Chiropractic Questions

What is chiropractic care?

Chiropractic care is the most popular natural health care choice in the United States. Chiropractic is more understood, accepted, and used than ever before. The practice of chiropractic focuses on the relationship between your structure (spine, nerves, muscles, joint, etc.) and how it affects the health and function of your body.

Chiropractic care is based on the scientific fact that the nervous system controls and coordinates the function of every cell, tissue, and organ in the body. Interference to the nervous system causes the body to malfunction and develop symptoms. The spine, when unhealthy, is the most common structural cause of interference to the nervous system. This is called a vertebral (spinal) subluxation. When you have subluxations in your spine, the spinal bones cause an interference to your nervous system. Chiropractors locate the areas of the spine that are subluxated and perform adjustments (treatments) to correct the subluxations and remove the interference to the nervous system, skeletal system and muscle system.

What makes chiropractic care different is the approach to your health problem. As Chiropractors we help align skeletal misalignments, (subluxation) in your body and we place emphasis on the spine. With realignment of subluxation, your body becomes more anatomically correct, thus reducing abnormal pressures of the body. In reducing pressure on the nervous system your bodies internal intelligence, Innate, works at a higher capacity. Innate then works to heal your body. We are not merely chasing symptoms and help you to achieve an optimal health potential. Dr. Hulbert’s approach is to allow your bodies intelligence, Innate, to work at a greater capacity allowing you to live a more healthy life.

How does chiropractic work?

Getting results with chiropractic care is a lot like exercising. Let me explain. If you want to “get in shape,” I think you’d agree that you would have to exercise 3 to 4 times a week for several weeks. If you go to the gym one time and have a great workout, it may make you feel good that day, but that doesn’t mean you are “in shape.” Getting in shape is a process that takes time and repetition.

Chiropractic care works the same way. It takes several treatments over several weeks to restore health to your body and get you feeling better. A couple treatments may make you feel better, but it isn’t enough time or enough treatments to fix your problem. There is no magic pill or quick fix to getting healthy. The secret to getting healthy is time and repetition. If you want to improve your health, then you need to make a commitment to getting the treatments necessary to restore your health. Do not be somebody who is looking to make the least effort because you will be disappointed in your results and your health will not improve.

What is a subluxation?

A subluxation is a condition where there is a misalignment or a loss of motion of one or more of the bones in the spine, causing a problem with the nerve(s) in that area. Subluxations create interference to the nerve signals, causing the body to malfunction. Subluxations destroy the ability of the brain and body to properly communicate with one another, resulting in a loss of health. They can have devastating effects on your quality of life.

When the nervous system is malfunctioning because of spinal subluxations, the normal communication pathways are interrupted and the nerve system no longer has the ability to function properly. Your body performs worse at every level. Your immune system weakens, your strength and coordination is negatively affected, your emotional state can be altered, your organs may not function normally, and you could experience a constant state of pain, stiffness, lack of flexibility, stress, fatigue, and many other symptoms. Subluxations, just like cavities, cancer, and many other diseases can start out PAINLESS. And if they are left uncorrected, they continue to get worse.

If you have areas in your spine that are subluxated, and they are interfering with the normal function of your nervous system, you cannot have optimal health. Because your nervous system controls your entire body, if it isn’t working correctly, it is impossible for your body to be working correctly. That’s why having a healthy spine is so important. It’s our job to restore health to the areas of your spine that have subluxations.. It’s our job to make sure your nerve system is as healthy as possible. It’s our job to not only get you out of pain when you hurt, but also keep your body as healthy as possible.

Contact Dr. Hulbert

How long does it take to heal?

That depends on you! There are many factors that determine how long it will take to restore your health. These factors include your age, your overall level of health, your diet, how long you’ve had your health problem(s), the severity of your healthproblem(s), and more.

Correcting your spine with chiropractic is similarly to correcting your teeth with braces; it takes time. Some spinal conditions can be corrected with several months of care where as more complex problems can take 12 months to 60 months to correct to the degree possible.

What are the educational requirements of a chiropractor?

To become a Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Hulbert completed nearly 5,000 classroom hours, passed four National Board exams and passed the State of California’s three day state examination. Prior to that Dr. Hulbert completed his under graduate studies in Chemistry. To put it into perspective it takes only 1,500 hours to become an airline pilot.

What causes my spine to become unhealthy and have pain?

There are several factors that cause your spine and body to become unhealthy.

1. Lack of Maintenance. Imagine if you never brushed your teeth. What would you expect? That’s right, problems. It could be a cavity, it could be gum disease.

Imagine if you ignored your spouse. How would that be a good idea or a bad idea?

What if you ignored the maintenance of your car? Here’s the point. When you neglect areas of your body or life, bad things happen. The spine is no different. Most people haven’t been taught that it’s important to take care of their spine and their structure. And because the spine is neglected, over time it becomes unhealthy and starts to hurt.

2. Aging. None of us can avoid the effects of aging. As we age our body starts to wear down and wear out if we do not maintain ourselves.

3. Everyday wear and tear. Most health problems don’t happen right away. They develop over time. Little by little, our everyday activities start to wear down our spines. Over time we start to develop subluxations. And once you have subluxations in your spine, your body is malfunctioning you start to lose your health and develop pain.

4. Stress. There are 3 different stresses that make your body break down – physical stress, emotional stress, and chemical stress. Stress has been proven to has negative effects on the body, including the spine.

5. Trauma. This is the most obvious reason. Car accidents, falls, and other accidents can cause injury to the spine. And if these spinal injuries don’t heal properly, then as you get older they will re-emerge as a problem.

Is chiropractic care safe?

Chiropractic care is one of the safest treatments in the world. As a comparison, did you know that. The number of deaths from medical errors is approximately 2,740 per day in the USA as reported by www.ourcivilisation.com. Chiropractic care does not kill people and it rarely causes injury.

Another way to determine the safety of a profession is to check the malpractice insurance rates. If there is a lot of risk involved, then the malpractice costs will be high. Chiropractors have some of the lowest malpractice insurance costs in healthcare. You won’t find a better health care choice in terms of safety and effectiveness than chiropractic care.

Will my insurance company cover chiropractic care?

Most insurance are very restrictive and slow in payment to the doctor, (90 days or longer), so Dr. Hulbert has decided to work for the people and not their insurance company. We therefore can advise you in how to bill your insurance company.

Also, just so you know, most people become patients in our office via referral from a friend or family and are choosing their chiropractic care based on the doctor they want to see and not their health insurance coverage. Our prices are extremely reasonable and we will work out payment options for patients who really want to receive chiropractic care in our office.

Do chiropractic adjustments hurt?

Not usually. The majority of the time they make you feel better and relax your body. However, a small percentage of people may feel a little achy or sore during their first few adjustments. This is your body getting use to a new posture and alignment. It is very similar to working out for the 1st time ‘ sometimes we get sore. Dr. Hulbert will always be gentle as he knows your are the most sensitive the first few days and weeks of starting care. It is extremely rare for a patient to tell us that an adjustment hurt them or made them feel worse. We rarely see this happen.

Contact Dr. Hulbert

Can Cchildren receive chiropractic care?

Absolutely. Chiropractic care is great for children. It’s extremely safe and the kids love it. We see lots of children in our office. After being adjusted, some children report miraculous remissions of ear infections, asthma, and colic to name a few. It’s great during the growth and development years. Children who get chiropractic adjustments on a regular basis, generally will be much healthier, stronger and more agile than those that don’t. If you are new to chiropractic care, you need to know that receiving chiropractic care is not “age-based.” Anyone from birth to death can receive the benefits of getting chiropractic adjustments.

What types of health problems do you help people with?

The most obvious problems we help people with are back and neck. Here are some of the not-so-obvious:

Headaches, numbness or tingling in the arms or legs, sinus problems, fatigue, stomach or digestive problems, shoulder problems, hip problems, knee problems, ankle problems, arthritis, degenerative joint or disc disease, muscle stiffness, trouble sleeping, stress, and much more.

There are also a lot of patients who come into our office and get a chiropractic adjustment once or twice a month to keep themselves healthy and “tuned up.” So we not only help people get out of pain, we help people stay healthy and keep from having pain.

How often do I need to receive chiropractic care if I want to keep my spine and body healthy?

It depends on the seriousness of your condition The longer a problem is there and the more arthritis is present the more unstable you are’ Once the stabilization and remodeling stages are complete, one to several times per month is adequate for most people. Some people are stable enough to come in once every four to six weeks and some people require two times per week to maintain themselves, eg football players etc. It should be noted that more time and more adjustments will be need for those with the more seriousness conditions for the stabilization and remodeling process.