| What is Chiropractic? |
About Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic care has been practiced for centuries, but
did not receive the name "Chiropractic" until the early 1900's. Its origination
in the United States is attributed to the works of D.D. Palmer in the late 1800's. In
fact, chiropractic celebrated its centennial in 1995.
Chiropractic is a drugless, hands-on approach to healing. Doctors
of Chiropractic understand that disease within the body is initiated by a blockage of
nerve impulses from the brain cell to the tissue cell. Every tissue, organ, and
gland in your body receive nerve impulses from the brain to control function. There
also exists a feedback loop from the tissue cell back to the brain. This allows the
brain total control over all bodily cells. Every tissue in your body, when working optimally and properly, is
controlled 100% of the time by your brain and nervous system. (Reference:
Innate, the Safety Pin Cycle and Neuropeptides Dr. Matthew McCoy - Editor
editor@jvsr.com Journal of Vertebral
Subluxation Research, http://www.jvsr.com)
Misalignments of the spine can occur due to physical, chemical, emotional
stress, and these misalignments are called subluxations. Subluxations
interfere with normal brain communication to the body tissues creating illness
and disease.
This diagram shows how a spinal subluxation, or spinal bone misalignment, can irritate and damage sensitive nerve tissues.
The following description of chiropractic is from the California Chiropractic Association:
Purpose of Chiropractic
The purpose of chiropractic is to provide a first health care contact for
wellness and the optimization of health.
Chiropractic Defined
Chiropractic is a health care discipline which emphasizes the inherent
recuperative power of the body to heal itself without the use of drugs or
surgery.
The practice of chiropractic focuses on the relationship between structure
(primarily the spine) and function (as coordinated by the nervous system) and
how that relationship affects the preservation and restoration of health. In
addition, Doctors of Chiropractic recognize the value and responsibility of
working in cooperation with other health care practitioners when in the best
interest of the patient.
Chiropractic Education
Four year doctorate degree with classroom and laboratory work in basic sciences,
diagnosis, treatment procedures, and a clinical internship
Educational requirements for medical doctors and chiropractors in basic and
clinical sciences are very similar
Postgraduate continuing education required annually
Chiropractors are Primary Care Providers Focused on Healthy Lifestyle
Promoting and Cost-Saving Preventative Care.
Chiropractors promote preventative care by providing advice on diet, exercise
and lifestyle. Preventive care results in cost savings as health is maintained,
disease avoided, and costly procedures forgone.
Doctors of chiropractic are required to refer patients to the appropriate health
care provider if a condition is detected that is not subject to appropriate
management by chiropractic methods or techniques.
Scope of Practice
Doctors of chiropractic are trained to diagnose all conditions: History taking
and physical exam techniques
Appropriate use of laboratory and other tests such as MRI and x-ray
Doctors of chiropractic are educated, trained and licensed by the state of
California to treat all conditions, diseases, or injuries in a manner consistent
with chiropractic methods and techniques.
Doctors of chiropractic provide treatment without drugs or surgery: Prevention
stressed, including wellness protocols such as diet, exercise and lifestyle
Natural approach including nutrition, vitamins, minerals, herbs and other
options
Typical treatment uses manual adjustments to spine and/or extremities
Physiotherapy and other soft tissue techniques also utilized
Exercise and rehabilitation are prescribed to enhance function and condition
prevention
The role of chiropractic is
to "reconnect" you and enhance self-awareness by removing the interference
between the brain and body.
It is vitally important to have your spinal column examined by a
Doctor of Chiropractic to determine if subluxations are present. You do not have to be in
pain to have subluxations. Symptoms are a warning signal that your body is desperately
seeking attention. You do not need to reach this dire situation by implementing
preventative, natural, and conservative chiropractic care.
Bringing fast relief for your symptoms is a major
priority in our office, but we also emphasize the long-term benefits of
chiropractic care. Our patients are educated to realize the importance of
wellness care, and keeping their bodies "tuned-up" for their entire lives.
I've heard that once you go to a chiropractor, you have to go forever. Is that true?
Dr. Jameson's response: The first thing you have to realize is that chiropractic's role in the health care system is health enhancement. It is not simply of treatment of a disease - that's allopathic medicine's hail to fame. So consider chiropractic like you would consider dentistry. Most people don't argue with the fact that going to the dentist is pretty much a life-long endeavor. (As long as you want to keep your teeth looking good and working well). Chiropractic's role at maintaining the proper functioning and health of your nervous system, which controls every organ, system, gland, and muscle of your body should be considered just as important as dentistry. It rates right up there with exercising and good nutrition. So just as you would consider eating well a lifetime endeavor, or getting regular exercise a lifetime endeavor, you should also consider receiving regular chiropractic check-ups a lifetime endeavor.
Do I need a referral from my medical doctor to go to a chiropractor?
Doctors of Chiropractic are primary health care providers, meaning that no referral from a medical doctor is needed to see a chiropractor. Chiropractors receive thousands of hours of training in diagnosis, pathology, radiology, and all basic health sciences that medical doctors receive. You are in good hands when you enter our office.
Do chiropractors and physical therapists do the same thing?
There's a major difference between the two professions. Chiropractors offer a unique vitalistic philosophy which differs entirely from a medically-influenced physical therapist reasoning. (Read the essay about chiropractic above to learn more about what we do.) Physical therapists focus primarily on the musculoskeletal system. Chiropractors focus on restoring nervous system function. Since chiropractors work directly with the nervous system, we influence every tissue, organ and gland in your body, thus affecting total body health. Chiropractors perform specific, precise chiropractic adjustments that restore normal joint integrity and neurological activity. Some physical therapists perform what's called "manipulations" that are not specific. This is not to say that physical therapists are unneeded. They serve an important purpose in the health care arena. But there are major differences between the two professions. Chiropractors have always focused on a drug-independent, wellness concept of living.
I have insurance coverage. Do you accept insurances?
The goal of our office to is focus solely on your health care, therefore we ask that you pay for your care at the time of the visit. We understand that you may be paying a great deal of money for your insurance coverage, or possibly it is offered through your employer. To allow you to make the most of your coverage, we offer to provide you with a billing statement to submit for reimbursement. In many cases, you will be reimbursed within three to four weeks. The turnaround time is very fast if the policy holder submits the claim personally. We understand this may be different than other medical, chiropractic, or ancillary health offices you have visited. But for us to truly excel at our job of instilling your healing response and allowing you to reach your optimum health goals, we need to focus solely on that. Hiring staff to constantly mail and check up on outstanding claims causes our office to loose focus. We hope you understand the importance we put on your health care.
I have HMO coverage through my employer. Why aren't you on the provider list?
Dr. Jameson's response: Actually, we used to be members of an organization called American Specialties Health Plans that contracted to all the major HMO programs. At the time we thought it would be a good idea to reach out to a larger segment of the population. After about 9 months of participation in the program we realized we had made a HUGE mistake. We began realizing that the HMOs would only allow one, two, or zero visits for young children, especially infants. Our practice has many children patients, so that was the first problem. HMOs do not recognize the vital importance of regular chiropractic care for children. The second reason was that the amount of paperwork involved was horrendous and it began taking our focus off patient care and on paperwork. We saw that this was really affecting the energy we could provide to our patients. Thirdly, all HMOs have a "Case Manager" that oversees your case (thus the chiropractor looses control of your health care). In many cases, what I knew the patient needed would be cut down because some case manager 500 miles away did not think the amount of care was warranted. HMO chiropractic practices are stuck in the "back-pain" mode. That is not our focus. We focus on health enhancement and optimum performance. Being involved in the HMO was a big contradiction that had to be ended.
So we decided after our HMO experience that our practice should be primarily a pay-at-the-time-of-visit practice so we could once again focus just on a patient's restoration of health. That's what we do best!
What form of payment do you accept?
We accept Visa, Mastercard, and American Express and ATM cards. You can also pay by cash or check.
I've heard chiropractic is expensive. What does it cost?
You would be surprised to find out that chiropractic is actually very affordable, yet there is a monetary commitment for yourself and your family to enjoy the tremendous benefits of chiropractic care. On the other hand, having poor health is VERY expensive. Consider the cost of medical bills, medications, lost work time, lost productivity, and loss of family time and well-being. The true cost of sickness is really incalculable. Compared to that, chiropractic care is very affordable.
Our initial examination fee is $100, which includes the new state-of-the-art Subluxation Station computerized testing system (see front page of our website for more information). Our x-ray fee is typically $150, except in the case of personal injury, where it may be more due to necessity of additional pictures. Our office is unique that we offer yearly wellness programs to make your chiropractic program very affordable. For those practice members not interested in wellness programs, we also offer short term pain relief programs. Our regular office visit fee is $50, and our senior office visit rate is $45 (over 60 years of age).
I'm afraid of bringing my child to a chiropractor because you may hurt his spine.
Dr. Jameson and Dr. Gossett perform only very low-force style spinal corrections on infants and toddlers. That means there's no "popping" sounds or heavy forces on your baby's spine. The adjustments are very powerful at restoring neurological control, and yet are very gentle to the baby's or child's spine. As children get older in age, usually around three to four years old, more traditional chiropractic techniques can be used as their bodies mature. No child has ever been injured in our chiropractic office. On the other hand, many children's lives have been transformed under chiropractic care. We have seen children completely get off all medicines, overcome many types of disease, and had their life restored! Chiropractic should be a standard wellness care choice for your children and family.
I have a condition that I don't think you can do anything for. It's really serious and life-threatening. I've tried everything else, and no one can help me.
Dr. Jameson and Dr. Gossett specialize in very difficult cases. When someone presents to us with serious health issues like cancer, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, etc, we first want to find out if there are subluxations present in that person's spine. If there are, we inform the patient that correcting these subluxations will allow their body to heal at a higher level and will remove interference in their nervous system function. Of course, we integrally work with your medical doctors and other ancillary health practitioners so you receive the finest care possible for your condition. If no subluxations are detected in our evaluation process then you would not fall into the chiropractic scope of practice. We would then refer you to a doctor or practitioner who may be able to help you.
There is no case that is too complex or serious to begin a chiropractic care program. The true nature of chiropractic is to restore your God-given ability to heal. Our focus is to enhance your innate healing ability. If you have serious health problems, you should determine if chiropractic can help you attain higher levels of health! Do not wait any longer. call 510-582-5454 to schedule your initial visit.