Excerpted from the 12/98 - 3/99 Newsletter
Wellness Care
Initially, most patients come to their doctor of chiropractic for back pain, neck pain and other musculoskeletal pains and injuries. It doesn't always occur to people that correcting subluxations ("pinched nerves") before they become painful can be even more important than crisis intervention. Research has begun to reveal the benefits of chiropractic adjustments for people free of obvious musculoskeletal symptoms.
Two different studies have demonstrated that chiropractic care can enhance athletic performance.1,2 Reaction time, jump height, pulse rate, muscle strength and a number of other measures of athletic ability were significantly more improved in athletes who incorporated chiropractic adjustments into their training regimen, compared to those who did not. These were not injured athletes; they were healthy people seeking to get better.
Breathing is a vital function which often improves under chiropractic care, even when initial lung volumes are normal.3 In fact, patients often comment on their improved ability to take in a deep, comfortable breath after a chiropractic adjustment, even when they were not aware of any difficulty before the visit.4
Visual acuity has been shown to improve under chiropractic care, even in patients with normal distance vision to begin with.5 Improved brain function6 and immune response7 are among the other potential benefits of chiropractic care for asymptomatic people.
For most adults and teenagers, one visit per month would be a reasonable wellness schedule. Children, toddlers and infants may be checked every one to six months, depending on their health history.
It should be noted that chiropractic wellness care is not generally covered by insurance. Unless a new pain or injury happens to coincide with your scheduled wellness visit, your insurance plan may justifiably demand that you pay for the visit out-of-pocket. Fortunately, Vienna Chiropractic Associates is very wellness-friendly. Pre-paid plans make wellness care quite reasonable, and Independence Days place monthly visits within everyone's reach.
Please feel free to discuss wellness care with your doctor of chiropractic.
References
1 Schwartzbauer M, Hart J, Zhang J. "Athletic Performance and Physiological Measures in Baseball Players Following Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care: A Pilot Study." Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (JVSR), 1997; 1 (4).
2 Lauro A, Mouch B. "Chiropractic Effects on Athletic Ability." Chiropractic: The Journal of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigation, 1991; 6: 84-87.
3 Kessinger R. "Changes in Pulmonary Function Associated with Upper Cervical Specific Chiropractic Care." JVSR, 1997; 1 (3): 43-49.
4 Masarsky CS, Weber M. "Somatic Dyspnea and the Orthopedics of Respiration." Chiropractic Technique, 1991; 3: 26-29.
5 Kessinger R, Boneva D. "Changes in Visual Acuity in Patients Receiving Upper Cervical Specific Chiropractic Care." JVSR, 1998; 2 (1): 43-49.
6 Carrick FR. "Changes in Brain Function After Manipulation of the Cervical Spine." Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1991; 8: 529-545.
7 Allen JM. "The Effects of Chiropractic on the Immune System: A Review of the Literature." Chiropractic Journal of Australia, 1993; 23: 132-135.
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Todres and Charles Masarsky, Chiropractors. All Rights Reserved.