By Jennifer Sinclair Johnson
If you’ve ever woken up with a sore neck, tweaked your spine moving furniture, or moaned “Oh my aching back,” you’re not alone. Back pain is one of the most common medical problems in our country, affecting about eighty percent of adults at one time or another. Even if you haven’t felt a dull, creeping soreness or sudden, sharp pain from lumbago, you will eventually. Back pain trails only upper-respiratory infections in bringing patients to physicians’ offices. It’s one of the most common reasons people miss work and the top complaint that sends an estimated forty-million Americans to their Chiropractic Doctor.
Chiropractors don’t just have your back. “We specialize in improving nervous system function,” says Deb Hoelscher with Eastland Chiropractic and Wellness Center in Bloomington. “Study after study has shown that people under chiropractic care have better overall health, less illnesses, and spend less on healthcare.” Today’s patients seek help with a variety of ailments including headaches, osteoarthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, whiplash, PMS, stress, infertility, and digestive disorders. Infants and children find relief from colic, bedwetting, asthma, ear infections, and ADHD. Increasingly, people consult their chiropractor not just when something feels wrong, but to stay well, too.
Why? Research shows our attitudes toward noninvasive healthcare practices are changing. A conservative approach to healing and wellness without resorting to drugs or surgery makes the practice the most popular form of natural health care in the world.
Yet, it’s nothing new. Ancient Chinese and Greek writings in 2700 B.C. and 1500 B.C mention spinal manipulation and the maneuvering of the lower extremities to ease lower back pain. Hippocrates, the Greek physician (460-370 B.C.) known as the father of medicine, published work on the importance of chiropractic care advising, “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.” More recently and closer to home, Daniel David Palmer founded the chiropractic profession in Davenport, Iowa in 1895 and the first college, Palmer School of Chiropractic, in 1897.
Today’s educational requirements for Doctors of Chiropractic are among the most stringent of any in the health care professions. To practice in the United States, a Chiropractor must first earn a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from a college accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education, the agency certified by the U.S. Department of Education.
Admission requirements include at least 90 semester hours of college-level work with science as the focus. Once in, students undergo a rigorous academic program that involves four to five years of professional study including over 4,200 hours in the classroom, laboratory, and a concentration in clinical, hands-on experience. After passing a national board examination and obtaining a state license, graduates can use the title of Doctor of Chiropractic or Chiropractor, and, in many states, Chiropractic Physician.
Trained as primary care providers, these doctors approach the profession in a different way than other physicians and hands-on providers. Physical therapists carry out doctor’s orders to help patients stretch, strengthen, and exercise in a safe and effective way. Osteopaths are doctors who practice a more Western approach to medical care, incorporating pharmaceuticals and surgical procedures.
Chiropractors sit squarely at the crossroads of mainstream and alternative medicine, which is why patients increasingly turn to them as their first step toward healing and wellness. “We are seeing that we are becoming the primary care physicians for many,” Ms. Hoelscher confirms. “I think that this is due to people wanting to be more natural with their health care.” Chiropractors help patients proactively develop healthy lifestyle habits and treat the cause of physical ailments for whole body health.
For more information on Chiropractic care, nutrition, healthy lifestyle, and physical rehabilitation, please contact Shawn Bladel, D.C. at Eastland Chiropractic & Lifestyle Center, 2406 E. Washington St. in Bloomington. Dr. Bladel also offers food sensitivity testing through the Lifestyle program “Nourish.” To learn more, contact them at 309-662-8418, or visit them online at www.EastlandChiro.com.
Photo credit: Rainer Plendl/Adobe Stock