FAQs

What is Chiropractic?

Simply put, Chiropractic is the art of identifying restricted joints in the spine and moving them swiftly, yet gently, with a technique called an Adjustment.

This is done in order to remove pressure from the joints and in turn the surrounding nerves so that the nerves can communicate better with the tissues of the body. When the nerves can communicate with the tissues, these tissues can both function and heal better when needed.

Why Move the Joints with an adjustment?

I know I’m stating the obvious but your joints should move. A lot. Daily. And in diverse ways.

They should move a lot so that the joints get plenty of blood flow and nutrients, and also so that the tissues (muscles, ligaments, blood vessels, nerves) around the joints get both stretched and contracted plenty over time.

When the tissues are stretched and contracted consistently, this builds durability and balance around the joints which improves both function of the tissues and posture.

Ultimately this lifestyle of daily, diverse movement allows you to have the strength, mobility and capacity to do the hobbies and work that you want and need to do on a regular basis:

There are 2 forms of joint movement that are beneficial and should be considered:

1.) Move the joints yourself (Self Movement)- this should be priority #1 for everybody, no matter age, status or perceived disability. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone (including myself) who could stand to move less. We all need more diverse movement in our lives. Especially these lives of convenience that we are so fortunate to have.

This “self” movement can come through an infinite variety of practices such as work, sports, martial arts, playing with your kids, etc etc. Hopefully we all dig into a variety of these practices throughout our lives so that we build a balanced and robust musculoskeletal system. Durable and robust musculoskeletal systems usually mean the joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons, nerves, lymph and blood vessels function well and heal well when injured.

There is no wrong way to move.

All practices and movement paradigms have their benefits and their pitfalls. But ideally you get sufficient at one and then either move on to the next, or dabble in multiple disciplines at a time so that you can promote that diverse movement we’re discussing. By diversifying your movement practices you gain muscle/tissue/joint balance while often avoiding the injuries and stagnation that repetition or stagnation can create.

2.) Have the joints moved for you- the second form of movement that is beneficial is having someone or something move the joints for you. Just like moving the joints yourself, there are a number of ways to have this done. And chiropractic is certainly one of those ways.

With the art of chiropractic, the entire aim is to specifically identify joints that are not moving with ease and move them. This has similar benefits to moving the joints yourself, but also an additional perk. That perk being that with a chiropractic adjustment the chiropractor is able to safely move a joint that is restricted further than you can actively move it yourself. This range we aim to safely move a restricted joint into is called the “paraphysiological space” and it’s very beneficial for the joints and their surrounding tissues.

The benefits of specific chiropractic adjustments and bringing a restricted joint into the “paraphysiological space” is that it both brings nutrients to the joint space and also takes pressure off many stagnant tissues surrounding the joint. One type of tissue that benefits from this is the nerves around or near a restricted joint. When nerves get pressure on them from joint compression, taut muscles or shortened ligaments they not only start to create pain and discomfort but they also begin to affect the bodies functions: mainly the nerve’s ability to communicate in the healing process when the body is injured or insulted.

So fundamentally, by moving yourself daily and getting adjusted routinely you are not only building a robust, mobile and durable musculoskeletal system, you are also alleviating pressure from your nervous system so that you can function and heal well when injuries or illness inevitably occur.

How do joints get restricted?

I’ve come up with two main causes for joint restriction over time. Most of our joint restriction/misalignment comes from a combination of these two processes:

1.) Old injuries- when something in your body is injured, muscles around that injury instinctively tighten.

Take a sprained back muscle for instance. Let’s say you bent over and felt a pop in your low back. Next thing you know your back muscles go into spasm and now you’re crooked and can’t move. What happened here? Well, most likely you’ve sprained (slightly tore) a muscle in your low back. But why does the surrounding muscle go into spasm and lock you up? Well, this is what it’s suppose to do. Your body didn’t make a mistake. It sensed an injury and it decided it’s best options were to make a sort of natural cast by tensing the surrounding muscles and swelling the area in order to protect that region so it can heal over the next few days to weeks.

This process is actually a wonderful thing, albeit uncomfortable. You literally had to do nothing but your body instinctively knew how to begin protecting itself and healing. However, a problem arises over time when people get injured then fail to begin moving a lot, daily and in diverse ways again through self movements and/or practices like chiropractic. Often times you or I will get injured, identify with that injury then use it as an excuse to move less over time. And when we do this we heal with these new, restricted ranges that the body was creating for temporary healing. Then another injury happens and the process starts all over again. Before we know it we’ve accumulated multiple injuries, failed to continue moving enough and now are stiff and sore constantly, unable to comprehend how we got in this state of affairs. Then to top it off we are so stiff and immobile that we become less durable and easier to injure. So it is a feed forward loop unless we intervene and combat the tension patterns we’ve developed with loads of movement.

In an ideal world an injury happens and we begin taking on as much movement as we can tolerate in order to regain or even improve the range, strength and balance we had prior to the injury. And where can this movement come from? Well, two ways as mentioned above; moving ourselves and being moved by someone like a chiropractor.

2.)Repetitive Behaviors- the second cause of joint restriction is repetitious movement or postures over time.

Repetitious Movement- this can be attributed to work, sports training and/or hobbies

Many jobs involve plenty of movement. But typically they do not have a diverse set of movements involved. Often times it is the same movement day in and day out, with little rest in between for recovery from micro-injuries. And while there is no such thing as a “bad” movement, it is possible to do too much of one thing without enough rest. Your body is great at adaptation. It will make you good at whatever you do the most. It will recognize your repetitious work behavior and build a muscle pattern that makes you good at this repetition. This muscle pattern may be benefical and make you more efficient at your job but it will also lead to imbalanced soft tissue patterns. These patterns will lead to certain muscles/ligaments being elongated, other shortened. This will inevitably lead to things like tendinitis, more frequent acute sprains/strains and nerve compression; ultimately resulting in a lower ability to function and heal well when issues arise.

Sport training and hobbies are very similar. Again, no sports or hobbies have a ‘bad’ collection of movements. But if over trained in one particular activity you will often develop imbalances in tissues that can lead to the same things as mentioned above.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you should quit your job or favorite sport/hobby. It just means that you need to implement a more diverse set of movements into your lifestyle to combat the repetitious behaviors. And where can you find a more diverse set of movements? Through moving yourself and being moved by someone like a chiropractor who does chiropractic adjustments.

Repetitious Postures- being in the same posture continually can also create imbalances in your musculoskeletal system. In today’s world working at a desk is our main culprit. But many of us also spend our down time watching too much TV, playing video games or playing on our phones. Many jobs have gone the way of computer work where we are forced to sit at a desk, staring at a screen for hours on end. And while sitting isn’t a bad thing, too much sitting is. Again, our bodies are very adaptive things. They will make us good at and form us around whatever we are doing the most. If our body senses that we need to be good at sitting then it will make us good at sitting, causing us to have rounded upper backs, shoulder impingements, shortened hip flexors and eyes that can’t see far away.

Many of these issues can be solved by changing our postural habits. Obviously if your job requires sitting you can’t quit your job. But you can get up often, move your body more outside of work and also use chiropractic adjustments as a way to have your joints moved. All this in order to assist in improving postures and taking pressure off tight tissues and nerves so that you can function better and heal well when injuries or illness inevitably occur.

What is the popping noise?

The style of adjustment used at Dorr Chiropractic is known as Diversified. It is a very specific and manual form of adjustment where you will often hear the classic “popping” and “cracking” noises associated with the word chiropractic.

The “cracking” noise is thought to be released gas that has been accumulating inside of a joint. Most joints do not “pop” when moved because most joints have adequate mobility and have been moved recently. They have been brought through wide ranges regularly and this disallows gas to accumulate over time.

But due to our tensions (that we develop from repetitious movements/postures and old injuries) certain joints get relatively restricted over time and allow this gas pressure to build. The joint has not been through it’s physiologic space or paraphysiological space in some time and so it needs to be moved. And when it is moved the gas is released and an audible “pop” or “crack” is felt and heard.

As discussed earlier, this is beneficial and often times relieving. Not only because the actual gas pressure within a joint is released but also because the tissues around the joint have been stretched and blood and nutrients are allowed to better perfuse the joint.

What are some common misconceptions about chiropractic?

The most common misconception is that we chiropractors “treat pain”. We don’t and shouldn’t treat pain. We simply try to identify restricted joints in the spine and adjust them. This is done in order to improve the motion of the joints, bring nutrients to that joint, relieve pressure off restricted tissues (nerves, muscles, etc) and allow the body to heal better when faced with injuries.

Another misconception is that Adjustments alone will keep your joints healthy and mobile. This is far from the truth. Priority one for everybody should be moving our bodies (and in turn our joints) often and in a variety of ways. This “self” movement is the food that feeds the joints and the tissues around them and is the most effective way to stay strong, mobile and balanced. Adjustments are very beneficial to many people but should be viewed more as the supplement to that self movement.

The last misconception is that once you start going to a chiropractor you must keep going. I’m not sure where this notion came from to be honest. My take on this is that if chiropractic adjustments help you to move better and heal well then you will know that and you will know when to return for follow up visits. That is why Dorr Chiropractic does not do appointments and everybody walks in. Listen to your body and learn to guide yourself when it comes to the therapies that you implement in your lifestyle.

How often should a person get adjusted?

This is a very personal question to consider. I do not have a specific answer as your situation will vary compared to the next person. All I can speak on is how I personally approach chiropractic in my own lifestyle:

When I am experiencing healing symptoms, whether it is from an acute injury that recently happened (and I’m going through the tension and swelling that is associated with an acute injury) or a chronic injury (discomfort from repetitive movements or poor postures), I will typically get adjusted 2X/week for anywhere from 1-6 weeks depending on how severe the injury/symptoms are. My rationale behind this is that when I’m injured I should be moving more. So, within reason, I increase my “self” movement and I get adjusted a bit more frequently than when I’m not injured. I do this because movement heals. And when I’m injured I attempt to do things that promote healing such as move more, eat better, sleep well, get in the sun, etc.

When I am in a state of no pain (which is most of the time) I will typically get adjusted every 3-4 weeks depending on my schedule. My rationale behind this is to use the adjustments as a supplement to my “self” movement which is done daily. I use the combination of “self” movement and adjustments to combat the repetitive stresses of my work and hobbies and to promote balance in my body so that when injuries inevitably occur I will be able to heal well.

Again, this approach is very personalized to my lifestyle and thought process. I think that after you’ve been adjusted a handful of times you begin to learn if it’s benefiting you and when you need it. And that, again, is why I do not advise much as far as when to get adjusted at Dorr Chiropractic. You must learn to listen to your body and if getting adjusted serves you then stop by the office anytime I am open and we’ll tune up your joints.