Chiropractic Care Lakeview Chicago IL

Whether you’re suffering from a chronic condition or your pain, injury, or problem just recently began, a chiropractor is the first healthcare provider to call.

Unless you have an HMO insurance plan, there is no need for a referral to see one of our Chicago chiropractors, and our doctors of chiropractic can make an accurate diagnosis and provide you with a wide range of comprehensive treatment that will solve the underlying cause of your health problem. Our Chicago chiropractors are uniquely trained to offer a “one-stop-shop” boutique healthcare experience, by performing all of the following:

• Detailed history & examination
• Diagnostic testing as indicated
• Coordination & delivery of comprehensive treatment options
• Referral to the appropriate specialist or other healthcare provider when necessary

Our chiropractic physicians are highly skilled in the art and science of diagnosis of all human ailments and can determine the underlying cause or causes of your problem which may be primarily muscular, joint-related or skeletal, neurologic, or systemic in nature. The doctor will take a detailed history and perform a physical, neurologic, chiropractic, and orthopedic examination tailored to your specific symptoms. Depending on the specifics of your condition, the doctor may order additional diagnostic testing including bloodwork, X-Rays and/or MRI studies, or other specialized testing. Once an accurate diagnosis has been made, your chiropractic physician will discuss with you your various treatment options, which may include some combination of the many natural treatments that we offer such as:

• Chiropractic Adjustments
• Homeopathy & Natural Medicine
• Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine
• Acupuncture
• Massage, Myofascial, & Manual Therapies
• Cold Laser Therapy

Or if you prefer an integrated approach utilizing both natural and conventional medical treatment, then we will be happy to refer you to and/or co-manage your condition with the appropriate medical specialist or other health care provider. If your condition would be more appropriately managed by another health care provider, a prompt referral would be made.

What Is Chiropractic Care?

Chiropractic is safe and effective treatment for many types of neuromusculoskeletal (relating to the nerves, muscles, and joints) and other conditions. It is based on the scientific fact that your body is under the control of your brain, spinal cord, and nervous system. When spinal or extremity joints become restricted or misaligned your nerves become irritated, causing pain and other health problems. Chiropractic involves the science of detecting these abnormal spinal biomechanical lesions (joint restrictions, misalignments or “subluxations”) and restoring proper joint motion & neurologic functioning through joint manipulation or adjustment. In our practice, we assess & treat many other contributing factors of your problem including the muscles and other soft tissues, as well as your lifestyle, diet/nutrition, exercise, ergonomics, and posture. Since chiropractic physicians also receive extensive diagnostic training, we can help you to decide if you would be likely to benefit from chiropractic care, homeopathy, or if you should consult a medical doctor or another health care provider.

What Are Joint Misalignments, Restrictions, & Subluxations?

A joint is the functional moving unit made up of two or more neighboring bones. There are two types of joints in your body: spinal joints (made up of 2 neighboring vertebrae) and extremity joints (wrist, ankle, knee, hip, elbow, shoulder, jaw, etc). Just like your knee joint is made up of its neighboring bones (the tibia and fibula moving with the femur), spinal joints are also made up of neighboring bones (your vertebrae moving with each other). The spinal bones are grouped into three regions: neck, or “cervical”, middle back or “thoracic, and low back or “lumbar”. They are then numbered from top to bottom: C1-C7, T1-T12, and L1-L5. So, the L4-L5 spinal joint is made up of the L4 vertebra moving relative to the L5 vertebra. The extremity or spinal joint “complex” includes not only the two or more neighboring bones, but also the other structures nearby that affect that joint’s function. These structures include the nerves, muscles, tendons, ligaments, other soft tissues like fascia, and also the intervertebral discs in the case of spinal joints.

When a joint anywhere in the body (spinal or extremity) becomes misaligned (out of its normal position) or restricted (“tight” “locked up”, or loses its normal motion) then the entire joint complex and all of its related structures become affected. Sometimes referred to as subluxations, these joint misalignments and restrictions are often the underlying cause of a wide range of health problems.

Biomechanical Problems

When spinal or extremity joints become restricted or misaligned, tension and inflammation are created in the body. This can lead to biomechanical problems including pain, tension, stiffness and decreased range of motion. Furthermore, when one joint is restricted or “hypomobile”, the neighboring joints above and below it tend to move excessively to compensate and become “hypermobile” and unstable. This excessive motion and instability can cause more pain and excessive wear & tear on those hypermobile joints. Over time, the excessive wear & tear can lead to accelerated degeneration of the joint and ultimately osteoarthritis.

Neurologic Problems

Because nerves are a crucial part of the joint complex, the tension, inflammation and biomechanical problems described above may also create nerve irritation and/or nerve compression (pressure on the nerve, as in a “pinched nerve”). Nerve compression tends to cause numbness, weakness, tingling, and “pins & needles” sensations. Nerve irritation can also cause these symptoms, but most commonly causes pain. Nerve irritation and compression caused by joint misalignments and restrictions trigger altered signals including pain signals to bombard the central nervous system or “CNS”. The CNS (made up of brain, spinal cord, and spinal nerves) is a highly sensitive “stimulus-response” system, and tends to react rather dramatically to this nerve irritation or compression stimulus in a wide variety of ways:

• Tight Muscles

  Certain muscles tend to tighten up, develop trigger points, or become “overactive” as a reaction to pain signals. This increased muscle tension further reinforces the misalignment and restriction of the affected joint. This triggers a “snowball effect” of muscle and joint tension causing nerve irritation and pain, causing more tension, more pain, etc.

• Weak Muscles

  Other muscles become weak, inhibited, or “underactive”. This combination of underactive and overactive muscles (described above) leads to muscular imbalance and joint instability, which leads to more pain, poor posture, impaired athletic performance, and makes one more prone to injuries including repetitive and/or traumatic sprains, strains, muscle pulls, etc.

• Referred Pain

  All the nerves in your body originate from the CNS, and extend outwards all the way to the tips of your fingers and toes. So, an irritated L4-L5 nerve can cause referred pain to travel along the course of the sciatic nerve: from the lower back, down through the hip, the leg, and all the way to the foot. Commonly referred to as “sciatica”, this condition is a type of referred pain syndrome, which originates at the level of the spinal joint complex. This type of referred pain can mimic or contribute to symptoms of lumbar disc bulge/herniation (“slipped disc”), tiliotibal band (ITB) syndrome, or plantar fasciitis. Similarly, cervical spine joint restrictions can cause referred pain extending from the neck and travelling down through the shoulder, arm, forearm, wrist and hand. This type of referred pain can mimic or contribute to symptoms of cervical disc bulge/herniation (“slipped disc”),carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, or rotator cuff syndrome.

• Other Problems

  Every tissue, organ, and cell in your body is under the control of your central nervous system, or “CNS”. Because pain signals traveling along irritated nerves directly affects the CNS, the pain signals caused by a joint misalignment can have far reaching effects throughout the body. For example, your lungs and digestive organs are controlled in part by the spinal nerves in the thoracic region of your spine. If these nerves are irritated by joint restrictions or misalignments in this part of your body, your lung function may become affected which can mimic or contribute to symptoms of asthma, reflux disease, or stomach ulcer. Similarly, joint dysfunction in the cervical spine can mimic or contribute to symptoms of headache, ear infection, vertigo, allergies, or sinusitis.

What Causes Joint Misalignments, Restrictions, & Subluxations?

Many factors of modern living in a city like Chicago can cause your joints and muscles to become tense, restricted, and misaligned. Some common causes include any type of old or recent injury including: sports injuries, car accidents, whiplash syndrome, ankle sprains, and falls. Other causes include: stress, poor posture, repetitive motions, prolonged sitting & standing without breaks, poor sleep habits, improper lifting, lack of exercise, poor nutrition, and poor form during exercise and at the gym.

What Is An Adjustment?

Although we provide many other services in our Chicago chiropractic clinic, the cornerstone of chiropractic health treatment is spinal and extremity joint manipulation, often called the adjustment. This may involve either gentle pressure, or a quick, precise thrust to restore normal motion and alignment to joints that have become misaligned, stiff, restricted, or “locked up”.

The adjustment is an effective treatment for joint misalignments & restrictions, which are often the underlying cause of a wide range of health problems, as described above. Joint manipulation or “adjustment” is a highly technical orthopedic procedure that may be performed by your chiropractic physician on all joints of the body including:

• Joints of the cervical spine (neck)
• Joints of the thoracic spine (middle back, ribs, and shoulder blades or “scapulae”)
• Joints of the lumbar spine (low back) and pelvis (sacroiliac joints, and coccyx or “tailbone”)
• Extremity joints (jaw or “TMJ”, shoulder, elbow, hand, wrist, hip, knee, ankle, and foot)

While manipulation may be performed by other physicians, Doctors of Chiropractic have the most extensive experience and education in specific joint manipulation, performing 94% of the spinal manipulations in the United States. Numerous scientific studies have proven the efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness and high levels of patient satisfaction of spinal manipulation. As a result, it is one of only two treatment protocols given the highest recommendation for the treatment of low back pain by the Agency for Health Care and Policy Research (AHCPR), an arm of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Although most patients in our Chicago chiropractic office receive traditional manual (“hands-on”) adjustments, we also offer “low force” adjustments, performed with a highly advanced instrument. Some patients are familiar with these instrument adjustment techniques, which are often referred to as “activator”, “pro-adjustor”, or “impulse adjusting”. These low-force adjustments are extremely gentle and precise, and are not associated with any “cracking” or “popping” sounds. Experience has shown us that instrument adjusting can be especially effective when used in combination with manual adjusting. In other instances, instrument adjusting may be used as an alternative to manual adjusting. As with all of our treatment options, the doctor will be happy to discuss with you which adjusting techniques would be best for your particular condition.

Contact us if you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment at our Chicago chiropractic clinic.