Like conventional medicine, chiropractic is based upon scientific principles of diagnosis through testing and empirical observations. Treatment is based upon the practitioner's rigorous training and clinical experience. Unlike conventional medicine, which focuses on attempting to treat disease once it occurs, chiropractic attempts to improve the health of the individual in an effort to avoid illness in the first place. Most people would rather be healthy and avoid illness, if they could. This is one of the main reasons for the big upsurge in the popularity of chiropractic. People are recognizing the benefit of seeking an alternative to traditional medicine; one that will help them achieve and maintain optimal health.
What truly differentiates doctors of chiropractic from any other healthcare professionals is the fact that chiropractors are the only professionals who are trained to diagnose and treat what are called spinal subluxations. The word 'subluxation' comes from the Latin words meaning 'to dislocate' (luxare) and 'somewhat or slightly' (sub). So the term 'vertebral subluxation' literally means a slight dislocation (misalignment) of the bones in the spine. Although this term was adequate in the 1800s when much was still misunderstood about the human body, today the word 'subluxation' has changed in meaning to capture the complex of neurological, structural, and functional changes that occur when a bone is 'out of place.' For this reason chiropractors usually refer to subluxations of the spine as the "Vertebral Subluxation Complex", or "VSC" for short.
The chiropractic approach to healthcare is holistic, meaning that it addresses your overall health. It recognizes that many lifestyle factors such as exercise, diet, rest, and environment impact your health. For this reason, chiropractors recommend changes in lifestyle' eating, exercise, and sleeping habits in addition to chiropractic care.
Chiropractic is so much more than simply a means of relieving pain. Ultimately, the goal of the chiropractic treatment is to restore the body to its natural state of optimal health. Since the body has a remarkable ability to heal itself and to maintain its own health, the primary focus is simply to remove those things which interfere with the body's normal healing ability.
This section explains more about the background of chiropractic care, how it works, who it can benefit, and more!
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Love Others
Category:
Health & Wellness, Wellness Lifestyle Tips, Treat Others Well
Although you may have never seen a doctor write a prescription for daily doses of "love," best selling authors such as Deepak Chopra M.D., Bernie Siegal M.D., and Dean Ornish M.D. all write about the healing properties of love. Dr. Ornish says, "love may be the greatest of all disease-fighters, and it's
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Quit Smoking
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Health & Wellness, Wellness Lifestyle Tips, Treat Yourself Well
Smoking throughout the day is akin to living inside a burning building. Smoking degrades the collagen of your skin causing premature aging, destroys the cells inside your lungs, and promotes heart disease, cataracts and cancer because of the oxidizing radicals released into the blood stream. It can contribute
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Read the Labels
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Health & Wellness, Wellness Lifestyle Tips, Eat Well
Just about every packaged food made in the U.S. has a food label indicating serving size and other nutritional information.
Learning how to read food labels is like looking at a prescription for your health and your life. We recommend looking for red-flag ingredients- if a Hall of Shame ingredient is
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Turn off the Television
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Health & Wellness, Wellness Lifestyle Tips, Treat Yourself Well
There are three major trends in the health of both children and adults that have public health workers concerned: an increase in obesity, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and the amount of time spent watching television. Several recently published research studies indicate that television may be the
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Identity
Category:
Health & Wellness, Wellness Perspectives, Spiritual
The big distinction about wellness psychology is that it is largely a manifestation of your identity, who you believe yourself to be. If you consider yourself a well person, it goes a long way toward producing well habits and a well mind. Your identity is your self image, your self concept, your beliefs
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Personality
Category:
Health & Wellness, Wellness Perspectives, Physical
Healthy people express themselves consistent with their personality types, so there is a wide spectrum of normal behaviors that could contribute to achieving wellness.
The technical end of wellness psychology encourages normal responses to the challenges of life, rather than just treating mental and
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Quality Of Life
Category:
Health & Wellness, Wellness Perspectives, Social
Our own values and beliefs will shape our definition of a great quality of life. A well person or family seeks to live consistently with their own meaning for living well.
The most obvious and desirable benefit of a well mind is a better quality of life, which of course is determined by each individual's
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Relationships
Category:
Health & Wellness, Wellness Perspectives, Social
Sharing and committing to support each other's values calms rocky waters and sets the stage for happiness and growth in relationships.
While you can't be responsible for someone else's behaviors and values, you can help to create an environment that makes relationships work better. Gaining and maintaining
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Spirituality
Category:
Health & Wellness, Wellness Perspectives, Spiritual
Appreciating religious values and spiritual beliefs can help form a solid foundation of wellness in your life.
No discussion of wellness psychology would be complete without mentioning the impact of spirituality on wellness. Appreciating religious values and spiritual beliefs can help to form a solid
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Wellness Psychology
Category:
Health & Wellness, Wellness Perspectives, Mental
Is this glass of water half empty or half full? Wellness psychology would definitely indicate the latter.
Wellness psychology is the study of mental and emotional wellness - in other words, the way to create conditions of thinking and feeling that are consistent with healthy living.
Wellness psychology
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Scoliosis
Category:
Common Conditions Treated, Chronic Condition Relief
Scoliosis is a sideways curve of the spine that causes stiffness and pain. People with scoliosis have a sideways curve in their spine that makes an "S" or "C" shape.
Scoliosis is a sideways curve of the spine that causes stiffness and pain. It is called an idiopathic disease because the cause of it
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PMS
Category:
Common Conditions Treated, Chronic Condition Relief, Conditions Affecting Women
Several studies have shown that chiropractic care can help decrease many of the symptoms of PMS without the potential side effects of prescription drugs.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is characterized by mood swings, swollen abdomen, headaches, back pain, food cravings, fatigue, irritability or depression
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Pinched Nerve
Category:
Common Conditions Treated, Body Pain
When nerves become 'pinched', injury, spasm, and inflammation of the surrounding muscles causes the nerve to become compressed, resulting in pain.
The term "pinched nerve" is somewhat of a catch-all phrase that is commonly used to describe the pain associated with a variety of conditions from subluxations,
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Osteoporosis
Category:
Common Conditions Treated, Chronic Condition Relief
Although most chiropractors don't directly treat Osteoporosis, chiropractic care directly addresses spinal misalignments, which in turn directly impact proper functioning of the nerve system..
Osteoporosis is a metabolic disease involving loss of bone tissue and the disorganization of bone structure.
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Ear Infections
Category:
Common Conditions Treated, Pediatric Ailments
If your child experiences recurrent ear infections, chiropractic can help by restoring normal drainage of the lymphatic vessels.
Almost half of all children will suffer from at least one middle ear infection (otitis media) before they're a year old, and two-thirds of them will have had at least one
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Carpal Tunnel
Category:
Common Conditions Treated, Repetitive Use Injuries
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) has become one of the most widespread occupational health problems we face today. It affects millions of people a year, and with our growing reliance on computers there seems to be no end in sight.The syndrome is caused by pressure on the median nerve just above the wrist.
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