What is Chiropractic?

 
 

NATURAL HEALTH CARE WITHOUT DRUGS OR SURGERY

Chiropractic is a natural form of health care that uses spinal adjustments to correct misalignments of the vertebrae of the spine and restore proper function to the nervous system, helping your body to heal naturally. Chiropractic doesn't use drugs or surgery. Rather, a chiropractic spinal adjustment (which is the application of a precise force to a specific part of the spinal segment) corrects the misalignment, permitting normal nerve transmission and assisting your body to recuperate on its own.

 

Chiropractic, the world’s foremost natural healthcare science, is rooted in history as far back as the ancient Greeks. But most significantly, in the late 1800's, the spine and nerve system were given specialized, intense research and study. Daniel David (D.D.) Palmer, tutored in his youth in the classics and health sciences and later a teacher himself, was a man with an investigative nature whose intellect focused on the healing arts. After years of studying human health and disease, he formed a hypothesis and systematized the knowledge upon which the modern chiropractic science, art and philosophy are based. 

 

Chiropractic concerns itself with the relationship between structure (primarily the spine) and function (primarily coordinated by the nervous system) of the human body and how that relationship affects the restoration and preservation of health. Chiropractic employs neither drugs nor surgery. It is concerned with the entire environment of the body and is based on a properly functioning nervous system, which begins with the brain and courses through the spinal cord encased within the spinal column. 
 

No part of the body escapes the dominance of the nervous system. Spinal biomechanical dysfunction, or improper function of the spine due to slight misalignments called subluxations, can cause a state of poor health in an area far removed from the spine and spinal cord itself, and can reduce the ability of the body to adapt to an ever-changing environment. The slightest malfunction of the spine may alter the regular transmission of nerve impulses, preventing that portion of the body from responding with its full inherent capacity.


Chiropractic education centers on the concept of health, not disease. The chiropractic student, during five rigorous academic years of study normally completed in three-and-one-third calendar years, is trained to know all structures and functions of the human body and to recognize the interrelationship of all parts. Chiropractors provide a highly appealing primary health care approach because they do not perform surgery or prescribe medicine. 

 

Upon receiving the Doctor of Chiropractic degree, most graduates enter private practice. Others may elect to become an associate of an established chiropractor, while some may decide to enter chiropractic education in a teaching, research or administrative capacity. No matter the choice, the individual is a participant in and contributor to the world’s healthcare delivery system, providing a health service in harmony with natural laws. Today, chiropractic is sought increasingly as the public’s awareness of their responsibility for health maintenance grows and the majority of people now look for an alternative to medicine. In fact, chiropractic is the care of choice for the estimated 19.5 million people who visit doctors of chiropractic in the United States each year. However, if a Doctor of Chiropractic determines the patient requires attention from another branch of the healthcare professions, that recommendation or referral is encouraged.