FAQ

In an aligned and well-functioning body, instructions from the brain flow to organs and tissues via the spinal cord. Organs and tissues then send signals back to the brain to confirm everything is in working order.

If the bones of the spine move or are positioned improperly, it may cause disturbances in this exchange of biological information by compromising organ and tissue function and irritating nerves. Chiropractic care works by making spinal adjustments to restore proper communication between the mind and body, allowing the body to better regulate itself and heal more quickly.

The majority of patients refer to a sense of calmness or a general feeling of well-being during a chiropractic adjustment. It’s meant to be a comfortable process with no twisting or cracking; otherwise, patients wouldn’t keep coming back.

Subluxations are certainly easy to overlook at first due to a lack of warning signs, not unlike the early stages of tooth decay. A thorough chiropractic examination can determine whether you have subluxations, where they are and how serious they may be.

It’s impossible to predict how long any given patient will need to visit the chiropractor. If it’s a new chiropractic problem, you may see a quick return to normal. If the problem is causing chronic pain that you’ve been experiencing for years, it may take weeks of chiropractic care, or even longer, for symptoms to begin a slow decline. We’ll monitor your progress at every visit, and our recommendations will evolve as needed.

Insurance companies are getting better about covering important chiropractic care, albeit to a limited extent in some cases. But if yours doesn’t, or covers too little of the cost you expect to face, that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. We can work with you and with insurance companies to make our care affordable for almost anyone.

Nerves to the hands and arms run out of the spine through the area of the neck commonly injured in car accidents, resulting in pain, numbness and/or tingling. This effect is also why car accidents may result in lower back pain.

The body’s natural ability to adapt to its environment can be overwhelmed by additional factors, such as job stress or overexertion during exercise. It may not hit that pain threshold immediately following a car accident. When it does hit that threshold – be it days, weeks, months or even years afterward – pain may arise.

In a high-speed auto accident, the car tends to absorb most of the kinetic energy. But with a less significant crash – getting rear-ended at a stoplight, for example – drivers and passengers take on more of the energy, resulting in more noticeable soreness.

Physical trauma, chemical toxins and emotional stress are the most common causes of headaches. There may be a combination of several, and they may not come from the spine. At Foundation Chiropractic, we specialize in identifying the most likely causes and then working to reduce them.

Sciatica’s onset is prompted by long-running, cumulative damage. Think of excess weight, poor posture, and substandard muscle tone. The effects of these issues build up over time, leading sciatica to strike during an otherwise mundane activity such as an overexerting workout or a long car ride. Sciatica may also be caused by arthritic bone spurs encroaching on the space used by the sciatic nerve and its roots.

Not directly, though calcium supplements may play a role in lowering the risk of developing scoliosis. Research is beginning to show that it may result from uncorrected spinal damage sustained during birth. Others suggest that children who start walking early may interrupt important spinal development during the crawling stage.

They sure don’t help! There may not be a direct correlation, but it’s definitely worth taking steps to minimize the strain they can cause. These include making sure children use both shoulder straps to make sure the backpack’s weight is distributed evenly, and weighing backpacks to ensure they don’t top 10-15% percent of the child’s body weight.

There have been limited studies on the topic, but they suggest that cracking your knuckles does not cause any damage to the hand’s metacarpal joints. It’s possible there’s a risk of overextending knuckle joints that are already loose, but adding motion to these joints is best left to an experienced chiropractor.

When your chiropractor develops a care plan, they always consider the patient’s unique circumstances, and that includes such factors as osteoporosis. If you have osteoporosis, we’ll put together a plan of action that will ease your pain or other problems without exacerbating the problems osteoporosis causes.

Again, we’ll consider all of your unique circumstances, and if that means steering around the surgically modified sections of your spine, then that’s what we’ll do. Surgery may provoke compensation reactions near the area that was operated on, and these are the areas we may focus on to help relieve your pain.

Absolutely not. Infant adjustments are different from the adjustments adults receive. We modify our adjusting techniques based on the size and unique problems of every unique patient. On top of that, because babies’ spines almost never have the type of recurring muscle tightness that’s seen in adults, adjusting them requires far less force – about as much as it takes to test the ripeness of a tomato.

If we can’t ascertain and deal with the cause of your health problem, whatever it may be, we’re happy to refer to you other experts who may get better results.