Why Chiropractic?
Chiropractic is a natural, unique form of healthcare that focuses on the spine, joints, nerves and muscles. For over a hundred years it has been used by people to gain relief from pain and other symptoms and to improve health. Its guiding principle is that health and healing come from within, no drugs or surgery are used.
It can benefit you if you are experiencing symptoms of pain, stiffness and ill health as it may be that your spine, joints and nervous system are not working to their maximum potential. Why not book a Initial Consultation to see if chiropractic treatments can benefit you? Chiropractors abide by the belief that your body knows how to heal itself but sometimes needs help to make this happen. Worldwide, Chiropractic is the third largest healthcare division after Medicine and Dentistry and is one of the fastest growing healthcare choices in the world.
A Personal Service to Your Door
I offer evening and weekend appointments in and around Linton, Abington, Great Shelford & Little Shelford, Sawston, Haverhill, Saffron Walden, Great Chesterford, Balsham, Cambridge
Alex Smith
Chiropractor
Chiropractic works for most people of all ages. The typical office will see babies of a few weeks old to seniors in their 80s or 90s and everyone in between! Before any treatment is given, the practitioner will first perform a thorough physical examination to make sure you, and any symptoms you want help with, are suitable for chiropractic care.
Chiropractors use precise movements using their hands to realign and improve the function of your spine and other joints. This is because chiropractors believe that a properly functioning spine and nervous system is essential to good health and vitality.
All kinds of conditions can be helped with chiropractic. Recent scientific papers have looked at its efficacy and rated it as especially good for low back pain, neck pain, some types of headache, extremity joint (shoulders, hips, knees, elbows, the joints outside of the spine) pain and migraine. Although not proven by any scientific studies, chiropractic has been known to help alleviate the symptoms of colic in babies, sciatica, menstrual pain and other visceral problems.
This is entirely up to you and is based on your health goals, your condition and other health factors. Your practitioner will assess you and suggest a treatment plan to give you the best health improvement based on you and your wants.
What is the difference between Chiropractic, Osteopathy and Physiotherapy?
This is a question that chiropractors get asked a lot – I am sure that osteopaths and physiotherapists also have to explain the same thing!
The first thing to mention is that between these different professions there are some similarities in that in all three the clinicians will mostly use their hands along with some pieces of equipment to encourage healing of the human body. Many people feel that when lying on the bench and being the recipient of chiropractic care it can feel similar to when they tried osteopathy or physiotherapy. All three professions are also relatively “new” in that if one goes back perhaps 150 years there were people practising forms of physical therapy but it was unregulated without a professional categorisation like we see today and there was likely to be little or no formal (i.e. university ) training – the knowledge was passed down from person to person.
Training and education sees differences in that chiropractors are trained to take and interpret radiographs (x-rays) whereas the other professions do not. Chiropractors also talk about using “adjustments” to the spine, which are focused at a specific level of the spine. This term is often preferred to “manipulation”. The philosophy of chiropractic itself is considered more ‘spinal’ in that chiropractors believe that interferences to one’s nervous system will not just cause back pain etc but also have a detrimental effect on one’s general health and wellbeing.