Chiropractic Care
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There are lots of myths and misconceptions about chiropractic care, so we thought we’d share some facts.
- All chiro’s do at least a 5-year undergraduate degree which has very similar subjects to a medical practitioner’s training, such as microbiology, parasitology, physiology, anatomy, neuroanatomy, diagnosis and management, pathology, orthopedics, neurology etc.
- Chiropractors are trained to provide care across the lifespan, and some chiropractors opt to do further postgraduate training, for example, specifically to care for young babies, sports-focused chiro’s – some of whom even go to the commonwealth games or Olympics and work in the healthcare team. SD Protocol trained chiro’s (these chiro’s have specific training working with patients that may be suffering from Sympathetic Dominance SD or chronic stress), Dr. Wayne Todd is the founder, developer and a world-renowned author and speaker on the SD protocol and has sold more than 15,000 copies of his book worldwide.
- How long you choose to take advantage of chiropractic care is always up to you. Just like regularly brushing your teeth and going to the dentist, chiropractors frequently check and make sure that the spine is moving well so that we might function better.
- Most chiropractors use a range of different techniques to help patients of all ages and conditions. So how we may look after an 80-year-old, is very different from a teenager, which is also very different from a middle-aged person. A fit athlete is managed very differently to a young baby.
We are trained to carefully take a history, examine, and determine if chiropractic care is the right choice for every new patient that we see. If we feel that you have a problem that could be better cared for by your GP or a Physio, for instance, we would refer you to them straight away.
- Chiropractors are eligible for what is called Chronic Pain Management (EPC), this means that ALL patients who have had a condition for more than 3-months are eligible for 5 visits covered by Medicare if they are not already seeing a Physio or Osteo on the same plan. The GP will need to write you a referral.
- Some chiropractors go on to study and publish research to improve the understanding of what we know about the body, and how chiropractic care may help improve patient outcomes. Dr. Angela Todd has published 3 peer-reviewed articles relating to the safety and effectiveness of chiropractic care to children. These papers have been cited by other researchers and in some cases used in a government assessment of chiropractic care generally in Australia and Internationally.
If a part of your spine stops moving and gliding normally, it only takes around 30-minutes for the area of the brain that controls that movement, to “SMUDGE” or “cortical smudging”. This means that the brain realises information that the joint isn’t moving, so in an effort to conserve energy, it clamps down the muscles in that area and stiffens the joint more so that it moves even less.
The best way to restore movement isn’t just at the joint, you need to make sure the change in movement is enough to influence the brain. This is done with either the Activator Instrument and also with the adjustments (spinal manipulation) applied by a chiropractor where you might hear a “clicking” sound.
