Chiropractic Care
At Elite Spine, we are confident that if we partner with an individual to decrease the amount of asymmetrical joint function and increase the strength and flexibility of the core spinal stabilizer tissues then that patient’s body will be allowed to do what it is always working to do, which is heal and function at it’s best and give that person a better present day quality of life. If we continue to partner to manage and maintain those two fundamental health parameters over months and years, then that patient will get the added benefit of less cumulative joint wear/tear, which will decrease the amount of degeneration giving that patient a greater chance for the best quality of life for years to come. And the best part, all this can be accomplished with care options that are geared to getting to the root cause of health problems with the lowest levels of invasiveness and long term patient health risks and no care is “simply” a cover up or chemical alteration of a pain signal leaving the true cause untouched. Rest assured that Dr. Matthew Ferris has years of training, expertise and success in helping patients get relief from back pain, neck pain, headaches, and a multitude of other nerve and joint related conditions.
Subluxation: The ROOT CAUSE of many painful conditions
A subluxation is present when spinal joints have improper mechanical function which results in irritation to nerve communications between your brain and your body, which thus leads to different pain/symptoms or functional deficits.
A subluxation is a stress response. Muscles go into spasm. Spinal bones lock up and surrounding nerves are irritated. This interferes with the control and regulation of your body.
Your nervous system controls every cell, tissue, organ and system of your body. These nerve impulses travel through your spine. So having a spine free of subluxations is essential for optimal health.
Chiropractors are the primary health care professionals that examine and treat subluxations. Both peer-reviewed research and over one hundred years of patient success stories have demonstrated that chiropractic adjustments eliminate or reduce the effect of subluxations to the nervous system, naturally.
Find out if you have subluxations before they become more serious and more difficult to correct.
Corrective Exercises
At Elite Spine, we teach our patients how to perform specific exercises that stretch and strengthen cores stabilizer muscles and ligaments of the spine. Not only does this help loosen and prepare the joints for the chiropractic adjustments, but also helps speed up recovery and increase stability for longer lasting relief and better posture for future spinal health. Some corrective exercises will be prescribed for performing in the comfort of your own home to increase the frequency of performing without the need of extra visits at the office. Together these targeted exercises will help improve the effectiveness of your chiropractic care and spinal correction plan. In addition to skeletal misalignment, you may be experiencing pain that is caused by muscles and connective tissues which are out of their proper place. Other types of pain such as back pain, neck pain, and headaches are caused by muscles and tissues that are being used improperly, causing injuries over time. In each case, targeted corrective exercises and stretches from our experienced chiropractor will help you feel good while also helping your body achieve balance and health.
Digital X-rays
Because our bodies are biomechanical (architectural) structures, an x-ray, especially one taken with the patient standing, gives a great deal of information regarding that person’s wear and tear patterns and biomechanical imbalances. An x-ray can give a clear status report of where an individual has elevated stress in his skeletal system. There are many predictability factors that we can see when we look at an x-ray from a biomechanical point of view. We can also use the x-ray to rule out pathology. There are many silent diseases and diseases that can mimic basic strain/sprain injuries. The plain film x-ray is the least expensive and simplest screening to use to find such diseases. Finally, the x-ray gives a powerful visual picture of the situation to the patient himself. Successful cases originate when a well educated patient knows and understands what’s happening inside his body.
Digital Foot Exams
Structural imbalances originate in the feet. If we do not address these imbalances, regardless of what other treatments or conditioning we use, whenever we are standing, our posture is imbalanced. This imbalance produces an abnormal mechanical loading on certain joints, tendons, and muscles, increases the likelihood of injury, and accelerates the breakdown or degeneration of parts of the body. Every human being has a unique structure, not only in their feet, but also in their entire neuro-musculoskeletal system. This is why it is important to understand the entire structure if we hope to attain optimal biomechanical alignment and function.
Custom Foot Orthotics
There are three arches in the foot, all of which are critically important. The arches give the foot the necessary strength to support the body in the most balanced fashion. In most people, one or more arches on each foot have dropped. Most people also have an imbalance between their right and left feet. Even the slightest imbalance will trigger compensatory effects all the way up the structure. In addition, due to gravity, aging, and the incredible amount of stress we put on our feet during our lifetime, our arches fall over time. Because we’re typically one-side-dominant people and engage in both symmetrical and asymmetrical activities, it’s common for our arches to fall at different times in our lives, increasing the imbalance between our feet. This is why we recommend that all people be fitted with custom orthotics as early as possible in life. We begin patients at the age of seven, when their foot type becomes apparent.