CityView Magazine

What do you think of when you think about going to a chiropractor? Like many people I admit to wondering if this type of treatment would really work for me. My grandmother, on the other hand, swore by chiropractors. She and Chicklet (her ancient toy poodle_ went twice a week and they both got adjusted; I was never sure which one seemed to like it best. I also have plenty of friends who go to chiropractors on a regular basis and say they benefit from it. Still, to be truthful, I didn’t know much about chiropractic when I began this article, and I was a bit skeptical. As I researched it, I found chiropractic to have aspects of both Western and Eastern medical philosophies. By the time I finished the article, I was ready to make an appointment.

By Wendy K. Smith

So, what exactly is Chiropractic medicine? Although massage and forms of musculoskeletal manipulation have been around for centuries, the practice known today as chiropractic was formalized when Dr. Daniel David Palmer founded the Chiropractic profession in Davenport, Iowa in 1895. He then founded the Palmer School of Chiropractic in 1897, which today is still one of the most prominent chiropractic colleges in the nation. According to the American Chiropractic Association, “Chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on the disorders of the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system, and the effects of these disorders on general health.  Chiropractic care is used most often to treat neuromusculoskeletal complaints, including but not limited to back pain, neck pain, pain in the joints of the arms or legs and headaches.” It’s the largest drugless healing profession in the world. Doctors of Chiropractic (aka chiropractors) practice a drug free, hands-on approach to patient health and are trained in patient examination, diagnosis and treatment. As medical practitioners, they have broad diagnostic skills. They can also recommend therapeutic and rehabilitative exercises and nutritional and lifestyle counseling.  Chiropractics is a western medicine, yet it has that “other” side that crosses into the unknown realms of energy and spirit and makes it a little more esoteric. At the same time, it’s all about aligning bones and muscles, which is black and white. It’s the duality of this profession that makes it both appealing and healing. 

Overall, the profession has a core belief in natural and conservative methods of health care. Chiropractors generally have a deep respect for the human body’s innate intelligence and its ability to heal itself if it’s stimulated correctly, without the use of surgery or medication. They believe that the nervous system controls the body and that the communication between the nervous system and all the organs and systems of the body must be maintained. Chiropractors are therefore steeped in the biomechanics, structure and function of the spine, the spine’s effect on the musculoskeletal and neurological systems, and the role played by the proper function of these systems in the preservation and restoration of health. For example, miscommunication between the nervous system and an organ can cause that organ to malfunction. Chiropractics are strong proponents of preventive medicine as well as treatment of existing disease. Another interesting aspect of chiropractor is that they believe that preventive care makes all the difference. Dr. Barry Sunshine of Sunshine Health Clinic says “Chiropractics can correct problems before they become critical. It’s fine to help someone after they are sick, but wouldn’t it be great to help them before they’re sick?”

The most common therapeutic procedure performed by doctors of chiropractic is known as a “chiropractic adjustment.” The purpose of the adjustment (also called a manipulation) is to realign the spine or restore the joint mobility by manually applying pressure or force on points or joints that have become restricted in their movement – as a result of a tissue injury. Tissue injury can be caused by a wide variety of things, a single traumatic event (such as improper lifting of a heavy object), or through repetitive stresses (such as sitting with poor spinal posture for a long period of time). Either way, injured tissue can become inflamed, cause pain and have diminished function. Adjustment of the affected joint and tissues can break up the restriction and restore mobility, thereby alleviating pain and muscle tightness, and allowing tissues to heal. A chiropractic adjustment does not hurt and rarely causes discomfort, although some patients might occasionally experience a mild soreness or aching for a short period following treatment.

Adjustments are probably the most common method for realigning the joints and spinal column. But chiropractors will use a wide range of adjustment or manipulation techniques to get the communication flowing between body and nervous system.  Dr. Sunshine says that he uses a lot of different structural techniques in his practice because different people respond to different things. Structural techniques are procedures such as massage, electro-muscular stimulation and other physical modalities. The techniques are still based in the nervous system’s connection to the body but they look a little different from a typical adjustment. Dr. Sunshine also does a lot of work in Applied Kinesiology, a system that evaluates the structural, chemical and mental aspects of a person’s overall health using manual muscle testing combined with other standard methods of diagnosis. It’s a non-invasive system of evaluating body function that is unique in the healing arts. Applied kinesiology is based on what is known as the triad of health, which diagrams the three basic causes of health problems as sides of a triangle. The sides are structural/physical, chemical/emotional and electromagnetical/spiritual with structure as the base of the triad. All health problems - whether functional or pathological - are involved with one part or all parts of the triad. This goes right along with chiropractic, as its founder, Dr. Palmer states in his text, The Science, Art, and Philosophy of Chiropractic, “The determining causes of disease are traumatism, poison and autosuggestion.” In applied kinesiology, the doctor evaluates the triad’s functional balance and directs therapy toward the side or sides that is out of balance. To correct imbalances, Dr Sunshine employs treatments such as specific joint manipulation or mobilization, cranial techniques, nutrition/dietary management, counseling and others. Applied kinesiology can be used on anyone.

Dr. Scott Brown of Brown Chiropractic does a type of adjustment called Long Axial Adjustment (also known as automatic priority adjusting). It’s a manual adjustment that tractions the entire spine and creates a vacuum that aligns the spine. He first stabilizes the patient’s hips and then angles and pulls on their head and neck to create the traction. He demonstrated this technique for me with one of his colleagues. As he pulled on her head, I heard several small cracking sounds, but she looked like she was in heaven. Long Axial Adjustment is one of older more recognized chiropractic techniques that seems to have excellent results. In fact, Dr. Brown thinks that his practice is one of the few in the southeast that still uses this technique on a regular basis, but he says it’s one that works well on everyone, especially those with disc problems.
Dr. Brown also does an instrument adjusting using the Pulstar™ instrument. The Pulstar is the electric version of an activator, which is a manually operated pulsing device. The Pulstar physically pulses the area that is under stress and measures the degree of tightness. The Pulstar then pulses until the area loosens up to the correct measurement. It’s a process that’s easy on the body and can be used for adjustments and trigger point work when people can’t physically have an adjustment (someone with osteoporosis, for example). Dr. Brown says this effective technique is gentle enough for children.
   
Another interesting technique is the Torque Release Technique (TRT). TRT is practiced by a select number of chiropractors and is thought to be one of the more promising techniques of the modern chiropractor.  TRT was created as a result of one of the most successful chiropractic research studies in the history of the profession published by a respected medical and scientific journal, Molecular Psychiatry, in their Feb. 2001 issue. TRT has taken the strengths of the 5 primary chiropractic techniques used around the world and combined them with the most current understanding of brain function and human physiology. Current research shows that the human brain controls and coordinates the functions of the cells and organs of the body by communicating through the nervous system using the principles of vibration, tone and resonance.  Dr. “Pete” Sulack (Dr. Pete) of Exodus Chiropractic is probably the most well-known practitioner of the Torque Release Technique in the southeast. He compares the tone of the nervous system to a musical instrument. Just like a guitar can be out of pitch or out of tune without proper tension on the strings, misalignment and loss of motion in the human spine can cause the central nervous system to be “out of tune” which can effect the body at a cellular level effecting immune function, body chemistry, hormones and organ systems.

TRT uses a gentle adjustment to return the spine, brain and nerves to their proper tone and tension, with the purpose of re-establishing the “brain-body connection”. “This allows the body to function as God created it to function.” Says Dr. Pete.  Through this approach, he has seen a wide range of conditions and symptoms improved significantly or healed completely.
Doctors of chiropractic frequently treat individuals with neuromusculoskeletal complaints, such as headaches, joint pain, neck pain, low back pain and sciatica.  They also treat patients with osteoarthritis, spinal disk conditions, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, sprains, and strains. However, chiropractors are in no way limited to neuromusculoskeletal disorders. Dr. Sunshine, Dr. Sulack and Dr. Brown have had great success in treating conditions such as asthma, diabetes, ulcers, shingles and other non-neuromusculoskeletal disorders.
   
The wide range of ailments that chiropractics can remedy is quite amazing. Dr. Sunshine, Dr. Sulack and Dr. Brown all reference the body’s ability to instinctively know how to heal itself if given the chance. To help the body do that, most chiropractics employee other healing methods to augment their chiropractic services. Brown Chiropractic has two full time physical therapists as well as a massage therapist on staff. Exodus has a physical therapist on staff as well. Dr. Sunshine has a massage therapist on staff and a nutritionist. These staff members don’t just add additional services, they serve a serious purpose. Dr. Brown points out that adjusting a patient is fine, but if you don’t do the follow-up work and retrain the musculature, then the adjustment will eventually go back to its former state. Support must be given to the patient to maintain the adjustments, whether it’s exercise, massage or nutrition.

Maybe it’s the fact that chiropractors put so much stock in the wisdom of the body that gives them a kind of spiritual grounding and openness that you don’t always see in the medical profession. For example, Dr. Brown says that his clinic’s goal is to change as many lives as possible every day. Dr. Sulack’s philosophy is that life “is to be a blessing to ones self and to bless others. Our skills are our gifts and by helping people, we get to experience our blessings and our gifts.” Dr. Sunshine is in constant motion, always learning new things and teaching seminars all over the world on chiropractics and other health topics. He says that he’s always willing to learn. If a patient comes in and tells him that a certain process worked for him or her, Dr. Sunshine’s thought is that people respond uniquely to different modalities. If several people come in and tell him about a certain modality, he’ll check it out.

Like I said, I was a bit skeptical at first. But after seeing these doctors in motion and learning more about their skills, processes and equipment, I’m ready for to sign-up. After all, chiropractics is not only useful as preventive medicine and some of those structural techniques look like just the thing for my hunched writer’s shoulders…