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- Why Gonstead Chiropractic?
The Gonstead Difference
Welcome to the exciting world of health through chiropractic! Your doctor uses the Gonstead System and would like for you to understand and learn more about your health.
Please feel free to ask questions and express concerns you may have. Your Gonstead doctor is dedicated to your health.
For research and other information on the Gonstead System please write:
Gonstead Clinical Studies Society
c/o Gonstead Int’l Journal of Chiropractic
P.O. Box 368
Galesville , WI 54630
In Plain English...
The Gonstead Technique is a system used to analyze and care for the spine. It is a gentle, effective technique that is specific, accurate, and precise in evaluating and adjusting the spine.
What Does That Mean?
In dealing with the vertebral subluxation complex, it is important to the Gonstead practitioner to thoroughly examine the spine before adjusting it.
Why? In order to give a specific adjustment, your chiropractor needs to evaluate ad find the location of your subluxations (or misalignments) -- which may be the cause of your health problems.
Research suggests the more you understand how your body works and what your unique problems are, the faster you will respond to care. Talk with your doctor of chiropractic about your health.
Vertebral Subluxation Complex and Your Health
Chiropractors help in correcting the vertebral subluxation complex (VSC) so that your body can function more normally and begin its natural healing process. VSC is a condition which may effect your muscles, your nerve tissues and your joints. It may result in impaired spinal function causing pain, lack of motion, and interference with normal nerve activity. This may lead to a wide variety of bodily symptoms such as pain, numbness and tingling in your body’s joints as well as problems with internal organs such as your stomach, lungs, etc. If not taken care of, permanent damage may result.
There are many factors that cause VSC: falls, jolts, strains, car accidents; stress and emotional upsets or life style habits such as improper exercise, sleep, diet and work.
Because many of these factors probably effect you, i is important to have your spine checked regularly and not just when you experience pain or other symptoms. Your Gonstead chiropractor will help in restoring and maintaining proper spinal function guiding you towards improved health. ]
“Find the subluxation. Accept it where you find it. Correct it. Leave it alone.” -This was the philosophy of Dr. C. S. Gonstead who pioneered the Gonstead System and became known as the chiropractor’s chiropractor.
Complex Analysis
As a Gonstead practitioner, your chiropractor uses the following thorough methods of analysis:
Case History If your car breaks down you explain to a car mechanic what problems you are having with your car. The mechanic also asks you what type of fuel you’re putting in your car.
Likewise, your doctor wants to know what kind of problems or discomfort you have been experiencing and how you are fueling your body. Automobile accidents, falls, other traumas or injuries are important information in evaluating your spine and overall health.
X-ray Analysis To further understand the condition of your spine, it is also important to view the structure of your spine through the use of x-ray examination. Your doctor looks for signs of pathology (disease) and fracture; evaluates posture, and joints of the spine, the condition of the disc, subluxations and other conditions of the spine. Your doctor can also use x-rays to visualize what position the vertebrae are in so that he or she can adjust to the spine as gently, specifically and effectively as possible.
Instrumentation Your chiropractor may use an instrument (a Nervoscope, Temposcope, or NCM). These instruments, much like a thermometer, measure heat. Abnormal heat distribution is a sign to the doctor that there may be nerve dysfunction and joint swelling in the spine and help the chiropractor evaluate for possible subluxations. This instrument glides down the length of your back and feels like two fingers gliding down either side of your spinal column.
Static Palpation Your spine, when subluxated, will send warning signals to your body. Muscles may become tight or tender, tissues damaged from the subluxation or subluxations. To detect the warning signals, chiropractors use static palpation. This simply means that your chiropractor runs his or her fingers over (or palpates) your spine in a static (or stationary) position. Your chiropractor is looking for edema, swelling and tender or tight muscle fibers.
Motion Palpation Like Static palpation, the chiropractor palpates your spine while bending your spine at different angles. The chiropractor determines range of motion, or, how easily or difficult each segment of your spine moves. For example, there may be problems if you can bend further to the left than to the right. Lack of motion is one of the factors in the vertebral subluxation complex.
(To insure proper positioning of your spine during your adjustment, Gonstead doctors use the cervical chair. With the Gonstead System your adjustment can be specific, accurate and precise-- restoring proper function in your spine and helping your body restore health.)
A Gonstead Adjustment is Specific
After complex evaluation using these methods of analysis, your chiropractor is ready to provide a specific, accurate and precise adjustment. The cause of your discomfort--the areas of subluxation--have been determined so there is a focus on adjusting the problem areas only.
Gonstead chiropractors approach the spine biomechanically- which means that they relate the structure of the spine to how they will adjust it. Gonstead doctors take great care in making sure you are in a mechanically correct position for your adjustment. Accurate positioning and precision thrusting insure that the correction is as accurate and painless as possible.
To help illustrate the necessity of correct positioning, think of how a pottery sculptor carefully positions the clay of the pottery wheel before shaping or reshaping the clay. If the clay is not in the center of the pottery wheel it will become off-balance and lose its shape. Likewise, your chiropractor is “reshaping” the position of the vertebrae in your spine.
In summary, your Gonstead practitioner uses the following methods of analysis to evaluate your spine: case history, X-ray examination, visualization, instrumentation, static palpation, motion palpation. By using these thorough methods of assessment, giving careful consideration to positioning, and relying on his or her expert training, your chiropractor can give you a proper adjustment, assuring you of biomechanically sound correction of your subluxations.
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