Things I would like you to know:

For starters, the practice of chiropractic can take on many different meanings.  This profession is as much of an art as it is a science.  You can go to 10 different chiropractors and get 10 different treatments. If you are coming to my office, then I feel that you should have an idea of how I practice.  One other thing I want to mention at this point is about the frequency of your visits.  I do not believe in having you come in multiple times for weeks and weeks on end, with no end in sight.  I treat you like I treat any member of my family.  If you have an acute and painful situation, then we may need to work on you for a number of visits.  How many?  The honest answer is:  I have no idea!  Sometimes patients have an unrealistic impression that doctors know how long it will take for something to get better.  Want the truth?  This is all a guess!  Your body will heal in the time it takes to heal.  I will do everything in my power to make that as fast as possible and get you back to doing what you want to do and not spending your time in my office!  I tell every patient that my ultimate goal is for you to simply use me as you need me.  Many patients will get to the point where they understand that they can just call me when something is coming on or they just re-injured themselves. Some choose to be on a maintenance plan and come in for "tune-ups" as they see fit.  My relationship with my patients is a partnership not a dictatorship.  I am here to be your guide and help you through things.  I can't and will never try to control what you do outside of my office.  That is just my belief.   

What is it that we are trying to accomplish?

The bottom line is that we are trying to restore normal function of muscles, joints and nerves.  We do this in a variety of ways.  I usually start off by doing some muscle or soft tissue work.  Sometimes this is called trigger point therapy.  This can be done manually or with the use of various tools.  Sometimes, this will be done with a technique called dry needling.  (Please see the link to fully understand what dry needling is).  The bottom line here is that your muscles or other soft tissue called fascia can be a major contributor to the cause of your pain.  It is my belief that this must be addressed in your treatment.  This is often an area where chiropractors differ.  Some believe in doing muscle work and some don't.  

The second major area of concern is joint mobility.  This is what we as chiropractors call an adjustment.  An adjustment can be done to any of the spinal joints or any of the extremities.  Please, please, please get it out of your head that what we are doing is "realigning your spine".  Your spine does not go "out" and we do not put it back "in".  What we do is feel the motion of the joints and where fixations are present, we use a variety of techniques to try and restore normal motion.  Sometimes when we perform an adjustment you may hear a cracking or popping sound.  Again, that is not the joint going back into place!  That is called cavitation.  It is nothing more than a nitrogen gas bubble popping.  Think bubble wrap!  Whether or not a joint cavitates (cracks) or not, is irrelevant.  The pop means absolutely nothing.  Over the years, people have given false meaning to these popping sounds.  Some believe that if it pops then "it was a good one".  On the other hand, some feel that if the joint didn't pop then "it didn't go in".  Again, these are all false chiropractic myths!  

When I spoke about techniques before, I was just referring to the methods that we use to restore the joint mobility.  Personally, I use a combination of Diversified, Thompson, ABC, Cox, and the Arthrostim tool to perform my adjustments.  If you really want to know the differences of all these techniques just ask when you are in for a visit.  The reason that I use a variety of techniques is because all patients are different.  You wouldn't use a fire hose to blow out a candle would you?  Chiropractic techniques are the same way.  Some are more aggressive and some are extremely soft and gentle.  How I would work on and adjust a professional football player would be entirely different than how I would adjust a baby or a 95 year old osteoporitic female!  Make sense? 

My third area of concern is the normal firing of the nervous system.  This is assessed during a physical exam.  I usually have a patient contract muscles and fire nerves in multiple different ways to determine how well a nerve is firing to cause a muscle to contract. You see, if I find a nerve that isn't firing properly, it will give a false illusion that a muscle is weak.  In these situations, I will use cold laser technology to stimulate the proper firing of the brain and the nervous system.  The use of cold lasers has not always existed. I began using them to rehab the nervous system back in 2005.  They are so powerful that I would never choose to practice without one again.  The key, like any tool, is knowing how to use it properly.  Lasers are not something that you just shine on someone and expect something magical to occur!  If you did, it will often be no more beneficial than shining a red flashlight on someone.  The key is to wake up the brain to what is not firing and stimulate it to fire.  

Finally, my fourth area that I take into consideration is your nutritional status.  I have been studying clinical nutrition and herbal medicine for well over two decades.  I have traveled all over the United States and studied with doctors in this and other countries.  Sometimes, you can be doing all the right things when it comes to the physical treatment of the body and the body will still not heal or recover.  This is when you need to be looking at the nutritional status of the body.  Why is it so easy to understand that if we put bad gas in our car it will run poorly, but some have no concept that what they put in their body will affect how it functions and heals?  Your body heals and functions according to the fuel you put in it.  Do you realize that current research says that 95% of all cancers are preventable with diet and control of your environment.  That means that most of the time, cancer is not a genetic predisposition!  So, with that being said, when I am with patients and I see something that is a very obvious nutritional deficiency, I may bring it up to you.  I will give you dietary options and possibly supplement or herbal options that may help to speed your healing or improve the function of your body.  Now whether or not you follow my advice is entirely up to you.  I will not hound you to purchase supplements or follow a specific diet.  I am here as a guide for those that want it.  

Please know this.  For those that are interested, I can schedule a nutritional consultation to go over specific health concerns that you may have.  I have built nutritional protocols for patients with heart, kidney and liver failure.  I can advise you on how to support your body in a vary large variety of health conditions.  However, regardless of the condition we are talking about, let me be very clear about something.  We don't treat the disease, that is for the medical doctors to do.  I will educate you on how to support your body's systems and how to feed the necessary organs so that they may have the opportunity to return to health.  You can do some amazing things with the right understanding of clinical nutrition and herbal medicine.  Nutritional consultations are $75 for an hour consultation.  Please let us know if that is something you are interested in.