Patient Education
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The more you understand your body and how it functions, the better equipped you'll be at taking care of yourself to achieve optimal health. Our team of chiropractic professionals empower patients to take charge of your own health and future, educating you about your condition to decrease your need for future care. We've included the Patient Education section on our website to provide you with valuable, practical wellness information which you can incorporate into your lifestyle to improve the quality of your life. We hope you will turn to these pages whenever you have a question about health related issues and urge you to contact our practice at any time to make an appointment with one of our chiropractors.
The purpose of chiropractic is to improve and sustain quality of life.
This is achieved by awakening the body's natural healing ability through treatment of the musculoskeletal system, the healing power of touch and guidance in proper nutrition and exercise.
On Health
Many People think that health is how you feel. But lack of symptoms doesn't mean you're healthy. If you look good and feel great but have undetected cancer - you're sick.
True health is how well your body works mentally, physically and socially. If something isn't working right, then you're sick.
It is the purpose of your brain and nervous system to control the function of every cell, tissue, organ and system of your body. A properly working nervous system in concert with musculoskeletal integrity, proper nutrition and exercise is the key to good health.
We believe in the body's ability to heal itself. We believe healthy people are happy people.
On Chiropractic
Besides medicine and dentistry, chiropractic is the third largest doctoral health profession in the United States.
The typical applicant at a chiropractic college has already acquired four years of pre-medical undergraduate college education including course in biology, inorganic and organic chemistry, physics, psychology and related lab work. Intensive studies include course in anatomy, physiology, rehabilitation, nutrition and public health.
The curriculum includes no less than four years of classroom, laboratory and clinic experience - all aimed at preparing the doctor of chiropractic to be a portal-of-entry healthcare provider. The course of study is approved by an accrediting agency which is fully recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. This has been the case for 25 years.
Chiropractic involves the study of philosophy, science and art. Philosophy considers the fundamental nature of the existence of human beings and their interaction with the environment. The sciences deal with aspects of the universe related to human biology, and especially the relationship between spinal segments and the nerve system. Chiropractic's art is the expression of its philosophy and the concern with locating and correcting vertebral subluxations.
Instead of treating your symptoms, your Doctor of Chiropractic is primarily interested in detecting, reducing, and preventing the Subluxation.
How Chiropractic Works
To understand chiropractic, one must have a basic understanding about how the body functions. From the time you were born, an "inner wisdom" has known exactly how to keep you healthy and alive. It knows how fast your heart should beat, how often your lungs need to breathe, how to digest food and how to eliminate waste. There are millions of details controlled by this inner wisdom that keep this marvelous machine in prime functioning condition.
Every living organism in our world possesses what chiropractors call Innate Intelligence. The body machine comes out of the "factory" fully able to function, as long as it has regular fuel and adequate maintenance, thanks to this Innate Intelligence.
Innate Intelligence sends instructions to every organ and cell in your body through the nervous system housed and protected by the vertebrae. However, if these vertebrae are misaligned, even a little, those instructions can be interrupted. The result is "dis-ease" and dysfunction.
The word disease is a combination of 'dis' and 'ease'. 'Dis' is a prefix meaning "apart from" and ease meaning a "state of balance." It follows then that dis-ease is a lack of comfort, a loss in harmony in the system. When there is a lack of harmony in music, the musician adjusts the notes to complement each other. That's exactly what a chiropractic adjustment strives to do, restore body harmony, thus restore health.
International Chiropractic Association Children's Info
www.icpa4kids.com
Tennessee Chiropractic Association
www.tnchiro.com
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"Health is worth more than learning."
-- Thomas Jefferson
While many have heard of it, few know very much about it. Yet acupuncture is one of the oldest healing arts in the world, practiced centuries ago by ancient Chinese as a method of curing a host of ailments.
Today, Americans make as many as 12 million visits per year to acupuncture practitioners, according to the most recent statistics from the Food and Drug Administration. Many people who have experienced acupuncture report relief from pain and a sense of euphoria or well being.
There are currently more than 10,000 certified acupuncturists, one-third of them physicians practicing in this country.
Acupuncture involves the application of extremely fine needles into one or more of the 2,000 acupuncture points on the human body. These points are said to link 12 main and 8 secondary pathways. These channels, or pathways, are called “meridians." The meridians are believed to conduct energy between the body's skin and internal organs. Part of the controversy surrounding acupuncture stems from the fact that scientists cannot correlate the 20 pathways, or meridians, with the human body's blood circulation and nerve paths.
Nevertheless, acupuncture theory holds that energy conducted by meridians, also called qi (pronounced "chee"), is known to coordinate the balance between one's spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical state. Acupuncture is believed to help in balancing the opposing forces called yin and yang. A healthy person's yin and yang are said to be in a state of harmony.
Acupuncture has about as many critics as it does advocates. Medical researchers have shown in dozens of high profile studies, however, that acupuncture can be an effective alternate treatment for a myriad of health problemsfrom central nervous system-related conditions and immune system response.
Acupuncture is known to have a profound impact on pain. The theory is that the application of fine needles in acupuncture points stimulates the release of chemicals, such as endorphins or opiates, which dull or alleviate pain while releasing hormones, neurotransmitters, and other chemicals that aid in healing or regulating things, such as blood pressure.
Evidence has shown that the body's 2,000-plus acupuncture points do conduct electricity, and this flow of current may play a role in triggering the release of helpful chemicals in the body to where they are needed most.
Does acupuncture hurt?
Acupuncture needles are so incredibly small and thin (up to 50 times thinner than a standard hypodermic needle), they are barely noticeable when inserted. Some people who experience acupuncture report feeling nothing at all; others report feeling a mild discomfort, followed by a mild sensation of cramping, tingling, numbness, warmth, or heaviness. Acupuncture needles are normally left in place for 20 to 40 minutes.
Acupressure, another alternative therapy rooted in ancient Eastern medicine, involves exerting pressure on specific body points by use of the fingers of the hand, palm, or elbows.