About Chiropractic

Over 100 years ago, D.D. Palmer (the Founder of Chiropractic and Palmer College of Chiropractic) had a "big idea" - the idea that good health can be sustained naturally, without drugs or surgery, through chiropractic care. Today, chiropractic is the second largest licensed health care profession.

Chiropractors use natural, drugless, non-surgical health care and rely on the body's ability to heal itself. Like other health practitioners, chiropractors follow a standard routine to secure the information needed to determine how to care for their patients. They take the patient's medical history; conduct physical, neurological and orthopedic examinations; and may order laboratory tests and X-rays.

What Chiropractic Is

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 is based on the fact that the human body is a self-healing, self-regulating organism, and the nerve system is the master control system of the process. The spinal column consists of 24 freely moving bone segments called vertebrae. As the skull is to the brain, the function of the spinal column is to protect the very delicate spinal cord and spinal nerves that branch off.
A chiropractic spinal adjustment (the application of a precise force to the specific part of the spinal segment) corrects the vertebral subluxation, permitting normal nerve transmission, innate recuperative capability, and effective health and adaptation of the person.

Chiropractic is the care of choice as the majority of people today look for an alternative to medicine. No longer viewed as merely an "alternative approach" to health care, chiropractic has a rich history that is carried on through the chiropractic leaders of today.

Chiropractic Quick Facts:

• Spinal adjusting has been traced back to the times of Hippocrates.
• The first chiropractic adjustment was given by D.D. Palmer in 1895.
• An estimated 19.5 million people visit doctors of chiropractic in the United States each year.
• Chiropractic is wellness care. While chiropractors assist many people who have suffered injuries or have been involved in car accidents, chiropractic care is concerned with the patient's overall well-being and promotion of good health.