One difference between a chiropractor and another physician is that a chiropractor looks at the entire body when treating a patient. Another difference is that a chiropractor focuses upon a holistic approach to health and does not prescribe medications or perform surgeries. Chiropractors look at stress factors, poor posture, and accidents. Auto accidents, trip and falls, workplace accidents, and sports injuries stop one's body from running smoothly. Almost any aspect of health can be affected by problems originating from the spine. Pinched nerves, sciatica, slipped discs, lower back pain, etc can all lead to headaches and digestive disorders.
The human body possesses a natural ability to restore itself. Chiropractors focus on this ability and apply treatments whose roots are based in natural healing. They look at a person's lifestyle and aid in the changing of that lifestyle. The ability of a person's body to heal itself is dependent upon whether the patient has a healthy nervous system. Auto accidents, sports injuries, stress from practically every aspect of one's life and repetitive work strain are a few factors that can overwhelm the patient's body and slow down its natural ability to heal. All these factors can lead to spinal injury, joint stiffening, inflammation, swelling and misalignment.
Subluxations are structural distortions of the human body, and chiropractic care helps to restore the body to its original form and function. These structural distortions may include tenderness, swelling, numbness, tingling, nerve damage, pain and / or spasms around the joints on the spine, shoulders, arms neck and back. A chiropractor is specifically trained in evaluating and treating spinal conditions and eradication of subluxations.