Your Spine - The Center of Your Temple

Your Spine - The Center of Your Temple

Dr. Terresa Hwang, DC
Choice Chiropractic and Wellness, Inc.
3400 McClure Bridge Road
Duluth, GA 30096
678-205-2313
http://www.choice-chiropractic.com/


I interviewed Dr. Terresa Hwang, Doctor of Chiropractic about the benefits of Chiropractic care and to also dispel all the common myths and misconceptions of Chiropractors in general.

Dr. Hwang began her undergraduate studies at University of Washington in Seattle, Washington and continued her chiropractic studies at Life University in Marietta, Georgia where she received her Doctor of Chiropractic degree and has been serving the community of Duluth, GA since 2002.There are so many myths and misconceptions about chiropractors and chiropractic care that may prevent a person who can truly benefit from this kind of treatment from seeking it. Statements such as “chiropractors are nothing but a bunch of quacks,” and “Once you go in for treatment you’re a patient for life.”

The first step in overcoming the “quack” stigma is to make sure that the doctor you seek treatment from is a reputable doctor. How should someone go about trying to find a good, reputable chiropractor? What Dr. Hwang recommends is that you get a referral from a friend, co-worker or family. Have a consultation with the doctor and ask questions. You can also find out through your State if your Chiropractor is Board Certified.

Getting a good understanding of what a Chiropractor does should help ease any fears about seeking treatment from one. A Chiropractor finds misalignments in the body that is causing pinched nerves and makes the adjustment in the spine to take the pressure off the nerve. The medical terminology for this is called a subluxation. Some of the common symptoms are neck pain, low back pain, headaches, sciatica or shooting pain. Symptoms of a pinched nerve can be inflammation, pain, swelling and limited loss of range of motion. Sometimes symptoms can be neurological from pinched nerves such as headaches that occur in the neck. The job of a Chiropractor is to find where there is nerve interference in the alignment of a joint and make an adjustment or series of adjustments.

Some people are afraid to go because of the cracking or popping and are worried that it will hurt. An adjustment is a gentle, specific "thrust" delivered by hand or instrument. The purpose of the adjustment is to correct your spinal subluxation(s) thus removing the nerve interference in your body. Chiropractic adjustments feel great. Once you begin receiving your adjustments, you will begin to look forward to them. They will become one of the highlights of your week. When you allow the vertebrae in your spine to return to their proper position, you will notice much less stress and tension.

Things we do in daily life or through our activities cause your body to go out of alignment. For anyone who runs, jogs, does strength training, kick boxing, group exercise classes, whatever your activity of choice is, what is happening is because of the pounding on the body and the impact it has on your joints, you do throw your body out of alignment and the muscles are not lined up correctly with the spine which does cause performance issues when you run, jog, do your workouts or whatever your exercise of choice is. If this goes on for a long period of time without being looked at, all of a sudden you wake up one day wondering why your shoulder or back hurts which is why chiropractic care is so important.

An ignored injury can become a compensatory injury if you had not had chiropractic treatment. If you have been experiencing any sort of discomfort for more than two weeks and have been ignoring it thinking it will go away on it’s own, think again. For example, low back pain can be a biomechanical misalignment which can be corrected shouldn’t be ignored. If untreated, it can become a compensatory injury and potentially cause knee, hip, or ankle problems.

Chiropractic treatment is not just for neck or back pain. It’s great for headaches, allergies, TMJ, and Sinus issues. There are hundreds of nerves throughout the body which can cause pinching or stress. When there is stress in the body, the body causes stress hormones to be released and these stress hormones can cause a lot of health functions/symptoms such as insomnia, hormone imbalances, and thyroid problems just to name a few.

People think that once they seek chiropractic care, they are going to be a patient for life. Once you’ve had your specific issue healed, it is recommended that you go back periodically to keep your spine healthy and aligned, much like bringing your care to a mechanic for routine maintenance like an oil change or alignment.

Chiropractic Care is for children. According to Dr. Hwang, it’s never too early for a spinal analysis. The birthing process is traumatic with the twisting of the spine. A very soft and undeveloped spine of an infant can suffer trauma during delivery. It is estimated that as much as 80lbs of pulling pressure can be exerted to remove a baby from the birth canal. Spinal issues in children can cause nervous system deficiencies. Most common childhood symptoms are ear aches, ear infections and childhood asthma. OSHA estimates a child receives 1000 traumas to the body by the age of 7. Children receive thousands of trauma to the body. As children grow up and become more adventurous, the number of injuries to their spines becomes countless. Repeated falls as children learn to walk, regular childhood play which involve running, jumping twisting, bumping and falling all over the place while playing in the yard or on an athletic field will cause misalignment along with carrying heavy back packs in school. Children tend to not show any signs or symptoms of misalignment until later on in life

Chiropractic Care is a must for Seniors. As we age, our health should become more and more of a priority. Chiropractic care does benefit us as we age as part of keeping our bodies healthy and repetitive motions we have been doing in daily life over the years catches up with us as we get older. Chiropractic treatment should be part of your preventative care by keeping small issues from turning into big issues. As we age, we do lose bone density and weight bearing exercise helps to slow down the degeneration of bone density. Along with bone density, as we get older, our range of motion and sense of balance deteriorates as well. Chiropractic care can lessen these effects.

To learn more about keeping your spine healthy and managing back pain, the following books are recommend.




Click here to listen to my Blog Talk Radio Interview with Dr. Hwang