NECK PAIN, BACK PAIN AND GENERAL ACHES:
Most patients seek out Chiropractic care initially because of neck pain, back pain or niggles, aches and stiffness that is unresolved no matter what they do or who they see.
We work to get you out of pain and hopefully as quick as possible, but our focus is to actually get you feeling and moving a lot better. This will not only stop or significantly reduce your pain but will address the main reasons you started to feel pain and discomfort in the first place. We believe in addressing your issues by getting to the root cause of the problem and to then work towards a more optimal health through keeping your spine moving properly and allowing your nervous system to become more adaptive to all the stress you face daily. Someone that moves properly will feel more energy, less inflammation throughout their body, their brain will work more effectively, and they will feel more connected to their body. This is our goal with our style of Chiropractic care.
Elderly
Is Chiropractic care safe for the elderly? Absolutely. Not only is it safe, but it is essential for the elderly.
We know that improved movement, balance, and strength is a necessity for the elderly. You have one spine your whole life, make sure it moves well, is supple, and you are actively caring for your spine every day. Chiropractic adjustments are very specific. We cater to the elderly and their level of immobility, loss of balance, aches, the fact that they may be severely osteoporotic, stiff, and even very apprehensive about anyone touching their spines. Some of our best results and patients have been elderly people that found they benefitted so much from the musculoskeletal stimulation and movement. Patients were also able to move more freely and with less pain, but felt more alert, had better balance, co-ordination, and reflexes. You don’t have to suffer with age, like we are told. You can age gracefully and add years to your life.
BABIES AND CHILDREN
Adjusting babies and children is something we believe in strongly, because we know as parents ourselves that the more comfortable and relaxed our children are, the better their digestion, and the better they eat and sleep… which is what all parents hope for their children.
It is very gentle and effective in helping remove any restrictions or discomfort which can easily occur from birth or in their growing years, with so much change and development taking place quickly. We have seen many babies and children, teenagers over our years practicing and have found that they can have remarkable changes and in a very short span of time. We also want to prevent any further issues developing as they get older, if their problems are not addressed at a young age. We want children to grow in a thriving and healthy environment and we know Chiropractic care can really help to achieve this.
SPORTS PERFORMANCE & ATHLETES
Chiropractic plays a very big role in helping people function better and out of pain. It has become highly sought after by many top athletes and people wanting to perform better and have that edge. We have worked with many professional athletes, especially in London and have adjusted English and Australian Gold and Bronze medallists. We have worked with many professional athletes from all fields of sports as this has helped them recovery quicker if injured, prevent injury, and increase recovery time with training when utilising our care. Chiropractic also really helped them improve their overall health, mobility, strength, and adaptation to training.
Chiropractic plays a big role in improving mobility; research is now showing how much it helps your nervous system to adapt better to stress, neural input to the brain and back to muscles (simply put; improving the nerve signalling from the spine to the brain and back to attributing muscles) increasing strength, reflexes, and overall wellbeing. We will look at your posture, how you move from your foot all the way up to your head (Squat, hip hinge etc) and comparing balancing control of your body function side to side. You don’t have to be an athlete to feel these benefits, but maybe if you begin Chiropractic care, you may find yourself setting some fitness and health goals that we can help you achieve.
HEADACHES, CRANIALS, JAW/TMJ WORK
A lot of people come to us because they experience headaches; some debilitating for days, months or years, and experience tightening of the jaw or a lot of pressure in their head/ cranium. At Chiropractic Alchemy, we focus a lot at looking at the upper cervical region of the neck as this area has the highest concentration of nerve supply attributed to the face, jaw, sinuses, eyes, ears, ….and the list goes on.
Addressing and adjusting the upper cervical spine (occiput to C2) can really help reduce many symptoms our patients complain about. These specific adjustments alleviate a lot of pressure they feel in the top of their neck and head as we reduce the neural pressure in this area, allowing the cerebrospinal fluid to flow around the spinal cord more effectively as we remove the tension and interference here. We also assess the cranium and use specific cranial release techniques (very light and nice) if there is potential cranial dysfunction.
Our releases don’t ‘move’ the bones but reduce pressure and allow the channels between the cranial sutures to open correctly.
Our last component to upper neck and headache issues is to assess the jaw. We often release the TMJ (Temporomandibular joint area) if we feel the patient is suffering from bruxism (grinding of the teeth), a tight jaw, has TMJ dysfunction with pain, an uneven bite, or a jaw that doesn’t glide when opening and closing. Please note we have studied and used Upper Cervical Technique and SOT (Sacro occipital technique) for many years now. We do not adjust the cranials or jaw, we use very specific soft tissue techniques to release these areas and find many patients get remarkable results over time when this is addressed.
SPINAL EXERCISES/EXERCISE
We have both come from a very sporty background with Dr Terry having completed a Certificate and a Diploma in Exercise sport science at AUT and having worked in and managed gyms. However, we focus on Chiropractic care when you come in and do not write people programmes or focus mainly on exercises when you come in. We do look at movement patterns though and consider this important and we give a lot of advice on how to look after your spine, keeping your posterior chain strong (the muscles in your back region, Hamstrings, glutes, core which crosses over, lats etc), as these are the foundation muscles to help you build a strong base and move correctly and confidently.
We also want you to know how to hip hinge properly and retract those shoulder blades to help strengthen that posterior chain. Our goal is great Chiropractic care and people knowing how to move correctly, strongly and know what they should and shouldn’t do. We will always give advice on this and some exercises as well as recommending Foundation Training, Pilates, Crossfit etc and or working with a PT or physio.