What is Chiropractic Care

Purna: I hate thinking about seeing a chiropractor, but not sure if it's going to be painful, not sure how the process is going to go? Hi! Welcome to watchmojo.com, I am your host Purna and today I have the opportunity to sit down with the licensed chiropractor. He is going to be talking to us about some of the treatments and the benefits of chiropractic care. So there are many processes that a patient can go through when they come in, what are some of them and how does it benefit them? Dr. Paul C. Poirier: Well, everybody has to go through the same process when they walk in to the office, It's the same as the medical clinic. They have to fill out a questionnaire, sort of a background on them to see what's wrong, if they have had any issues, any surgeries, anything of that sort. Once they filled out that paperwork, at our office we take x-rays to make sure that everything is more or less as it should be as far as their spine is concerned. So what I do when I take my x-rays as once they have been taken and developed, I measure them to see how close or far from the normal they are and from there I can tell them what they need to do. This person had a five degree curve when they started, and the head was forward by about a 11 millimeters from the normal. Purna: Does the adjustment process hurt? Dr. Paul C. Poirier: It might for that split second was while it's being done. There might be a little bit of a reaction, especially in the first few visits, but once they know what to expect, it's a piece of cake and just about everybody can handle it, be they 12 years old or be they 84 years old, they can handle it. Purna: How often do patients have to come in, per week? Dr. Paul C. Poirier: Some of my patients right of the bat come in once over two weeks or once every three weeks, because they are already near perfect, but if somebody comes in and they are already somewhat damaged, they are feeling damaged and they've got some symptoms or whatever the case might be, then they might need more care. Purna: And how long does it just generally take for someone to feel those improvements from the adjustments? Dr. Paul C. Poirier: Most people within about 2-4 visits, they already feel something. By and large age plays a huge role. If I get a person who is 15, they are going to be a lot quicker than 25, by the same token quicker than 35 and etc. So there is a lot of factors that play into how long it's going to take. Purna: Now for the viewers who might not know, what exactly is the vertebral subluxation? Dr. Paul C. Poirier: That's a term that's existed for about 112 years, since chiropractic began. Now if a football player gets sacked from behind and dislocates his shoulder, a medical doctor would call that a luxated shoulder. In chiropractic, the term sub which is a prefix of luxation, it means less than an actual dislocation. Instead of an actual dislocated joint, it's more of a natural twist if you will. So that the vertebrae are not properly aligned, causing pressure on the nerves, because we have 24 vertebrae and there is a pair of nerves coming out at each level. And these nerves are going to different body areas, but if the vertebrae is twisted at those several levels, it will cause the flow to be somewhat diminished from the brain trying to get the messages through, so that the body will somewhat suffer. This is what you call a textbook normal vertebral section of the spine fill. If you don't maintain yourself, you lose that curve which is Phase I. The definition of Phase I is a loss of curve. It takes typically, they say on average about five years to get your own its own. If you are working at a computer for many years and you've got a bad posture, that's kind of developed overtime. Now to get to Phase II, you'll notice that the vertebrae has actually changed in shape. So that takes a long time. The Phase III is where the vertebrae is completely degenerated and the disc is completely dehydrated in between the two. Not too many patients come into our office for the Phase IV, where are they if you had to guess? Purna: Pretty much dying I would say -- Dr. Paul C. Poirier: Well, pretty much dead. They are already at the morgue. Unfortunately, because the nerves going to the heart, need to be able to get the message, the heart needs to get the messages from the brain, but if it's fused, the message can't get through. Purna: What do you think it is about chiropractic care, that's attracting more people each year? Dr. Paul C. Poirier: People are realizing that there is a finite amount of improvement that you can get from utilizing drugs and medication. It has its place and I have had surgeries and I know that it has its place and that you do need it and you can't get around it, but if you can try to find a solution prior to actually getting the knife put to you, it's always better.