Below are answers to the most common questions about chiropractic care. If you have other questions or concerns please feel free to contact us by phone at (701) 775-0223, by e-mail, or by using the contact information on this website.

Chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on disorders of the musculoskeletal system (muscles & joints) and the nervous system, and the effects that these disorders have on general health. Chiropractic is also a system of healthcare that uses hands-on, conservative (meaning non-drug and non-surgical) treatment to correct these nerve, muscle and joint problems. Chiropractic care is used most often to treat back pain, neck pain, pain in the joints of the arms or legs, and headaches, but it is certainly not limited to these complaints. A chiropractors most common form of treatment is "manipulation" or "adjustments" to the different joints of the body, particularly the spinal joints, to relieve pressure and irritation to the joints, muscle and/or nerves, as well as to increase motion at these joints. At ChiroCenter One we also use other manual techniques such as massage and myofascial release, as well as physiotherapies such as ultrasound, electrical muscle stimulation, and hot/cold therapy to compliment the adjustment as needed. Rehabilitation instruction on stretching and strengthening are also used as needed on a case-by-case basis.

Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy (CMT) is the medical term, but most chiropractors and people call it a chiropractic "adjustment" or "manipulation". Adjustments usually involve a quick thrust that helps add motion to spinal or other joints that are not moving properly. This helps alleviate pain, muscle tightness and swelling, allowing tissues to heal. The adjustment is most commonly done through the use of the doctor’s hands, but sometimes with an instrument or by using a special table. There are many ways to adjust the spine, and each patient receives a customized adjustment suited to their particular condition. Many times there is an audible "pop" during the adjustment as the joint separates. Although many people mistakenly believe the noise comes from the bones, the "pop" is actually caused by a bubble of carbon dioxide gas inside the joint. Most of the time an adjustment is a totally pain free procedure.

Even though some people can make their joints "pop" by twisting and turning their spine, this is certainly not a chiropractic adjustment. Worse, damage can occur by continually moving a wrong joint with weakened muscles and ligaments. Chiropractic adjustments are very specific, and take many years of training and practice to master. Even chiropractors cannot adjust themselves and must consult a colleague to receive treatment.

Of course every case is different, but suffice it to say that chiropractic treatment has been proven in studies time and again to be quicker, safer, less costly, and with more patient satisfaction than other types of treatments. Chiropractic is not a "miracle cure", however, that can correct problems that have been around for months or even years in a single visit. Typically a treatment plan needs to include several visits to stabilize then correct the problem. Generally, the longer the problem has been apparent the longer it takes to correct.

Almost every insurance plan now has coverage for chiropractic treatment. Typically there will be a "co-pay" with each office visit. This is often the same co-payment you pay when you see your M.D. or family physician at the clinic. In our area, for example, a lot of people have co-payments between $10-$25. If you have any questions about your insurance please contact our office with your information and we will confirm your insurance benefits for you. Even if you do not have insurance coverage, rest assured that chiropractic is one of the most cost-effective treatment options. Again, please feel free to call or contact the office with any financial questions or concerns.

No. Although a "slipped disc" is a common way to refer to a number of disc problems, technically the disc cannot "slip" because of the way it attaches to the spine. The discs of the spine act like spacers and shock absorbers--made of an outer fibrous ring which holds a softer, jelly-like material on the inside. When someone refers to a slipped disc, they are most commonly talking about either a disc bulge or a disc herniation. A bulged disc is one that has swollen and the disc has increased in size, but its structure is intact. This can still cause significant lower back and neck pain, but neurological involvement such as leg and arm pain and/or numbness/tingling are less severe. With a disc herniation, there has been an actual tear of the outer ring structure and some of the soft inner center has leaked outside of the disc itself. This too can cause significant back and neck pain, but neurological involvement such as pain into the extremities, numbness/tingling, and even extremity weakness are usually more severe. Sometimes those with a disc herniation may actually have more symptoms and problems into the legs or arms than in the lower back or neck itself. The good news is that chiropractic treatment is an effective option for either type of disc problem, and more often than not, back and neck surgery can be avoided.

Besides lower back and neck pain, headaches are the second most common complaint we see in our clinic. Headaches arising from the cervical spine, or neck, are called cervicogenic headaches, and these respond quite favorably to chiropractic treatment. These usually start along the base of the head in back, but they can, and often do, radiate around the head to the front, causing pain and pressure behind or above the eyes, or along the side of the head in the temple region. This is called a "hat-band" distribution and is quite indicative of a cervicogenic headache. The pain can be on both sides, but often is located more on one side of the head. Many people assume that one-sided headaches are migraines, but this is often not the case. Over-the-counter pain medications can certainly ease the symptoms of a headache, but even these medications can have serious side effects. Chiropractic treatment of headaches is drug-free and actually addresses the cause rather than just covering up symptoms.

Of course not. How long you decide to benefit from chiropractic treatment is always up to you. However, just like other healthy habits such as getting your eyes and teeth checked regularly, we do recommend periodic chiropractic checkups to keep your spine and joints in good health. Once the joints of the spine and body start to degenerate (arthritis, loss of disc height, bone spurring) there is no going back to the way it was...the best you can do at that point is to manage the problem to keep it from getting worse. In other words, there is a permanent condition. Unfortunately, too many people wait until this happens before finally turning to chiropractic as a last result. And although many of these people still experience significant relief of their symptoms from treatment, often they will require ongoing care to keep it that way. Of course this is certainly better than not doing anything, living in pain, and letting the problem get worse to a point that no treatment is going to help. Just like a person with diabetes can take insulin the rest of their lives and live quite normally, many people with permanent spinal problems choose supportive chiropractic care to live an active and pain-free life as possible.

Children have joints, muscles, ligaments and nerves just like adults, and as such, they can experience the same type of problems. Chiropractic is also a great treatment option for kids because it does not use drugs and is non-invasive. The best part is that children also respond much faster than adults so that usually just a few treatments are required. And correcting problems now can prevent permanent problems later in adulthood, particularly with conditions such as scoliosis. There are also two other specific problems that chiropractors treat quite often in children--colic and middle ear infections. There is some confusion and misinformation outside the chiropractic community regarding treatment of these conditions, as they are not the "typical" neuromusculoskeletal conditions. First and foremost, there are certain medical conditions that can cause these problems in infants and children, and these need to be evaluated medically, but many times there are still no definitive answers to these problems...and this is where chiropractic treatment can come into play. Usually during the history we will find there was some issue with the birthing process-–a very fast delivery, too slow of a delivery, vacuum extraction, or c-section to name a few. These are all potential causes of injury to the pediatric spine. The chiropractic evaluation will look for areas in the spine where joints are injured and not moving properly. With ear infections we look for these finding most often in the neck region where reactive tight neck musculature can compress lymph nodes and block fluid drainage from the ear. The eustachian tubes in children are also more horizontal than in adults, which cause them to become plugged more easily, which again inhibits drainage from the middle ear. Regarding colic, this is sometimes simply a pain response to a dysfunctional area of the spine. The neck is often responsible, as this area of a young child’s spine is the most susceptible to injury, but problems can also occur in the middle as well as lower back. Regardless, the chiropractic approach to these problems is very gentle and very safe–-certainly much safer than other common medical treatments for these same problems.