Are Chiropractic Adjustments Safe?

Answers to some common questions about chiropractic care safety and effectiveness…

If you’ve never visited a chiropractor, but have heard your friends talk about it and were always a little curious, one question you might have in your mind is: “Is chiropractic care safe?” It’s a very commonly asked question. In fact, I asked that question a long time ago myself. After experiencing amazing relief from car-accident-induced headaches many years ago, I discovered that not only are chiropractic adjustments safe, they are absolutely key to solving a wide array of health problems. The relief I personally experienced on my chiropractic care journey was profound, especially after two years of severe headaches! That’s what led me to becoming a Knoxville chiropractor myself. I wanted to help other people experience the same kind of natural pain relief as I had! But there was so much more to learn, as you can imagine. As I was training to become a chiropractor, I learned chiropractic adjustment techniques so gentle, precise and effective that even newborn babies benefit from them.

Should I See a Chiropractor?

If you would like to try a healthcare modality that helps your body heal itself without painkillers, or you would like to strengthen your immune system, or you would like to get into better shape, you should visit our Knoxville chiropractic care office to learn more in person. Unlike conventional medical care, chiropractic care addresses the needs of the whole patient. By helping you achieve a healthy nervous system, we can resolve all kinds of health problems and underlying conditions that cause pain and dysfunction.

You see, the brain and your spinal cord and your nerves control literally every function in your body. Your brain is like a massive supercomputer that tells your body to keep pumping blood, to heal a wound, when it’s time to sleep, how to digest your food—everything. Your spinal cord and nerves are like the “super highway” that sends all of these messages. When vertebrae are even slightly misaligned, whether because of long-term bad posture habits, a pulled muscle, or a car accident, etc., the spinal cord and the nerves that conduct messages to and from your brain from everyplace else in your body can get pinched and stop sending messages effectively. This can cause pain and dysfunction in a wide range of areas, depending on where the misalignments are located in the spine or even the extremities.

By using precise chiropractic adjustment techniques that are suited to your individual needs, I can help bring these vertebrae back in line, releasing pinched nerves. This enables the messages between your brain and nerves to flow freely again, so your brain can direct healing resources and endorphins (the body’s natural painkillers) where they’re needed.

But there’s so much more that we can do for your health! As a chiropractor, I coach my patients on a wide range of healthy lifestyle choices that work in concert with effective, safe chiropractic adjustments. Some of these things include nutritional coaching and rehabilitative exercises. By putting a variety of helpful resources and activities together for your body, you can achieve optimal health for life, not just solve one particular health problem.

The body is a complex, amazing organism that works as an interconnected system, not a set of individual, disconnected parts. Oftentimes, fixing a problem in one area through a range of chiropractic adjustments and other therapies, we can fix a range of problems and improve your overall health. This is particularly true with chiropractic adjustments. It is not uncommon for a patient to come in complaining of back pain or headaches to receive a series of chiropractic adjustments and then discover that their allergies are better or they are able to concentrate for longer periods of time, or they get a better night’s sleep.

What Can I Expect at My First Chiropractic Appointment?

When I meet a patient for the first time, there is a lot of discussion and a lot of posture examination. I like to understand the full range of my patient’s concerns, soI tend to ask many questions, some of which might seem unrelated to your initial concern, but are actually connected to your holistic health picture. Your answers to these questions help me understand your needs and have a better idea of what to look for during spinal examinations. I do spinal examinations while the patient is in different positions and do a full range of diagnostic tests to measure and diagnose where vertebrae may be out of place, or where muscle and tissue knots or scar tissue may be impacting posture. After a full-examination, we will discuss the next steps, which might include a combination of chiropractic adjustments, physiotherapy, nutrition, dry needle techniques, ergonomics training and a host of other holistic modalities that work in combination to help you overcome pain naturally and move toward optimum health and wellness.

Are Chiropractors Dangerous?

Any type of treatment can be dangerous if it is not performed properly, by an extensively trained, ethical practitioner. Take one look at the statistics surrounding the tragic opioid addiction crisis. Conventional doctors across the country prescribed these for people. This ongoing plague on our nation ensnares good people who just need reliable pain relief to live a normal life! So, we can understand just how dangerous the wrong type of treatment, or too much of any type of treatment can be. Naturally, this isn’t to say that all conventional doctors are unethical. It’s important to understand, however, that the conventional path isn’t always the one that is the safest and best choice. Unlike conventional medical care, highly-trained chiropractors help patients enjoy drug-free pain relief that not only resolves pain from car accidents, sports injuries, day-to-day injuries, work injuries, and a host of chronic conditions, but chiropractors seek to help the body heal itself with its own internal resources from the nervous system. By adding optimum nutrition, therapeutic exercise, and other natural modalities, not only can your chiropractor help you get natural pain relief, but you can work towards your best natural health that keeps you focused, energized and healthy throughout the year, without the harmful side effects of painkillers.

In fact, what many people don’t know is that chiropractors actually have to study far more hours on a wide range of medical and health courses than conventional medical doctors do! If you review the curriculum catalogs between medical schools and chiropractic schools, you find that, on average, chiropractic schools require their future practitioners study between 300-500 more hours than medical schools require! Again, this is not to take away from the very beneficial work so many medical doctors in different realms of medicine do for the general public, but it does underscore the very thorough and intensive education that chiropractors are required to achieve before we are licensed to practice chiropractic medicine. And if you find out that conventional medicine is not resolving your symptoms, as was the case for me after my car accident, you owe it to yourself to try effective, natural, safe chiropractic care. I will leave no stone unturned in my efforts to help you feel better naturally, so why not schedule an appointment to come in and talk about your needs?

Can a Chiropractor Help with More than Back Pain?

As a chiropractor, I have helped people overcome a long list of health conditions in addition to back pain. As I mentioned earlier, it’s not uncommon for patients to come in with a back pain problem on their first visit. As we work together during subsequent visits and they work to improve their nutrition and add exercise and my ergonomics advice to their daily lives, they notice that their back pain is getting much better—as are their headaches, or a persistent shoulder pain they may have had for years. They’ll usually feel more energy, they’ll sleep better and many have even started losing weight as they strive to take better care of their overall health with our coaching and chiropractic care regimen. With the brain back in charge, everything works better, from glands and hormones to internal organs. The immune system starts to function at its best, warding off dangerous infections as well as realizing that pollen and pet dander really aren’t something to cause allergic reactions over. So, yes: although many of my first time patients come in because they are struggling with back pain or whiplash neck pain from a car accident, they soon realize that there is so much more to chiropractic care than just back pain relief. There is a whole new world of wellness and energy and strength that they start to discover, and that’s exciting. It’s one of the things I love best about being a chiropractor.

Who Should See a Chiropractor?

Just about anybody can benefit from chiropractic care. As a chiropractor in Knoxville, I’ve had the honor of helping everyone from elderly grandparents and weekend warriors to pregnant mothers and newborn babies and everyone in between. Chiropractic care is safe, natural and drug-free, so it is an incredibly good option for people who might have strong or adverse reactions to conventional painkillers for pain relief treatment.

For example, pregnant mothers particularly need to be careful about what they put into their bodies, as this can impact the baby significantly. And yet, pregnant mothers overwhelmingly report symptoms of pregnancy back pain. I have mastered many chiropractic adjustment techniques that are especially designed to help relieve pregnancy-related aches and pains without any painkillers.

Even newborn babies, who often experience neck misalignments, just from the birthing process, can benefit from the extremely gentle, precise spinal adjustments in chiropractic care. These adjustments are so gentle, they apply no more pressure than you would to your own eyeball. I have helped many babies get natural relief from colic, frequent colds and ear infections and other common infant ailments.

In addition to pregnancy chiropractic and chiropractic care for children, chiropractic care helps our elderly neighbors and friends age gracefully and with more vim and vigor and fewer aches and pains so they can play with their grandchildren more!

Naturally, chiropractic care is a go-to treatment option for people of any age who have suffered sports injuries or car accident injuries. And school children benefit from regular spinal checkups to help them grow into good posture that can help them stay focused in school, carry a backpack that won’t hurt them and stay active and healthy as they grow and develop. Basically, chiropractic care is safe for everyone in the family!

Visit the Chiropractor Knoxville Families Trust for Excellent Care

It has been an honor for me to serve the families of Knoxville as a chiropractor for almost two decades now, and I am humbled by the trust that these wonderful people put into my hands every day. So many of my new patients are so excited after their first visit, after they learn for themselves that chiropractic care is safe and effective for them, and for a wide range of conditions they may be dealing with. If you have questions about chiropractic care, don’t hesitate to ask in person! Schedule an appointment today to find out for yourself. We look forward to meeting you and helping you experience your best health yet! Call Homberg Chiropractic at: 865.679.2225.

We look forward to meeting you!