1. What is chiropractic?
Chiropractic is  a drugless approach to health.  It is the science, art & philosophy of locating & correcting vertebral subluxations through gentle, specific chiropractic adjustments thus allowing your body to function at its optimum potential.

2. What is a subluxation?
A subluxation is a misalignment of one or more of your spinal bones (vertebrae), which causes interference to your nervous system. If your nervous system is interfered with, your body's natural ability to heal itself & function at its optimum potential becomes impaired. A subluxation is a perfect example of how structure affects function.

3. What is an adjustment?
An adjustment is a gentle, specific "thrust" delivered by hand or instrument. The purpose of the adjustment is to correct your spinal subluxation(s) thus removing the nerve interference in your body.

4. How is chiropractic different from tradition medicine?
Chiropractic treats the whole person, not just the symptoms. Chiropractic care involves a more natural, conservative approach that promotes self-healing and helps to strengthen the body'd natural defense systems.

5. Does it hurt to get adjusted?
No. Chiropractic adjustments feel great. We have confidence that once you begin receiving your adjustments, you will begin to look forward to them. They will become one of the highlights of your week. When you allow the vertebrae in your spine to return to their proper position, you will notice much less stress and tension.

6. Is chiropractic safe?
Yes. Statistics prove that chiropractic care is one of the safest types of healthcare in the world. You only need to compare the malpractice premiums paid by chiropractors to those paid by medical doctors. Doctors of Chiropractic pay only a small fraction (approx. 1/20) of the price medical doctors pay in malpractice premiums. 250,000 people will die this year as a result of bad medicine, making this the third leading cause of death in the United States of America (The Journal of The American Medical Association, JAMA; Vol.284, July 26, 2000). Of the millions of people receiving chiropractic adjustments each year, only a handful will even make a complaint.

7. Is it safe to go to a chiropractor when I am pregnant?
Yes! A large percent of all pregnant women experience back discomfort/pain during pregnancy. This is due to the rapid growth of the baby and changes to your body's normal structure. Pre-existing unnoticed imbalances in your spine and pelvis become overtaxed and very apparent during these times. Chiropractic care throughout pregnancy can relieve and even prevent the common discomforts experienced in pregnancy. Published studies have indicated that chiropractic care does in fact reduce labor time. Doctors of Chiropractic work specifically with your pelvis throughout pregnancy restoring a state of balance and creating an environment for an easier safer delivery.

8. Why do my children need chiropractic care?
The birth process is often the cause of your child's first subluxation. A very soft and undeveloped spine of an infant can suffer trauma during delivery. It is estimated that as much as 80lbs of pulling pressure can be exerted to remove a baby from the birth canal. Then, as children grow up and become more adventurous, the number of injuries to their spines become countless. Repeated falls as children learn to walk, running, jumping, twisting, bumping, and falling all over the place while playing in the yard or on an athletic field will often cause your child to become subluxated. However, often children do not show any signs or symptoms of being subluxated until later on in life. Chiropractic care offers your child a more responsive body, a more balanced flow of energy and overall increased performance as he/she passes through their windows of development. A subluxation free child also minimizes the risk of future health challenges.

9. What causes the sound made during a chiropractic adjustment?
That sound is not your spine "cracking" or "popping" like most people think. That sound is created by gas (in this case, nitrogen) rushing in to fill the partial vacuum created when the joints are slightly separated. Another example of this phenomenon would be the "pop" sound you hear when the cork is taken out of a champagne bottle. Not all chiropractic adjusting techniques produce this noise. In fact, some adjusting techniques use little force and thus produce no noise at all.

10. Is it bad to "crack" your back or neck a lot?
This question is frequently asked because people associate the "cracking" or "popping" of one's back or neck with a chiropractic adjustment. The two are not the same thing. If a person has a desire to "crack" his/her neck or back it is often because one area of their spine is fixated or jammed causing another area to move too much and "pop", sometimes by itself. It's the fixated or jammed area that needs to be properly adjusted by a chiropractor so that the other parts of the spine will not be hypermobile and noisy. When you "crack" your back you may be relieving the tension for a little while. Do you notice how it keeps coming back? That is because you are not giving yourself a specific chiropractic adjustment. The cause of the spinal tension, the fixated or jammed (subluxated) vertebrae, has not been corrected. Any person who makes a habit out of "cracking" or "popping" their back or neck needs to go to a Doctor of Chiropractic to have their spine checked. Even a chiropractor cannot adjust him/herself.

11. Once you see a chiropractor, do you have to go for the rest of your life?
No. The extent to which you choose to benefit from your chiropractic care is ultimately up to you. Each & every one of us is solely responsible for the quality of our health & well-being. However, we do strongly urge all practice members to consider lifetime, wellness chiropractic care. This is where the long-term, lasting benefits of care are enjoyed. Regular exercise & healthy eating habits are a lifestyle decision and so is lifetime, wellness chiropractic care. You need to remain subluxation free for life.

12. Should I continue chiropractic care if I don't have any symptoms and I feel better?
Yes. Just because symptoms disappear, it does not mean your subluxations are corrected. Most of the practice members seen in our office have spinal degeneration (decay) which has taken years to develop. The trauma of the birth process, slips, falls, accidents and countless other stresses over the course of your lifetime adversely affect the health of your spine. The longer you wait to have your spine checked by a chiropractor, the longer it will take to correct your subluxations. However, how you choose to use chiropractic care is ultimately up to you. It has been our experience that those who stop care when they are "feeling fine" return with the same health challenge(s) which brought them to our office in the first place...only it's usually gotten worse. On the other hand, those practice members who commit to long-term, wellness chiropractic care, find their health challenge(s) rarely return and they enjoy a higher quality of life & health.