Common Questions and Answers

Click on any question below to find out the answer.                                     OR...

If you have a question that is not answered below, feel free to e-mail us now  and we will get back to you in a timely manner. Please make sure your question is not already answered below.

1.  My doctor told me that seeing a chiropractor will wear out my joints. Is this true?

2.   What is one of the most common causes for having a back problem?

3.   How do you solve postural problems?

4.   Once you start seeing a chiropractor, do you have to be a chiropractic patient for the rest of your life?

5.   Having my spine adjusted sounds painful, is this true?

6.   Why do some people get a cold after their first visit?

1. My doctor told me that seeing a chiropractor will wear out my joints. Is this true?

This is actually just a big myth. In fact, as described in the next few paragraphs, the total opposite is true. When we discuss this kind of stuff with our patients, we always go back and look at literature and research done on this very topic.

One of the studies that we always relate back to is a study done on "people that pop their knuckles on a regular basis."   Most of us have heard from our mothers or grandmothers that we will get arthritis or joint damage if we keep popping our knuckles, when actually the opposite is true.

This study found that knuckle poppers had the least amount of joint degeneration. This study proves and exemplifies that  joints need to remain extremely mobile in order for joints to remain healthy.

Therefore, in contrast to the myth that this question is asking, seeing your chiropractor will NOT wear our your joints, but instead will make you a healthier person.

2. What is one of the most common causes for having a back problem?

When people have problems with their spines it's usually out of an abnormal postural problem that cannot be seen by the eye and can only be seen on an x-ray.

Postural problems cause joints to no longer function correctly. Its almost like if you were to take a door hinge and bend it; of course the door would not function correctly.

In summation, if your joints are not agile, you will be more likely to have back pain. Better moving joints are healthier joints. Seeing a Chiropractor will allow your joints to function correctly!

3. How do you solve postural problems?

As explained in question #2 above, in the door hinge example, Chiropractors unbend the hinge so the alignment is improved, the hinge can work normally and motion is restored. Restored motion brings on the healthy joint, which helps you to become healthier overall. You will remain free of degeneration and osteo-arthritis for years to come.

4. Once you start seeing a chiropractor, do you have to be a chiropractic patient for the rest of your life?

If your accustomed to fresh clean air, clean water, and very fresh food without insecticides, your body would rise to a greater level of health. Well, by beginning to adjust your spine, your nervous system begins to function better. This in turn allows your body function better which causes you to be healthier.

Once you begin treatment at Mountain West Chiropractic, you obtain a greater sense of how your body feels. Patients become accustomed to that and don’t want to lose those powerful feelings. Once patients stop seeing us, the problem, in certain cases, is that the body goes back to where it was once before.

B) Another thing is that unfortunately a lot of chiropractic offices don’t correct the underlying problem. They don’t make mechanical changes to the spine like we specialize in. Once we can make a mechanical correction we are able to keep it there. Just like some one that wears braces, and eventually wears a retainer to maintain the correction. Once we've been successful in maintaining the correction, and retaining the correction, our patients are much less likely to come to us on a regular basis. The underlying problem has been addressed and been corrected .

5. Having my spine adjusted sounds painful is this true?

No, this is actually just a myth. In fact, most patients enjoy the sensation of the adjustments.

However, if a patient was in an accident years prior, they have built scar tissue around the joint. In this kind of case, the first thing we do is relieve some of that scar tissue around the joint. The patient might feel a little discomfort or minor pain during the first few adjustments. The good news is, after the scar tissue is broken up, most adjustments feel good to people.

We talk our patients through everything we are going to do. Nothing is ever a surprise. If you understand what is going to happen, it will help you relax and have a better adjustment.

6. Why do some people "catch a cold" after seeing a chiropractor for the first week?

Some patients, during the first two weeks of treatment, may catch a cold. This is because these patients are detoxifying, cleansing and flushing many toxins out of their bodies.

Please understand, when someone gets a massage, it's more based within the muscle itself. Toxins in the fatty tissue or muscle are moved into the bloodstream then out of the body.

Even more powerful a technique, when we do an adjustment to neurological components (chiropractic work), it allows the body to function at a higher level. Therefore, the body and the immune system become more sensitive to anything that might be invading. The body is going to do what it supposed to, by causing a runny nose, coughing, sneezing, aches or fever, in order to clean the body and get rid of those impurities.