A subluxation is a misalignment of a bone that causes pressure on the joint and nerve root that exits from your spine at that level. A subluxation can also occur in an extremity joint like an ankle, wrist, or elbow. A chiropractor uses a gentle adjustment to correct this misalignment and that alleviates the pressure on the joint and nerve allowing for proper range of motion and decreased pain.
A subluxation can present with various symptoms. If you are a regular blog follower you know last week we talked about how the nervous system controls every organ and cell in your body. So a subluxation may have no pain associated with it at all. Your internal organs do not have the same type of pain receptors as your musculoskeletal system. For example your bowel has stretch receptors that allow you to know when your bowel is becoming full. This is why you get gas pains at times, that is your intestine being stretched and signaling it is becoming too full and produces pain. In contrast your joints and muscles have pressure, stretch, and temperature receptors to name a few. So when your spine becomes subluxated it may feel like a tenderness along your spine, usually along your spinous process, which is that bump you feel on your spine when you rub it. Or it may feel like a fixation or tightness, often patients tell me I feel like my neck is stuck or has a kink. You can also have radiating pain from compression of a nerve root that goes into your arm or leg. As you can tell there is a wide range of symptoms that chiropractic care can help. Regular chiropractic care has bee shown to improve your range of motion, better sense of well being, less illness and increased energy levels.
Adjustments usually take about 20 minutes and are painless. What do you have to lose?
