The mission of excellent chiropractic treatment is to help you and your family to create optimal health and human performance. We offer a non-invasive, holistic approach to vibrant health and vitality. Our science, art and philosophy are based on chiropractic wellness care, which include ancient movement principles, the latest techniques in exercise programs, health education, and a lifelong involvement devoted to the development of your mind, body, and spirit.

The following physical problems can be effectively treated by chiropractic care. It is a natural method of health care treating causes rather than the symptoms. With a normally functioning spine and healthy lifestyle, your body is better able to health itself.

Whiplash is created by a sudden accident or injury throwing your neck either backwards or forwards and creating an imbalance. Often it is not just the neck which is affected; pain can be experienced in the shoulders, arms, hands, and lower back. Often the symptoms do not appear until days after the accident. The body parts that suffer damage can involve misaligned vertebrae (the bones around the spinal column), muscles and ligaments, nerves, and discs. Depending on the extent of your injury, chiropractic treatment may realign vertebrae in your neck and manually apply gentle pressure to reposition these vertebrae. These adjustments can improve your neck's balance, mobility and strength, and alleviate the pain and stiffness.

Spinal misalignment is called subluxation.  Trauma to the spine, either from one injury or accumulative effects of several, can lead to spinal misalignment and disc damage.  The progression of subluxation begins through trauma in which the spinal vertebrae shift compressing the center of a disc or several forcing them against the outer rings of the spine.  In turn the fibers the fibers of the disc’s outer ring stretch causing an inflammatory reaction.  An inflamed and swollen disc can irritate the spinal cord or nerve roots.  To protect this from happening, the surrounding muscles tend to spasm to prevent excessive movement causing considerable discomfort and pain.  When movement to the disc area is suppressed over time the disc dehydrates and the disc fibers crack and fissure.  The gel-like substance of the disc’s nucleus seeps into the fissures and irritate the nearby nervous tissue.  As more of the gel-like substance leaks, the disc bulges and possibly ruptures.  Over time degeneration takes place in the spinal joint, the surrounding nerves and the systems these nerves supply.  Your chiropractor through the Gonstead method determines specifically how the vertebra has misaligned and how the disc has been affected.  Using this information, the doctor can then determine the best approach to restoring proper position and motion to the affected area of your spine.

What causes neck pain?  Poor posture, wear and tear, injury, stress and tension can strain or damage vital parts of your neck.  Your neck protects your spinal cord and spinal nerves while supporting the weight of your head.  Your neck is healthy when it is aligned in a natural curve at the top of your spine.  Any damage to your normal neck curve can cause painful problems.  When your neck is out of alignment several problems can arise.  The vertebrae that protect your spinal cord can both wear down and be forced out of position.  The muscles can stretch, tighten, or may even tear.   The ligaments can also tear.  Nerves can be stretched, pinched or irritated.  A trauma to the neck which remains unattended can lead to disc shock and rupture.   Your chiropractor is uniquely qualified to restore the health of a misaligned neck.  Special techniques can relieve the pressure that is causing your neck pain.  In addition to chiropractic treatment for neck problems, other types of treatment may be suggested such as moist heat, ice packs, massage, traction, or stretching and strengthening exercises.   Your chiropractor will discuss these with you.

The foot is designed to unlock when it hits the ground to absorb the shock and to align itself with the variations of the terrain you step on.  As you pick your foot up, the foot must then relock itself, or supinate, for efficient leverage as you take the next step.  If the foot mechanism that controls unlocking and locking is out of sync, the foot has faulty mechanical function.  The majority of people have faulty foot mechanics.  The foot may have an arch that flattens too much upon stepping down and consequently does not stiffen enough upon lifting.  Some people have high rigid arch structure and the problem then becomes poor shock absorption and weight-bearing pressure concentrated in a few spots.  Foot function affects the entire chain of bones leading to the spine.  Problems with foot mechanics can cause pain and dysfunction in the knee, hip and lower back.  Foot pain may often result in spinal and postural problems, and chiropractic manipulation may bring relief to sufferers whose foot problem has a mechanical origin. At the first consultation, a chiropractor will take your medical history and details of the current problem, give you a full examination, including looking at your overall posture, gait, and the kind of shoes you wear. If he or she then decides that chiropractic treatment may help, it usually begins on the same visit. The treatment uses various manual techniques concentrating on adjustments to the foot, spine, and pelvis. These are not painful and, once the cause of the problem has been corrected, the foot and spinal pains should clear up.  Some foot problems require the use of orthotics, a supportive device placed inside the footwear to change the mechanical function of the foot.  It works dynamically during weight-bearing activities, like walking, running, and standing.

Headaches often begin in your spine.  Poor posture or injury can force your spinal vertebrae out of alignment, pressuring nerves and blood vessels.  When nerves send painful signals to surrounding neck muscles, those muscles tighten up and a headache can begin.  Chiropractic has such good success in the treatment of headaches because most headaches are either soft tissue or neurologic in nature. Also, many headaches originate in the tissues of the neck. Chiropractors focus their treatment on the soft tissues of the spine, including the neck, so the majority of headaches can be successfully managed with appropriate chiropractic care. Best of all, chiropractic treatments consist of only safe, natural, and noninvasive therapies that focus on correcting the cause of headaches, and not simply the short-term masking of symptoms. One third of Americans suffer from tension headaches. These headaches can be felt on both sides of the head as a dull, steady pain that often becomes intense at the end of the day. Unfortunately, traditional medicine has little to offer chronic headache sufferers. Pain medicine and muscle relaxants will ease the pain. Stress reduction, relaxation and exercise can improve wellness and perhaps prevent the occurrence of the headache.  Chiropractic treatment is very effective for cervicogenic headaches, characterized by pain on one side of the head with associated neck pain on the same side. A patient with these headaches perceives pain in the head, but the actual source of the pain lies in the cervical spine.  This distinction is important, because cervicogenic headaches improve upon chiropractic spinal manipulation. Spinal manipulation in itself has a significant effect on cervicogenic headaches.

When accidents, falls, tension, over-exertion or other injuring mechanisms occur, the inability of the spine to compensate can result in minor displacements or derangement of one or more vertebrae, causing irritation to spinal nerve roots directly by pressure or indirectly through reflexes. This type of injury may call for consultation with a chiropractor. The treatment is to re-establish normal spinal mobility, which in turn alleviates the irritation to the spinal nerve and/or re-establishes altered reflexes.  Low back pain may have many causes. In most cases of injury or strain, there's no magic cure. Chiropractic treatment is based on the concept that restricted movement in the spine may lead to pain and reduced function. Spinal adjustment (manipulation) is one form of therapy chiropractors use to treat restricted spinal mobility. The goal is to restore spinal movement and, as a result, improve function and decrease back pain.  During an adjustment, your chiropractor uses hands to apply a controlled, sudden force to a joint. This maneuver often results in a cracking sound made by separation of the joint surfaces — not, as many people think, by "cracking joints." Although this sound is common, it doesn't have to occur for the treatment to be successful.  Your chiropractor may also use massage and stretching to relax muscles that are shortened or in spasm. Many use additional treatments as well, such as ultrasound, electrical muscle stimulation and exercise.

Scoliosis is an unbalanced spine; the spine has a sideways curve. This problem can be inherited or result from injury. Scoliosis is seen more often in females than males and usually begins in childhood. When left untreated the symptoms can become severe. An unbalanced spine results in the following: spinal bones are cured to the side instead of straight; discs (lining between the vertebrae) may bulge, rupture, or wear down; the nerves throughout the spine may be pinched or irritated; muscles on one side or the other tend to be overused and weak; and the base of your spine (sacrum) may be tilted. Early diagnosis may help to prevent this condition from worsening over time. An integrated approach is the best way to control scoliosis. Special chiropractic techniques may help to reduce or slow the progression of scoliosis. Specialized exercises can be used to strengthen the weaker side of your body. Other types of treatment such as moist heat, ice packs, traction, or orthopedic support are also used.

Spinal misalignment or vertebral subluxation occurs when the spinal bone has lost its normal position, causing irritation to nearby delicate nerve tissue.  The changes associated with pregnancy can aggravate or even cause a vertebral subluxation.  Approximately half the pregnant women in the United States suffer from back pain, often severe.  These days most mother-to-be are fully aware of the dangers of alcohol and tobacco, but bear the discomfort of back pain stoically, assuming it is part of the body’s change due to pregnancy.  The Gonstead method can provide significant relief to pregnant woman who suffer from the back ailments and other spinal-related discomfort.  There have been several studies completed which indicate that mothers who seek chiropractic care during pregnancy have healthier pregnancies, more comfortable deliveries and shorter labor times.  Gonstead doctors use specific time-proven techniques to check alignment of the pelvic girdle, crucial for the expecting mother.  Dysfunction in the pelvic joints leads to back pain during pregnancy.  A properly aligned pelvis allows for sufficient space for the developing baby.  An optimally functioning mother, free of nerve interference, will contribute much to the health of her baby.  The Gonstead system of chiropractic employs special adjusting tables and modifications used for each stage of pregnancy.