Chiropractic Care
Chiropractors help millions of maturing individuals regain control of their lives every year. Our treatments are designed to eliminate acute and chronic pain, increase flexibility, improve mobility and function, increase strength, enhance balance, and increase the overall quality of one's life.
Chiropractic care involves spinal and extremity adjustive techniques, physical therapies, soft tissue therapies, dietary and nutritional counseling, exercise and fitness counseling and many other safe and natural methods to improve health and prolong a vibrant and productive life. We can show you how to get the most out of your body so that you can get the most out of life!
Why Is Chiropractic Care So Important For The Maturing Adult?
Chiropractic care is extremely important for the maturing and elderly adult because of the dramatic changes that occur in the spine with increasing age. As we age, spinal discs, facet joints, ligaments, muscles and other spinal tissues become weaker, less hydrated, more fibrotic, and less able to withstand normal stresses. As a result, spinal pain from spinal degeneration (arthritis) becomes more prominent. The time to heal from injuries increases.
Chiropractic procedures take into consideration the nature of the aging spine and the many abnormalities present to provide a strategically effective, safe and noninvasive treatment plan. Through the use of gentle adjustive and mobilization techniques, physotherapies, and incorporation of stretching and exercise programs; spinal pain is reduced, spinal stresses are decreased, flexibility/mobility are improved, and degeneration is minimized.
Treatment techniques must focus on the underlying problem and involve participation of the patient in order to be truly effective and long lasting. Treatments which solely focus on pain (medications) are far less effective, and are often dangerous since the conditions causing the symptoms remain untreated and uncorrected.
What Benefits Does Chiropractic Care Provide For The Maturing Adult?
Routine chiropractic care has a number of benefits which are especially important for maturing adults:
- spinal and extremity pain relief
- decreased stiffness and muscular spasms
- increased mobility and range of motion
- increased balance and coordination
- increased sense of well being
- increased energy
- enhanced tissue healing
- decreased tissue inflammation
- increased joint health
- decreased arthritic joint pain
- minimized spinal stress and subsequent degeneration
- minimized risk of fall injuries
Are There Any Studies Showing The Benefits of Chiropractic Care In The Aging?
A recent study evaluated the health status of 414 elderly individuals (average age of 80 years) and compared those individuals under chiropractic care with those not under chiropractic care. The researchers found a number of significant findings which included:
- 87% of those who used chiropractic care rated their health as good or excellent compared with only 68% in the nonchiropractic group
- those who used chiropractic care were more likely to do moderate levels of exercise
- at 3 years follow-up, less than 5% of those who used chiropractic care used a nursing home while a staggering 48% of those who did not use chiropractic care did use a nursing home
- at 3 years follow-up, only 26% of those who used chiropractic care were hospitalized compared with 48% of those in the nonchiropractic group
- Coulter, PhD et al. Chiropractic and Care for the Elderly. Top Clin Chiro 1996;3(2):46-55.
What Can Chiropractic Care Do For Me?
Chiropractic Increases Spinal Range of Motion.
Increasing spinal range of motion can positively influence lives in many ways. For some, an increased range of motion means being able to bend down to pickup the grandchildren. For others, it translates into an extra 30 yards of distance out of their driver on the golf course.
Chiropractic care has a long history of helping individuals like yourself reach these and other goals through increases in spinal range of motion. This is one of the reasons why many top professional sporting teams have team chiropractors treat the athletes prior to and during sporting events.
Chiropractic Decreases the Frequency and Severity of Back, Neck and Head Pain
The treatments utilized by chiropractors have been consistently shown to be one of the most effective and safest forms of care to treat the majority of back, neck and headache complaints.
Chiropractic Increases Balance and Coordination
As we age, balance and coordination become increasingly impaired. Studies have shown that the receptors located in the joints of the upper cervical spine are largely responsible for providing the brain with essential information important for balance and coordination.
Chiropractic Can Decrease Fall Injuries, as well as Other Injuries
Fall injuries are extremely prevalent in the elderly population and are one of the most detrimental events that can occur to the older individual. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), falls are responsible for 90% of the 850,000 bone fractures which occur annually among Americans past the age of 65.
Chiropractors reduce the risk of falls by (1) utilizing specific chiropractic adjustive techniques in the cervical spine to normalize cervical joint receptors which provide the brain with important balance and coordination information, (2) utilizing stretching and exercise programs to increase strength, flexibility, mobility, balance and coordination, and (3) utilizing diet and nutritional counseling to improve nutritional status, increase energy levels, and increase sense of well-being.
Chiropractic Decreases Joint and Tissue Degeneration through Optimizing Biomechanics
Similar to an out-of-aligned wheel on an automobile, a misaligned spine with abnormal biomechanics will wear out prematurely. As all moving parts will eventually wear down over time, it is important to get the maximum "mileage" out of your spine, especially since it is the only one you'll ever get!
Chiropractic care is focused on optimizing spinal biomechanics which reduces spinal stress and, as a result, decreases spinal degeneration and other arthritic changes.
Chiropractic Increases Health and Well-Being
When you are free from nagging pain and stiff joints and can do the things you enjoy (golf, gardening, playing with the grandchildren, etc.) life is far more enjoyable. Feeling good, staying healthy and doing the things that make us happy are what keeps us looking forward to each new day.
Regular chiropractic care in those over the age of 40 is aimed at increasing the quality of life.
