tightened unevenly, normal movement will work the vertebrae gradually out of place which causes the nerve irritation to begin again, causing a reoccurrence of the symptoms. Depending on the circumstances the problems may be corrected in one treatment, and other times may require a series of treatments. This is why you will find that most people will return periodically for treatment – they want to feel better again and stay healthy. At Val Vista Chiropractic, that is our goal and our function.

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

Daily Inspiration From Your Chiropractor

Today's Inspirational Quote:

“'How do you know so much about everything?' was asked of a very wise and intelligent man; and the answer was 'By never being afraid or ashamed to ask questions as to anything of which I was ignorant.'”

-- John Abbott

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

Daily Inspiration From Your Chiropractor

Today's Inspirational Quote:

“I'm dense when it comes to discouragement.”

-- Lynn Abbey

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

Three Causes of Subluxation – Why We Need Chiropractors – Part 1

Chiropractors treat and correct vertebral subluxations. These are vertebrae which have moved out of the correct position and are now causing nerve irritation. I am regularly asked, “What causes the vertebrae to go out of place?” to which the only reply is, “An injury to the spine.”

When most people picture a spinal injury, they imagine fractured (cracked or broken) bones. In reality, probably 95% or more of spinal damage involves no fracture, and the majority of those are of the non-dangerous and unfixable, but extremely painful, sort. The adult spine is made of 26 individual and moveable segments which are held in position by what are labeled soft (non-bone) tissues:  muscles, tendons, ligaments, discs and other cartilages, and various connective tissues. A trauma sufficient to stretch and tear these structures, or what is currently referred to as a ‘Repetitive Stress Injury’, causes enough damage to allow the vertebrae to shift out of their correct position and makes it almost impossible for the body to bring them back to their correct position without outside assistance.

In a variety of ways, many of which we have yet to discover, this position change (usually measured in fractions of a millimeter) causes irritation to nerves in the area, particularly the nerve roots exiting the spinal cord at that level. When the nerves are irritated they behave differently, and the messages they carry throughout the body become garbled, causing the body to malfunction in many different ways. The damage to the soft tissues alone causes plenty of pain, but any pain-signal nerves which are irritated will also report pain (for the area the nerve endings are located in) to the brain, even if that area has sustained no injury.

Soft tissues do not heal at 100%, even though with all the right care they can sometimes get close, and so after the initial damage has healed, there is always some degree of weakness and less flexibility which makes that area more vulnerable to re-injury than was the original structure; the less proper care rendered at the proper time, the more instability at those locations. Obviously, part of the “right care” is provided here at Val Vista Chiropractic – we help get rid of the subluxations with the associated pain and other symptoms they can cause.

In the next post we will examine the three things which cause the vertebrae to go back out of place again.

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic