Spinal Degeneration

Your Spine Degenerates in Stages or Phases:

Degeneration Phase 1
First your spine loses its normal balance. There may be a loss of normal spinal curves. Your nerves may be affected and the vital life energy that flows over them is interfered with. Also your joints, discs, nerves and posture and stressed and age more quickly. Surprisingly, there may be no pain other than occasional minor discomfort. Also present may be a slight lessening of energy and slight height loss. Response to spinal care is generally good.

Degeneration Phase 2
Here there is a much greater degree of decay, disc narrowing and bone spurs (deformations); postural changes are much worse. This condition is very common (by age 40, 80% of males and 76% of females exhibit moderate disc degeneration). Spinal canal narrowing or stenosis may occur. This phase is characterized by more common aches and pains, fatigue and a diminished ability to cope with stress. Height continues to decrease. With chiropractic care significant improvement is possible.

Degeneration Phase 3
Here there are more postural imbalances, increased nerve damage, permanent scar tissue and advanced bone deformation. Physical and/or mental weakness or disability begin. Also found in this phase are permanent loss of height and loss of energy. With care some reversal is possible.

DegenerationPhase4
This is the most advanced stage of subluxation degeneration. The postural imbalance is severe and motion is limited. There is severe nerve damage, permanent scar tissue is formed and the bones may begin to fuse. In this phase we find pain, various degrees of physical or mental disability, and continued loss of energy and height. By now the condition is considered irreversible, although chiropractic may give some symptomatic relief.

History of Chiropractic

The history of the chiropractor dates back as far as 17,500 BC. Hippocrates believed that a misaligned spine contributed to the health of an individual. Modern day chiropractic goes back over 100 years, when the first adjustment was given by Dr. Daniel Palmer on September 18, 1895.

Dr. Palmer, born in Canada in 1845, was very much interested in the healing art and first learned magnetic healing. This form of healing used the magnetism in the body. In 1886, Dr. Palmer opened his first office of magnetic healing in Burlington, Iowa. From there, he went on to open another office in Burlington, Iowa in 1887. History of Chiropractic

His interest was finding the cause and effect of sickness. He studied to discover what causes sickness and what effects sickness has on the human body. The first chiropractic adjustment he gave in 1895 was performed on a man who had lost his hearing 17 years previously. He reported to Dr. Palmer that at the time of losing his hearing, he had strained his back and had heard a noise in his back when this happened. Suspecting that there could be a spinal misalignment, Dr. Palmer examined him and did find a vertebra out of line. Dr. Palmer adjusted the vertebra back into position and the man’s hearing did improve.

This proved Dr. Palmer’s theory that if the spine is aligned correctly, the nerve flow to all parts of the body will work correctly and, thus, the body will be healthy and free of disease. Dr. Palmer was excited to think that he may have discovered a cure for all sickness.

Criticism of this new healing technique came from many, especially the medical community, as it did not involve the traditional medical theory of health. For years, chiropractic was discredited, made fun of and even referred to as quackery. A lot of this still goes on today, but, unfortunately, this is due to misunderstanding. Many people do not understand the concept of chiropractic and have only listened to the propaganda that’s been broadcast. In fact, it wasn’t until the early 1970s that insurance companies started to recognize chiropractic as legitimate health care and allowed claims to be paid for chiropractic care.

In 1897, Dr. Palmer opened his chiropractic school in Davenport, Iowa, calling it the Palmer Infirmary and Chiropractic Institute. The name was later changed in 1907 to Palmer School of Chiropractic. Enrollment at first was low, with only 24 students in 1906, but today there are over 20 schools with enrollment of over 10,000 students.

Our clinic is dedicated to leading the change in the Healthcare Revolution by offering patients safe and effective treatments that are important to their health care goals.

Dr. Gatcha has recognized several common health concerns with patients in his community that need an alternative solution or at least additional support. He has traveled the country and been trained by some of the top clinicians and reseachers in order to integrate new programs into the clinic to serve patients in his community in a broader fashion.

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Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis

Chiropractic Care

Improved Hearing and Resolution of Ear Infections With Chiropractic Care – A Case Study

A case study research article published on March 25, 2009 in the scientific periodical, the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal and Family Health, documented a case of improved hearing and the resolution of ear infections with chiropractic care. This case followed the progress of a three year old girl who had right and left ear pain and hearing loss after three unsuccessful implantations of tympanostomy tubes as well as multiple medications.
The research article starts off by noting that ear infections are one of the most common diagnoses of children by pediatricians in the United States. According to the study, over one third (35%) of all pediatrician visits in the U.S. in 1990 and 46% of all three year-olds have experienced three or more episodes of this condition.

The case study author also reviewed the literature involving chiropractic care for children with ear infections. Dr. Crystal Brown, the author of the paper noted, “Numerous case studies and some clinical studies are revealing that there is a relationship between abnormalities in the spine, the nervous system and the various problems related to ear infections. These types of structural problems in the upper part of the neck cause a back-up of the lymphatics and problems with the tubes draining the middle ear. By removing the structural imbalance chiropractic helps these fluids drain, and improves nerve supply and range of motion.”

In this case the young girl was first diagnosed with ear infections when she was one year old. For the next several years the child had repeated infections that were not helped by multiple rounds of oral antibiotics, ear drops and three separate insertions of tubes in the ears. This case reported that the little girl’s health condition continued to get worse to the point where her preschool teacher even began noticing both hearing and speech problems. Hearing tests confirmed these findings and the third set of tubes were removed due to complications of excessive fluid accumulation, rupture of the eardrum, worsening speech disturbances and bilateral hearing loss.

At this point the girl’s mother decided to try chiropractic care prior to another set of tubes. The child was examined and the finding of upper cervical (neck) subluxations was made. A course of specific adjustments was initiated to correct the subluxations.

After about one month of chiropractic the child improved dramatically including a normalizing of the audiology testing. The child reported an increase in hearing and told her mother, “I can hear again”. The child’s mother reported the child had less ear pain, was less irritable, and had better speech. It was even reported by the preschool teacher that the girl was more attentive.

Dr. Matthew McCoy, a chiropractor, public health researcher and editor of the journal that published the study commented, “With everything we know about the dangers of antibiotic abuse, chiropractic intervention makes perfect sense in the case of childhood ear infections. In fact, chiropractic is the treatment of choice for dealing with the structural and neurological aspects of ear infections. This child was experiencing speech, hearing and school challenges as a result of her ear infections and the medical intervention was not helping. It wasn’t until the chiropractic intervention that the child improved dramatically and in a very short time.”

Regular Visits

For each of your following visits, you sign in as you enter, and you may receive some important material to review while you rest briefly in our “hot-seat” area (no, the seats are not hot), we call it that because we keep this area of our office cooking as we pride ourselves on getting our patrons cared for in an efficient manner. As you advance and depending upon your progress, you may be invited to special suite to prepare for your visit with gentle spinal exercises to assure you get the most out of your visit. Our staff will help you get accustomed to this process.

We have each patron let us know how they are doing today, if you are feeling better, or if you have hurt anything new. We also record the date and time of the visit along with any special findings the doctor learns from you. This is all done in a matter of moments in your adjusting suite. We use special state of the art computer applications to make this quick and thorough – we don’t want to miss a beat. It takes longer to explain than do! When you have been adjusted by the doctor and received your therapy, you check out up front, again paying your visit for the day and any appointments you need are made or confirmed.

Like a regular workout at the gym, each visit builds on the ones before. Miss a visit and you can lose the momentum necessary to make the needed changes.

We recognize your time is valuable. So we do everything possible to run on time and minimize the impact on your busy life

February 2010

January 2010

Great Chiropractic and Wellness Links

Chiropractic Organizations

Wellness for Kids

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Spinal Degeneration

History of Chiropractic

Improved Hearing and Resolution of Ear Infections With Chiropractic Care – A Case Study

Regular Visits

People we have helped

New Patient Special

Wellness Tips

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