December
2006 Mirror Well Adjusted
Well Adjusted
The body’s joints are designed to live
120 years. Yet joint replacements and fractures are at a
reported all-time high. Why?
Rarely is a joint out of place. Rather, joint
restriction results when two joints aren’t moving
properly. Lack of movement not only causes dysfunction and
discomfort, but it also ignites a degenerative chain reaction
in the body. The result, other joints move too much to try
and compensate.
This is a recipe for joint destruction.
Compensation creates dysfunction
Take for example the assembly line model. When one
person working the assembly line underperforms, other workers
must compensate to complete the job. In the human body,
the tremendous capacity to compensate creates widespread
problems. Here again, simple engineering principles apply.
If one link or joint in a system is not moving correctly,
other areas become hyper mobile to offset the lack of movement
at the source.
Yet, this natural chain reaction in the body
can often go unnoticed for years—presenting symptoms
when it’s too late to correct the joint dysfunction.
At this point, surgical procedures may be necessary.
The site of pain is not where it’s
at
With any treatment regime, manual or surgical, you
must ask if the true source of dysfunction has been addressed.
According to neurologist Karel Lewit, M.D., recognized internationally
as the father of manual therapy, “He who only treats
the site of pain is often lost.”
Lewit’s lessons live in clinical practice.
Take low back pain or herniated discs for instance. If the
physician only treats the low back, yet the origin of dysfunction
lies in the knee, hips, foot or ankle, the patient is left
with little more than temporary pain relief, at best. Long-term,
degeneration and arthritis often plagues these patients.
Adjusting the problem
When it comes to joints, the goal of chiropractic is
to assess joints for restriction through palpation and functional
tests. When a restriction is identified, the adjustment
restores movement to the restricted joint and proper coordinated
movement to the entire body. At Winchester-Hilgefort, our
physicians rely on the Motion Palpation technique, proven
to effectively determine the source of dysfunction for short-term
relief and long-term treatment results.
Likewise, the Motion Palpation technique also
helps our doctors determine when joints have too much movement.
This is an important discernment as an adjustment in a hyper-mobile
joint could not only prove ineffective, but it could also
further aggravate the patient's condition.
To learn how regular exams with proper adjusting
can help ward off potential joint degeneration and improve
your overall health, call our clinic, Winchester-Hilgefort
Spine & Joint Center, at 636-356-557 or visit us online
at www.whsjc.com.
