Chiropractic Is So Much More Than Just the Spine
This article was provided by Dr. Kevin Wong, a chiropractor at Orinda Chiropractic & Laser Center in Orinda, CA. If you would like to learn more, please visit https://www.orindachiropractic.com/.
If you are reading this article, you may be trying to decide if Chiropractic is a healthcare discipline that could work for you? In the past, patients have not sought us out as the first choice for their health care needs. Stereotypically, patients tend to seek us out because they have some sort of lower back or neck pain. Patients tend to pigeon hold Chiropractors as “Back and Neck Doctors”. Although these areas are among the most common areas we treat, Chiropractors treat ANY joint in the body.
How Are Chiropractors Different?
We are able to help patients with pain differently than any other health profession because we spend a lot of time in school. After doing undergraduate studies in Pre-Med and science, we spend 4 years in private post-graduate Chiropractic college learning everything we can about the bones, spine, nutrition, rehabilitation and caring for patients. We are very knowledgeable in how to help with pain.
Things can get confusing for patients when looking at the medical landscape and
choices for who to seek help for. Medical doctors prescribe medication and/or surgery for pain; Physical Therapists may show you exercises and perform manual therapies to reduce the pain. Massage therapists use their hands to massage the soft tissue. Acupuncturists or Reflexologist work with the energy channels or “meridians” of the body. They use needles or their fingertips for this type of treatment. As Chiropractors, we can utilize multiple strategies to understand the cause of your pain and treat it.
We Chiropractors help a ton of patients naturally by evaluating how healthy or properly the spinal and extremity bones are aligned with respect to each other. Our treatment options offer great solutions especially in lieu of the opioids that have been over-prescribed and have crippled so many in America. Chiropractic has always been the best drug-less option in helping people get well. Once we find a bone that has moved out of it’s normal alignment, we have a variety of tools at our disposal to help improve the alignment of the bones. The techniques designed to perform an “adjustment” involve light, gentle hand force. Some adjustment techniques utilize hardly any force at all. I have gained a lot of skill over the years so we pick the technique that your body is going to be the most comfortable with. Your body is always in charge.
I have been a practicing Chiropractor since 1996 and I have had the pleasure to work with a lot of different patients for many different ailments. I grew up in Orinda and went to Miramonte High School. I attended the University of California, Davis for college and then finished up my schooling by attending Palmer College of Chiropractic West in San Jose. Aside from practicing, I teach 125 hours per year of continuing education seminars to Chiropractors across the United States and Internationally. My practice has been in Orinda for almost 18 years and I love my job.
Understanding Spinal Alignment
Chiropractic essentially means the “practice of using the hands”. A Chiropractor uses their hands to analyze bones and joints of the spine and the surrounding joints to see how they line up with each other. This alignment helps determine the stress on the nerves which move out of the spinal cord and communicate with every part of the body. Sometimes, vertebrae slip out of alignment for whatever reason. My hands are trained to see what kinds of alignment issues you may be having.
In my daily practice of over 21 years, I treat many patients for the traditional lower back and neck pain. However, with experience and frustration through the years, I have developed a practice specialty of treating the extremities (i.e. the feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands and the Jaw) as well as the spine. I have observed that the extremity joints actually stress out and destabilize the spine. So to achieve better results in a more efficient nabber, I always analyze the extremities on patients when appropriate so that we don’t miss anything.
Most Chiropractors look only at the spine and they can miss a lot when they leave out the extremities. Practice has taught me that “x” rarely marks the spot when it comes to pain. The cause of the pain is often elsewhere or further away from where you feel it. I will address your pain that brings you in to see me and I will teach you about all of the surrounding structures that could be a problem.
My goals for you as your Doctor are as follows:
1. Bring you back to your treatment room on time. Your time is as valuable as mine
2. Discuss your ailment and help you understand what is going on in your body.
Education is important to me. Education brings empowerment and takes away
fear.
3. Offer you treatment options that make sense and will be as efficient as I can
make them. I don’t want to string you along or take longer than you need.
4. Make you a happy, satisfied patient. I have been at this too long to care about
anyone but you. It’s all about you from my perspective.
I hope you found the information about Chiropractic and my style of practice interesting. I look forward to meeting and helping you.