Your First Visit Chiropractic is a professional health care field that specializes in natural and preventive care. It is also a science based on the premise that a properly functioning nervous system is essential to the restoration and maintenance of optimum health. The major conduit of nerves in our body is the spinal cord, and research has demonstrated that pressure or irritation along the spine can lead to pain, dysfunction and disease. Dysfunction describes the abnormal, inadequate or impaired function of an organ or part of the body. Doctors of chiropractic refer to this pressure or irritation as the "Vertebral Subluxation Complex." Subluxations can not only cause problems with the muscles and skeletal system, but can cause serious problems in the body's internal organs and glands as well. The pain associated with the vertebral subluxation is usually noticed only after the dysfunction is well entrenched and far advanced. There is a period of time in most every degenerative process, in which a person experiences no apparent discomfort or pain. When the pain is ultimately realized, a person may associate a specific incident or injury with causing the pain, when in fact, the condition had been developing for weeks, months, or even years. Therefore, it is important to understand that dysfunction can exist even when the person is experiencing no apparent discomfort or pain. The doctor of chiropractic's job is to determine if such a dysfunction exists, and then to relieve and possibly even correct the underlying problem. However, before any treatment can take place, the doctor of chiropractic must be concerned with the question of what exactly is causing the dysfunction. This is accomplished through a series of diagnostic testing procedures. First, the doctor of chiropractic will usually perform an extensive consultation and patient history, followed by an in-depth physical examination. X-rays may then be taken of specific areas if the patient is experiencing pain along with any other related structures your doctor of chiropractic may deem necessary. Other advanced diagnostic testing procedures such as thermography, comparative muscle testing, or surface paraspinal electromyography may also be needed to ensure that your condition is properly diagnosed. Next, the doctor of chiropractic will give you a report of the findings, and explain exactly what your problem is and if chiropractic can help. Your case history and examination findings will be discussed with you, along with specific recommendations for treatment. If chiropractic can help your condition, treatment of the condition by spinal manipulation will begin. Spinal manipulation, also known as an adjustment, is the chiropractor's primary form of treatment. The doctor of chiropractic uses various adjustment techniques to reduce the subluxation and restore the spine to as normal a position as possible. Thus the adjustment is the chiropractor's way of reducing vertebral subluxations, thereby restoring more normal nerve pulse flow to the body. Doctors of chiropractic are recognized health care providers who have completed six or more years of college, plus a lengthy clinical internship. Before entering private practice, the doctor of chiropractic will have mastered such subjects as Anatomy, Physiology, Bacteriology, Neuroanatomy, Pathology and Chemistry, and will have successfully passed rigorous national and state board examinations. The modern day doctor of chiropractic is a highly trained primary health care provider, with considerable knowledge, training and expertise in conservative health care management. The chiropractic profession promotes the highest degree of professional ethics and integrity, with emphasis on providing quality health care for the patients it serves. For this reason, chiropractic has rapidly grown to be the second largest primary health care discipline in the western world.