Chiropractic
What is Chiropractic?
Balanced functioning of the body’s interconnected systems is the cornerstone of lasting health. In balance, the body naturally gives rise to robust well-being and thus causes no chronic pain. This healthful balance can be restored by a chiropractor applying simple but precise and targeted manipulations. Mastery of the chiropractic discipline requires many years of academic training, as currently offered in countries such as Britain, the USA and Australia.
Chiropractic training is strictly regulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and consists primarily of a five to seven year university course. German “Chiropraktiker” are trained for a far shorter period, and their training is not regulated by any official authority. Chiropractors should not be confused with “Chiropraktiker” or “Chirotherapeuten”.
Chiropractic is an extension to academic medicine concentrating on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of dysfunctions in the human musculoskeletal system. A chiropractor’s precise adjustments encourage the body’s natural powers of self-healing. No medicine, no surgical procedure and no invasive technology is used.
Chiropractic can reduce pain, correct dysfunctions in the total musculoskeletal system including its extremities, and restore and maintain normal functioning to impeded joints and their surrounding structures. Pain reduction and the restoration of healthy and robust functioning to impeded joints and their surrounding structures (muscles and ligaments) are chiropractic’s main treatments.
Origins
Manual treatment of joints is a tradition stretching back over more than 2,000 years. As depicted in records from Egypt, eastern India and the Far East, manual treatment of the spine was already in evidence circa 3000 BC. Hippocrates and his students described “traction of the spine with simultaneous manipulation using the hands or feet of the therapist” as early as 400 BC.
Chiropractic means “treatment by hand”. Modern chiropractic was founded as an independent profession in 1895 by Daniel David Palmer in Iowa, USA.
Since that time, its effectiveness, safety and economic value have been proven in multiple scientific studies. Chiropractic can no longer be kept at the fringes of modern medicine and helps patients with spinal and joint problems across the world.