Doc Andy Lesko of San Francisco
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Chiropractic Technique |
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"The nervous system controls and coordinates all organs and structures of the human body." (Gray's Anatomy, 29th edition, page 4) Misalignments of spinal vertebrae and discs may cause irritation to the nervous system and affect the structures, organs and functions which may result in many seemilingly unrelated symptoms. It is our firm conviction that optimum health can not be achieved until you are free of vertebral subluxations (misaligned bones). Once all of the bone segments of your spine are properly aligned, your nervous system will be free of interference as nature intended. The chiropractic doctor is the only doctor who uses his/her clinical hand-on skills to detect and manually correct the vertebral subluxations. In order for your body to sustain the benefits of chiropractic therapy it is essential that you follow through with an initial series of treatments. Generally, the beginning series of treatments is over a two to four week period. Several chiropractic "adjustments" are necessary for the spine to progress from spinal stabilization to spinal correction. Your commitment to yourself and this program will determine the beneficial results. Self preservation is a full-time occupation! |
Chiropractic Care consists of three (3) phases: |
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Phase 1: Stabilization/Relief * Some level of reduction in symptoms such as pain, inflammation and limited ranges of motion. The first 2-3 treatments will cause reaction processes throughout your body for an estimated 24 hour period. Pinched nerves that have been cut off from feeling are now being reawakened. If you experience any discomfort or symptomatic disturbances during your treatment, please let us know so we may further explain the process. Phase 2: Correction * Restoration of normal healthy body functions. The goal during this stage of care is to facilitate the body's natural abilities to heal itself. A large percentage of healing takes place during this phase Phase 3: Maintenance * Maintenance and expansion of the progress and well being achived so far. The value of this phase is to maintain the progress that you have achieved, to support ongoing healing, and to prevent future health problems. |
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What is a pinched nerve? |
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The human body is a self-contained, self-governing and self-protecting vehicle which is designed to "live" many years. The body, with its framework of bones, its moving parts and motors of muscles and organs and its communication system of nerves, is controlled by the rational and sentient capacity of the brain. With all the parts functioning smoothly life is known, experienced and enjoyed. The nerves can be traced back to a point where they leave the backbone and enter the spinal column through small bone sections called vertebrae. These separate sections are bound together into a strong, flexible vertebral column by muscles and fibers. Between these sections or segments are protective cushions of cartilage. It is a remarkable structure, this backbone of ours, and it is appropriately fitted to support our bodies and to take up jars and shocks. It is possible for one or several of the individual vertebrae to slip or turn slightly from their proper position by sudden twists, prolonged stress of remaining in one position, falls, blows or other accidental strains. Displacement of the vertebral section tends to change the size and shape of the nerve trunk openings resulting in pressure upon or obstruction of the nerve trunk. This physical obstruction creates an abnormal flow of nerve force. There are 24 moveable vertebrae in the backbone of a grown person, with nerve trunks issuing to the right and left between each juncture of the vertebrae, each carrying millions of individual fibers bundled together like a telephone cable and extending to the various parts of the body. This is why any one of the many bodily parts and organs are affected by nerve obstructions and why these effects can be as numerous as we have names of diseases. Doctors of Chiropractic are trained to discover displacements of the segments of the backbone. Not only do they rely on their educated fingers discovering displaced vertebrae that reveals noticeable tenderness as the result of irritation, but x-ray is also used to show the position of the vertebrae in relation to one another. When vertebral displacement (frequently termed subluxation) is corrected by Chiropractic manipulation the bone will be felt and usually heard to move back into place, where it belongs. That is why there is seldom any pain experienced in Chiropractic care. Quite to the contrary, bones move from pain causing positions to the original health inducing positions. In this modern era of catch phrase we have often come to know the resultant cause of a displaced vertebrae as a "pinched nerve". |
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The photo on the right is a graphic illustration of a pinched nerve. The photo illustrates the result of a displacement of one of the vertebrae, causing obstruction of the normal flow of vital impulses through the nerves. You can see, healthy and normal nerve trunks branch forth from normal openings in the spinal column. But you can also see the devastating effect vertebral pinching has on a once healthy and normal nerve trunk. |
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The Chiropractic Story |
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The principle of chiropractic was discovered September 18, 1895 by Dr. Daniel Palmer in Davenport, Iowa. On that day, Palmer was in his office carrying on a shouted conversation with the deaf janitor of the building, Harvey Lillard. Lillard was explaining in shouts to Palmer that about 17 years earlier while working in a cramped, stooped position, some thing had "popped" in his back Since that time, his hearing had become progressively worse. Dr. Palmer, a curious, intelligent man, examined Lillard's back and found a painful, misaligned vertebra at the spot where something had "popped" 17 years earlier. He suspected a connection between this misaligned vertebra and Lillard's impaired hearing, and reasoned that if something had gone wrong in his back and caused deafness, the correction of the misaligned vertebra should bring back Lillard's hearing. Using his hands, Palmer repositioned the vertebra with a gentle thrust. Lillard's hearing improved immediately. In that moment, Palmer made the breakthrough that had eluded the greatest medical minds of all the ages... he had discovered the cause of nearly all human disease. During the next few days, Palmer continued the hand treatments on Lillard's spine. Within a week, Lillard was able to hear as well as anybody and was telling anybody who would listen about Dr. Palmer's hand treatments. Dr. Palmer's fame quickly spread as he proved that the hand treatments were effective in all sorts of disease conditions. He became a world-renowned specialist in the spine and nerve system. His research into the cause of disease had led him to theconclusion that misalignment of the spinal column interfereswith normal nerve function and thus, an alteration of normal body functions. |
In the Present |
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For 24 centuries most of the world has depended on the doctor of medicine to care health problems, yet the world is still sick and getting sicker. But more than forty million Americans have switched their thinking about doctors and each year an additional two million are switching. They are switching to Chiropractic. Recently, medicine became "scientific" with the appearance of the bacteriologist. Since then, the orthodox education of the medical man has centered around the theory of infection and has been focused almost exclusively on infectious diseases. Although some progress has been made in the fight against infections, medical science is beginning to realize that it is actually the degree of natural immunity, natural body defense, and vitality which determine the success or failure of any treatment. Because the medical profession has been preoccupied with germs, viruses and infections, the vast majority of conditions, ills and diseases that trouble mankind, have been ignored. 16,000,000 Americans suffer from chronic headaches, another 27,500,000 have arthritis. Heart disease is still the number 1 killer. Chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers and nervous disorders still must be dealt with. Hay fever, asthma, sinus and emphysema make hundreds of thousands miserable. Neuritis, bursitis and sciatica plague millions more. Chronic ailments are on the increase every day. Orthodox medicine has failed to meet theses challenges, while a new kind of doctor - the Doctor of chiropractic - now 40,000 of them have become the second largest healing profession in the world by getting people well - after medicine failed. |
The Big Picture |
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None of the body functions "just happen" Your heart doesn't just happen to beat. Your lungs don't just happen to inhale and exhale. Your stomach does not just happen to digest your dinner. All doctors know that your brain and nerve system coordinate these functions which make for life instead of death, health instead of sickness. It is your brain and nerve system which causes your heart to beat 72 times per minute, 60 minutes every hour, 103,680 times every 24 hours and pump 4,320 gallons of blood through nearly 100,00 miles of blood vessels, thus supplying oxygen and nourishment to every cell in the body, some 3 million of them. Because your brain and nerve system direct it, today you will breathe 23,040 times, digest about 3 1/4 pounds of food, drink and process about three quarts of liquid, speak about 4,800 words, move over 750 muscles and excercise about 7,000,000 brain cells. None of those things "just happen" The nerve system - often called the Master System - controls every function taking place in your body. This makes you a whole human being rather than a collection of parts. |
The Spine: Protector of Your Nerve System |
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The nerve system resembles an upside-down tree. The main trunk is suspended from the brain and the tiniest twigs end in the cells of the body. Distribution of nerves throughout the body is so intimate and extensive that if we could dissolve away all other tissues, we would still see the form and proportion of the body in gossamer, a phantom body made up entirely of nerves. When the nerve impulses flow smoothly and unimpeded as nature intends, a man enjoys health and a feeling of well being. But when there is interference in normal nerve function, there is bound to be health trouble. The spinal column is intended to protect the delicate spinal cord and the nerves leading from it. When it becomes misaligned, the column does not protect. Instead, the misaligned spinal bones impinge (pinch) vital nerves. This pinching action causes interference with normal nerve function. |
Subluxations-Health's Worst Enemy |
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In order to enjoy sound health, the individual must maintain an exact structural balance of the spinal column. Anything less than that leads to poor health and a constant grasping after good health. It is the stresses and strains, knocks and bumps of living that sometimes overcome this balance. Just look at others around you: heads forward, slumped shoulders, hollow backs, protuberant bellies, knock knees and flat feet. You can be sure these people suffer from attendant health problems: heart trouble, stomach trouble, liver trouble, headaches, sinus trouble, sciatica and ear trouble are only a few. They may suffer from any of the nearly 400 different diseases or conditions caused by misaligned vertebrae pinching on nerves. Misaligned vertebrae which pinch nerves are called spinalsublurations. A fall or injury may produce subhuxations. They may result from stresses or strains, such as lifting the wrong way. Chemical electrical or emotional shocks may overload the nerve system's protective mechanism and produce sublaxtions. |
How Nerves Become Pinched |
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An adult spine is composed of twenty four moveable bones called vertebrae. Each vertebrae has the general shape of a person's ring. The rings are stacked one on top of another forming a vertical tunnel. The delicate spinal cord just thicker than a pencil is suspended from the brain and extends down through the tunnel formed by the ring-like vertebrae. Smaller nerves lead from the spinal cord through openings between the vertebrae. These openings are called foramen. The nerves emerge in pairs, one to the right and one to the left. There are thirty one pairs of nerves. Each nerve goes to and controls a specific area of the body. When the spinal column is in proper alignment, the nerves pass unimpeded through the foramen. But when one or more vertebrae become misaligned, the nerve is impinged (pinched), and normal nerve function is cut off to the parts of the body served by that nerve. Sometimes misaligned vertebrae correct themselves. But most subluxations need outside assistance for correction. That assistance is chiropractic care. |
Pinched Nerves Do Cause Disease |
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Everyone knows that pinched nerves in a broken back can cause partial paralysis of the legs and that if nerves are severely compressed, complete paralysis results. Why then do some of us shut our minds to the same pinched nerve probability when (for instance) the lungs, heart, stomach or other parts of the body became diseased? Such thinking is inconsistent. Lung, heart and stomach conditions need the same consideration that more obvious forms of paralysis receive. Tissue deprived of nerve energy (impulses) cannot maintain health without nerve guidance from the brain. |
Nature Heals with Chiropractic Care |
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Chiropractors do not need to give medicine to cure the sick. They know that nature provides each person with a built-in druggist capable of compounding medicines, hormones, enzymes and antibiotics. Just as there is a health kit inside your body that heals cuts, mends broken bones and repairs damaged organs, so is there a doctor on the inside who can prescribe everything you need..in the exact dose needed, and without harmful side effects. The human body is capable of healing itself of every known disease provided nothing interferes with normal nerve function. The Doctor of chiropractic works with the spine and nerves. He was the first to recognize that spinal bones (vertebrae), twisted even slightly out of place, impinge the major nerve trunks at the point where they pass through the small openings between the vertebrae, thus causing pain and disease. You'll find your chiropractor to be an intelligent, scientifically trained doctor. Many years of professional schooling in basic and clinical sciences have given him the necessary background for discretion and judgement in caring for the sick and diseased. S/He knows that each patient is an individual..that each spinal column is different...and that each spinal column needs specific chiropractic care. The chiropractor is the only doctor in your community with the know-how to restore normal nerve function the natural way to lasting health. That's how Chiropractic heals when medicine fails. |
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