Family Chiropractic Centre

FALSE -- While the Manga Report commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Health in 1993 reports that chiropractic is the treatment of choice for most low back pain, chiropractors deal with all conditions related to the spine and its effects on the nervous system.

Chiropractors are trained to detect subluxations -- subtle misalignment and improper movements -- of the spinal column which interrupt normal nerve stimulation from the spinal cord to the organs, tissues, and cells of the body. These subluxations interfere with the natural healing ability of the body. Chiropractors adjust the spine to correct or remove subluxations, restoring proper nerve function, allowing the body to heal.

Whether it is for back pain, headaches, illness, or health maintenance, chiropractors work to eliminate subluxations to allow proper nerve function, allowing the body to heal itself the way it was designed to.

FALSE -- There is nothing a chiropractor does to you that necessitates continued care.

However, most chiropractors recommend ongoing treatment for a number of reasons:

• Many symptoms are a result of an injury which occurred long before the symptoms appeared, or are due to years of poor posture, work habits, stress, etc. This usually means that the subluxations have been present for a long time, often years. Correcting these subluxations can take time and require ongoing care.
• Spinal problems tend to be recurrent -- if you have had back pain once, you are 3-5 times more likely to get it again. Continuing care is recommended to try and reduce the likelihood of a problem recurring.
• The nervous system is the master system of the body -- it controls every organ, tissue and cell. If there are subluxations in the spine, there can be interference to the nervous stimulation to the organs and tissues. This can lead to disease. Regular chiropractic checkups diminish the ill effects of a chronically subluxated spine.

The amount of chiropractic care a person chooses is always up to them. A well-informed, health-conscious individual eventually chooses regular chiropractic care.

EVERYONE -- Children: Subluxations (minor misalignments or improper motion of the spinal column) can be present from birth to death. Indeed, the very first subluxation often stems from the birth process. The hours of repeated uterine contractions during labor submit the infant's spine to massive compressive forces (ask any mother what it feels like to produce them), which can produce spinal subluxation.

Childhood is a time of exploration and development. It is a time when repeated falls, bumps and bruises are taken for granted. Yet these repeated traumas can produce subluxations that can lead to immediate or future problems. It was once thought that children didn't get back pain, until someone thought to ask them. A study reported in the American Journal of Public Health showed that 30.4 percent of children between the ages of 12 and 15 had experienced back pain, 22 percent within the previous 12 months.

Adults: Adult statistics on low back pain reveal that 80 percent of the adult population will experience back pain at some point in their life and that at any one time, between 4.5 percent and 5 percent of the Canadian population are currently experiencing back pain. Since chiropractic care has been proven to be the treatment of choice for most low back pain, most should seek chiropractic care for this reason alone. Add the benefits revealed in the seniors section below, and all adults should include chiropractic as part of their health care regimen.

Seniors: The importance of chiropractic care for seniors is clearly demonstrated in a study by the RAND corporation, an independent research corporation in the United States. Their study reveals that seniors under chiropractic care feel healthier, are less reliant on the health care system, and take fewer prescription drugs than non-chiropractic patients. This ultimately provides for a higher quality of life.

TRUE -- The Council on Chiropractic Education accredits chiropractic colleges that meet minimum educational standards. These include:

• Entrance requirements: a minimum of two years of university study in the qualifying sciences. At the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, approximately 70 percent of the students have earned a university degree before entering.
• A structured 4 or 5 year program. Government inquiries and independent investigations by medical practitioners have affirmed that today's chiropractic undergraduate training is of equivalent standard to medical training in all pre-clinical subjects. More emphasis is placed on chiropractic sciences including the spine, its function, and its relationship to health.

TRUE -- In Canada where most health care costs are covered by government insurance plans, any cost for health care paid by the patient appears expensive to the patient. However, according to the Manga report, commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Health and prepared by highly respected health economists at the University of Ottawa, representing the largest and most thorough analysis of the scientific literature on low back pain ever:

• spinal manipulation applied by chiropractors is shown to be more effective than alternative treatments for low back pain and many medical therapies are of questionable validity or are clearly inadequate.
• there is an overwhelming body of evidence indicating that chiropractic management of low back pain is more cost-effective than medical management.
• there would be highly significant cost savings if more management of low back pain was transferred from physicians to chiropractors. Evidence from Canada and other countries suggests potential savings of many hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Patients who must pay for their chiropractic care must take these factors into consideration. If chiropractic care is effective, increases productivity and enjoyment of life, the "expense" is secondary to a higher quality of life.

FALSE -- Chiropractors do not "crack" bones. Chiropractors perform spinal adjustments which can result in a cracking noise that originates in the joints of the spine. This is a normal physiological response to an adjustment, although it is not always heard. It is due to a process called cavitation, which is the release of nitrogen gas from the normal fluid of the joint, due to a sudden pressure change in the joint.

Chiropractors are trained for four years to use the correct amount of force to accomplish an adjustment. Therefore, adjustments are a safe procedure in the skilled hands of a chiropractor.

NO -- But sometimes yes. Chiropractic care is tailored to the individual patient. Chiropractic adjustments in and of themselves are not painful. However, when a patient is suffering from a lot of pain, simply moving can be a painful experience. In such cases, great care is taken to perform the adjustments as comfortably as possible.

If deep massage is used as part of the treatment, muscle tenderness may be experienced while the pressure is applied. Again, the pressure is tailored to the individual patient.

Overall, the vast majority of chiropractic care should feel good and be a pleasant experience. If it wasn't, Canadians would not make 30 million chiropractic office visits per year.