What is Chiropractic?

About Chiropractic

Zephyrhills ChiropracticChiropractic dates back to primitive forms of healthcare. The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, talked much about spinal misalignment problems. In Germany they had bonesetters for years but for professional chiropractic, as you know, it originated in 1895 and was founded by Dr. D. D. Palmer. Today many Americans use chiropractic and chiropractic is the number one choice for alternative healthcare.

Vertebral subluxations

Chiropractic is the science, philosophy, and art of finding vertebral subluxations. Vertebral subluxations are vertebrae that have moved out of juxta position with another vertebrae putting torque on the spinal nerves and the dura causing pain and dysfunction of that nerve which not only feeds muscles and blood vessels but also feeds internal organs.

Restoring normal vertebrae position

Here at our clinic we use several techniques to restore normal position of the vertebra. The vertebrae can be looked at as fuses or circuit breakers. When the circuit breaker is out of position, the nerve does not function well. The muscles, the blood vessels and the joint can exhibit pain and dysfunction. The purpose of the chiropractor is to align that vertebra back into position so a normal physiologic process can occur. When normal physiology returns, regardless of where your pain may be by reducing the pressure on those nerves that are generally spinally related in origin, than that individual can exhibit good health.

There is not one cell tissue or bodily function that is not under direct influence of the nervous system. Our primary course of treatment is using the lowest force and painless adjusting procedures that the profession has to offer.

What would a new patient expect?

As we welcome you to this chiropractic office, you are to be commended for reaching out and venturing into a profession which may be unfamiliar to you. You may have been to some of the largest and most famous healthcare institutions in our land and you may have spent large sums of money on various painful and often tedious tests and as a result the doctor has determined no real origin or cause of your pain or discomfort. Chiropractic opens an avenue to explore the window of the nervous system. Chiropractors get to the cause of the problem which is often a vertebral subluxation. We reduce that subluxation and good health ensues.

Getting to the cause of your problem, how does chiropractic work?

Regardless of where your pain may be, you will usually find that chiropractic will show you how it starts back to the spine with misaligned vertebrae producing pressure on the nerves that lead to where the pain is. The answer may be found in your spine where a surprising number of health problems do originate. You may have misalignment of one or more spinal bones called vertebrae and those misalignments can cause irritation or pressure on the nerves as they leave the spinal cord through openings between the vertebrae. This is basic neurology. We treat spinal distortion and misalignments without drugs, harmful surgery and we do it in natural and pleasant environment. We look at your body as a whole being and not just one symptomatic system that is expressively deranged.

Does chiropractic care hurt?

Perhaps you are wondering, "When the doctor finds a misalignment in my spine and removes it, will it hurt?" There is very little if any discomfort from a chiropractic adjustment. To most people it is relaxing. The doctor uses very little force in making adjustments and it is not unusual to see a 100-pound doctor give a chiropractic adjustment to a 200-pound patient with little or no effort. Here at this clinic we use pneumatic drop tables and we use a Cox distraction technique which is a passive distraction technique to give nerves in the body more room to exit out between each vertebra. We also use low-force variety techniques such as activator and spinal cord stimulation that is done with spring-loaded probes. In addition, we also use a sacro-occipital technique which is a passive form of using wedged blocks underneath the hips to often restore a normal alignment to the lumbopelvic area.

What is back pain?

Back pain is suffered by over 80% of the American public in their lifetime. Forty percent of Americans have lasting back pain for more than two weeks and actually end up going to a chiropractor. It is also known that 6.8% of the population suffers from back pain at any given time and it is also recommended by federal agencies that chiropractic treatment over other forms of medical care for acute back pain is effective. In addition, when the chiropractic care is combined with acupuncture and other physiotherapeutics such as electrical stimulator, heat, ultrasound, manual massage and pulse diathermy the odds of getting over back pain increase significantly. Chiropractic is the largest drugless non-surgical primary health care provider in the western world. In addition, federal programs, Medicare and Medicaid, government employees, hospital association benefit plans and post master benefit plans cover chiropractic and it is significant in the fact that most major insurance carriers as well as auto accident carriers cover chiropractic very well also. There is an overwhelming body of evidence indicating that chiropractic management of low back pain is more cost effective and safer than medical management. This is outlined in the Magna report.

What will happen when I come to the chiropractic acupuncture clinic?

First, all new chiropractic patients begin their care with a consultation by the doctor and during the consultation the patient's health problem is discussed and the doctor decides that the patient's condition can be helped by chiropractic, acupuncture or homeopathic detoxification. Then there is usually a physical examination. If the patient is determined to be a chiropractic patient, they will center upon orthopedic and neurologic examinations. If it is an acupuncture patient, it will be processed as a meridian evaluation. There are twelve main meridians in the body and we are capable of measuring them electronically and painlessly, and we treat all acupuncture patients without needles and we do it with microcurrent which is below the threshold of sensation to restore normal meridian balance. When normal meridian balance occurs, the pain dissipates.

If the patient is determined to be a chiropractic patient and even some acupuncture patients, we might x-ray the point of pain. This is important to rule out underlying pathologies and the diagnosis and set up a treatment plan for the individual.

As a new patient, spinal adjustment may be administered if you are determined to be a chiropractic patient and it is probably the most important aspect of chiropractic care. The doctor of chiropractic uses a variety of adjusting techniques to realign the spine and restore normal function of nervous system. With acupuncture care, as discussed above, we use no needles and with electronic homeopathic detoxification we can unlock various biological pathways that have been fatigued by the biological stressors through the utilization of homeopathy.

Methods of Care

Chiropractic care is usually given as a series of treatments lasting a few weeks to several months and if you are chosen as a chiropractic patient, the doctor monitors the patient's progress during each treatment and usually performs a progress evaluation at regular intervals in the form of re-examinations and re-evaluations during the treatment schedule. As an acupuncture patient, we do periodic full meridian analysis and graphing to determine the progress of meridian balancing, and in homotoxicology we continue to do the body scan work to reduce biologic stressors, if you have been determined to be in need of that and have agreed to that type of treatment.

The doctor of chiropractic wants patients to understand and be involved in their health care and as an acupuncture physician, I want you to know that we are concerned about your whole body approach and the integration of chiropractic, acupuncture and homotoxicology. This is an unbeatable combination to restore normal health in the individual. In addition, the essential part of chiropractic care and education is the patient's diagnosis and what she or he can do to alleviate the problems from reoccurring and we carry that over in acupuncture and utilize lifestyle changes for both therapies and modalities and we also utilize it for the involvement of herbal preparations, nutritional supports and other methods of detoxification. We may recommend certain home exercises, certain changes in diet and the doctor will recommend educational tools such as videos and CDs, pamphlets, and classes and an opportunity to sit down and review your case at anytime. Our door is always open to help you to your recovery and journey back to health and wellness.



George A. Forster, DC, AP, NMD
Zephyrhills Chiropractic

Doctor of Chiropractic
Acupuncture Physician
Naturopathic Medical Doctor
Past President of the American Chiropractic Thermographic Society
Past Chairman of the ICA College of Thermography
Continuing Education Lecturer for Life Chiropractic College