Dr. Jeff Echols: Today I want to talk to you little bit about what chiropractic is may be little about what it not and a lot of people think of chiropractic when they going to a chiropractor they think of back pain or neck pain something like that and may be even headaches but a lot of what chiropractics treat is other things with the organ problems such as heart burn, reflex in the gestation, thyroid issues, constipation, those kinds of things and today I am going to take you through a step by step procedure that would show you what it would be like if you went to the chiropractor and some of the procedures that we might use.
One of the first things that we would do when you come to the chiropractic offices we take a detailed history and this is very important because its important for the doctor to know what your health issues have been up to this point if you fell off the roof when you are six years old on your head that's going to be significant for the chiropractor to know about these things. We also want to know how well your body is functioning overall. So, in addition to you telling the doctor about your back pain he may want to know about your digestive health, your heart any heart issues, your cholesterol and those kinds of things so that we can get a total picture of your health.
One of the first things that's going to happen when you come to the chiropractor is you are going to get a full exam. Now in my office we do a full physical orthopedic neurological and the chiropractic exam. Now this is very important because the doctor needs together all the information that he possibly can in order to treat you in the best possible manner.
So, the first thing we would do is some of the obvious tests like blood pressure, pulse rate we would do check your reflexes, the biceps the triceps, the petala and the Achilles reflexes. We would also check the test across your hands to check to see if the nerves are active. We will also do a whole host of different orthopedic tests that I will show you later in the video. These happens to find out if there is any damage to the spine or the spinal nerves. We also palpate or feel about the different muscles to find out if there are any spasms in those areas that will help us to tell what's going on in the area as well.
We follow that usually with some x-rays and these are very, very important because they help the doctor to find out what kind of shape the spine is in. Is there a lot of arthritis in the spine, is there some digenetic problems going on that the doctor needs to know about, is the spine twisted or in some strange fashion that would lead to this problem or is there something may be even more serious, some tumor or cancers that need to be identified before any treatment is done.
After the examination, we are going to take all of the information that we have gathered and we are going to sit down and come up with a solution to the problem. After we review the x-rays we will review all the results of the examination, we will actually have you come back to the office and sit down and discuss your case with me in detailed. When we want to let you actually show you your x-rays as well, so that you can see with your own eyes what the problem is and then the doctor can explain to you how we are going to about taking care of your particular problem.
Each problem is different and each treatment program is different depending upon what we found in the examination. You will notice in this part of your spine its looks pretty straight till here, but when we get up to this area its very very crooking. So, again you are having some problems up in the upper part of your back and that's why you are getting these nots and problems up in the shoulder areas in there. If you notice the spine from the front, it is supposed to be straight, alright but from the side the spine has these curves in here and again that's what gives you spine the ability to absorb shock or stress.
You have got 24 of these movables bones covered over here and 33 pairs of spinal nerves that come out from the spine. Now in your spine if you notice where this vertebra this nerve comes out there is a big hole there and opening so that the nerve can come out but in your spine the vertebra is actually shifted out of place and there is pretty pressure on that nerve. Take a little stick it in the hole pretends that the nerve that's in your spine, you are going to see how this moves out of place.
So I open in her little finger but that's what is happening in your spine and that's what we call a subluxation and when a person has the subluxation it's going to interfere with that ability of that nerve to conduct the proper information across that nerve. What I am going to be dealing through the course of my treatment is gently moving that vertebra off of the nerve restoring that normal nerve flow, so that's the problem that you have been having should be getting some relief and show it in order and also that neck and back problem that you are having that again should be help dramatically by this.
After we have gone through all of the different findings from your examination, its time to begin the treatment and the main treatment of a chiropractor is what we call the adjustment. The adjustments actually feel very pleasant unless there is an area of severe pain once in that case it could be a little bit unpleasant but the doctor want to put the patient through any kind of unnecessary pain if the patient can't handle. The adjustment usually consists of relieving pressure from the spine. When spinal bones get contracted or out of place they can generally put pressure on the spinal nerves which can go on to cause nasal spasms, pain and swelling in that area.
So, the job of the chiropractor is to gently move the vertebra off of that nerve, when that happens often times the patient will hear little clicking noise and often the times that clicking noises accompanied by great relief. Once the pressure is off the nerve the body can start to heal, the swelling can start to go down, the pain will start to diminish and the person will start to return to health. Sometimes this procedure needs to be repeated several times in order to get the nerve completely in the proper place.
One of the other tools that the chiropractor normally uses is physical therapy and this is of a great benefit to the patient because it provides a lot of relief from the pain they are experiencing. We use things like ice, then heat and an electrical muscle stimulation which helps to stimulate the muscle to reduce the spasm in that area. It also helps to bring blood flow through that area which helps to move all of that damaged tissue out of that area and bring a faster and more rapid healing response.
The chiropractor often times uses a roller table also and that roller table goes up and down the spine providing the patient with a lot of relief and he actually feels very, very pleasant as well. Many of my patients are often very, very surprised 0:07:17 so the chiropractic can treat such a wide variety of things besides just back pain and the reason that is, is because chiropractic actually works with your nervous system to improve it, to take pressure off of it to restore to its normal function and your nervous system is what controls every single cell organ and tissue of your body.
So, by restoring that we can often times improve the function of the stomach so the digestion is better, improve the function of the heart so that the heart is working better, improve the function of the whole body, a person can get a great deal of relief and be very surprised at the results.
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