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Q: What kind of services do you provide?
We provide Wellness Chiropractic Care at our office. There are 2 types of approaches within chiropractic: Musculoskeletal Chiropractic Care (focuses on treating symptoms such as low back pain, neck pain, and headaches; doctor's recommendations based almost purely on symptoms only, e.g. get care only when you hurt and where you hurt) and Wellness Chiropractic Care (in addition to symptom relief, care focuses on whole body health and performance, maximized quality of life, and restoring and maintaining the health and vitality of your nerve system and spine; doctor's recommendations based on your body's individual needs, including the objective measurement of how stress has impacted and is impacting your body at any given moment).
Q: Why should I choose Wellness Chiropractic Care instead of Musculoskeletal Chiropractic Care?
It is totally up to you about how you care for your body over your lifetime. The symptom-treating approach, while often producing good or even great short term results, rarely helps a person achieve a more permanent solution to their underlying health challenges. When people merely "patch things up", they often feel better for a few months but relapses almost always occur and are almost always more extensive and severe. Wellness Chiropractic Care, on the other hand, is more progressive in nature, meaning symptom-relief is really just the start of the process. The Wellness Chiropractor is concerned with the direction your health is moving and in working with you to create a plan and strategy to maximize your ability to express health and experience life. It comes down to choosing: "Do I want to be truly well, or just 'not sick'"?
Q: What are the benefits of Wellness Chiropractic Care?
Each and every person has a unique response to Wellness Chiropractic Care. After all, every aspect of your life experience is unique to you! There are, however, common repsonses that nearly all who pursue this type of care experience. For adults, beyond easing discomfort and helping them have fewer symptoms, most people report an enhancement to their energy, greater focus and concentration, better mood, more youthful performance, more comfortable digestion, increased flexibility, decreased reliance on medications, enhanced sexual function, and an overall sense of greater well-being. For children, this approach is becoming increasingly more vital to their present and future well-being. As the saying "who are tomorrow is based on what you do today" suggests, adults are products of their their childhood. Children who start ahead, stay ahead. Wellness Chiropractic Care is highly effective at helping infants and children overcome any health crisis they may be experiencing (ear infections, colic, asthma, allergies to name a few) but is perhaps more effective in helping avert these crises from arising in the first place.
Q: How do I know the difference between a Wellness Chiropractor and a Musculoskeletal Chiropractor?
Unfortunately, you cannot determine this information strictly from the name of the practice. Many offices claim to offer wellness care but don't clearly define what wellness care is or how they measure it. If you want to experience all that chiropractic care has to offer, it is important to find an office that is going to focus on more than just your symptoms. It is a physiologic fact that symptoms are often the last thing to show up and the first thing to leave and that basing your health decisions on symptoms alone can have a devastating effect on your long term well-being. Determining if the goal of the office is to help transition your body to a greater level of function, adaptability, and awareness, and if they have the tools to measure and track your progress is a good place to start.
Q: Can your office help me?
If your goals are in line with the results our practice members commonly experience, and your examination reveals imbalances and dysfunctions in your neurospinal system, then yes, we could help you!
Q: What will you do to get me well? How is chiropractic care performed?
Our formula for peak performance is "Living the DREAM", which stands for Diet, Rest, Exercise, Alignment, and Mindset. Achieving true wellness is a partnership. Our job is to help your body progressively get well by identifying patterns of nerve system stress and tension and helping your body overcome its defensive patterns and tendencies. Your job is to focus on reducing physical, chemical, and emotional lifestyle stress and commit to "Living the DREAM". Chiropractic adjustments are gentle, hands-on interventions where light contacts and movements and positioning are applied to your body. Adjustments achieve the 4 R's: release patterns of accumulated stress and restore proper neurospinal integrity, which in turn recharges the brain and revitalizes the body.
There are many techniques and approaches, each with a specific intent and unique benefit. The area of focus is most often the spine due to its intimate relationship with the body’s nervous system. Because the nervous system is the master controller of every cell, tissue, and organ in the body, reducing stress on the nervous system through chiropractic adjustments will help create improved health in the entire body.
Q: Will adjustments hurt?
An adjustment in our office is a gentle and rejuvenating experience. We care for newborns, infants, children, teens, college students, and the full spectrum of adults. Your adjustment is specific to your needs and the whole process is explained to you in advance. Most people notice many positive changes in their body very quickly after being adjusted. Some patients may experience mild soreness after their first few adjustments, just like beginning a new workout routine at the gym, but this is the exception.
Q: How many adjustments will I need?
We are here to help you live a longer, healthier, and happier life and will recommend the best type of care for your needs and goals! When determining the right amount of care for you, five main factors are considered: 1) your age, 2) your overall level of health, 3) the severity of your condition, 4) how long you have had your condition, and 5) what your ultimate goals are. If you are young, in good health, and have a mild concern that occurred very recently, you will need far fewer adjustments than if you are older, in poor general health, and have been struggling with a problem for many years. That is one reason children get the most benefit from chiropractic care. The total number of adjustments you will need also depends on whether you are interested in merely reducing immediate pain or in creating optimal long-term health. Millions of people each year maintain a regular schedule of adjustments as part of their strategy for long term wellness and maximized living.
Q: Will there be any side effects?
The amazing thing about the human body is that it is all connected. Everything affects everything else. As a result, an adjustment has effects on every level of your physiology and produces many favorable and positive changes in your body. What is awesome is when a person comes in with the intention to address a particular concern, such as neck pain, and soon find out that their digestive challenges, breathing difficulties, or menstrual cramps have improved as well! What a great bonus!
Q: How old should you be to see a chiropractor?
Improved spinal alignment can be beneficial to people of all ages. It only makes sense that if you have a spine, you should see a spinal expert who is trained to help you keep your spine healthy. Many people bring their newborn babies to get their spines checked for misalignments due to the stress and trauma of the birth process. Often very gentle adjustments can correct subluxations from birth and help a baby’s healthy growth. It doesn’t make any sense to wait until you are older and suffering with a crisis to start care when a problem could have been corrected when it was small.
Q: Do all chiropractors provide the same type of care?
Chiropractors often specialize based on their personal preferences and training, just like lawyers and medical doctors. Some like to focus their practice on pain relief, while others like to provide wellness care. Some like to provide care to families; some like to specialize in sports injuries, pediatrics, or geriatrics; and some specialize in specific techniques. At FLFCW, we are a family wellness office that offers the most advanced approaches available to help you experience the best short and long term results. If you want a long, healthy, and happy life for you and your family, then our office is the place to start!
Q: Is chiropractic care safe during pregnancy?
Yes. It is very safe for both mother and baby. Both Dr. Mike and Dr. Meredith have spent many hours training to adjust the spines of pregnant women and our chiropractic adjusting tables have special modifications for pregnant women.
Q: Is chiropractic care safe for babies?
Yes. We are frequently asked by our pregnant patients to give their baby a spinal check-up soon after birth. This is because the birthing process can be traumatic for the infant and can cause very serious subluxations in the spine. The most common health challenges infants and kids face are ear infections, allergies, cough, asthma, colic, behavioral problems, and learning difficulties to name a few. Research has confirmed that all of these can be caused or made worse by spinal stress.