Some patients may be hesitant to seek chiropractic care. Knowing more about a treatment or the process of something can put our minds at ease. Elevate Wellness wants to share more about our practice and the history of the industry and how chiropractic treatment and alignment, came to be. 

The word “Chiropractic” is derived from the Greek words cheir which means ‘hand’ and praktos, meaning ‘done.’ Put together meaning done by hand. Alignment and adjustment have been traced back to the Greek physician, Hippocrates. In the 16th-19th century, spinal manipulation was commonly associated with “bone setters’ who learned the craft passed down from family generations. These bone setters also treated joints that were out of place, called subluxations. 

In 1895, Canadian doctor Daniel David Palmer started work to bring more spine care into the open. He learned more about alignment and helping with pain in the lower back and spine. Palmer became the “founder” when he “adjusted” the spine of a deaf janitor and claimed to restore his hearing. 

Fight For Acceptance

Palmer went on to found the Palmer School of Chiropractic, where he taught his methods to the first eager students and showed them the practice. Statutes to practice chiropractic care as a profession were not set until much later. It was common for those who practiced alignment to be jailed or fined for practicing without a license before the 1960s. 

The conflict between chiropractors and organized medicine took time to resolve. Chiropractors were often charged with violating the medical practice act and were not seen as real doctors. At the peak of the struggle, around 450 chiropractors were sent to jail in a single year. 

While there are fewer legal actions taken against chiropractors today, many interested patients have mixed feelings about whether or not the treatment will work for them. Many patients are satisfied with the care they receive but a study in 1973 in Utah found that patients see this as part of their overall healthcare. 

Chiropractic and alignment care have transitioned from being seen as “alternative medicine” to a more mainstream form of physical healthcare throughout history. More people visit a chiropractor today and consider it a viable option for their condition. 

Why Work With Us?

Dr. Simmonds is our licensed and trained chiropractor who has received training and knowledge from other doctors and education. We work to provide our patients with a comfortable experience and teach them about what chiropractic alignment can do for their whole body.

If you are interested, we can tell you more about our history, and how we got to where we are with our practice today. Chiropractic care was seen as alternative medicine because it is a non-invasive and natural treatment. This helps patients to avoid surgery, taking painkillers or other medications for their symptoms.

The goal of chiropractic care, as well as what we strive for, is to get your body to heal in the most natural way possible. Dr. Simmonds practices the latest techniques and helps remove nerve interferences due to misalignments in the body. Proper chiropractic care can help to relieve stress, improve pain symptoms, help the body heal from injury and help you have more energy. 

Symptoms do not even have to be present for you to get the most out of our treatment. We work with each patient to develop a custom plan for what they want to accomplish. Proper chiropractic treatment helps maintain proper spine health, increase the function of the nervous system and helps you have a stronger immune system. Chiropractic treatment helps you to feel better in more than just one area of your life.

If you have been hesitant about chiropractic treatment, feel free to visit our office in Bountiful, UT, and speak with Dr. Simmonds about any questions you have. Learning more about treatment will help to calm your nerves and finding an office that you are comfortable with can be a big step. Contact us today!

All humans experience stress, sometimes multiple times in a day. But if you are experiencing stress over prolonged periods, it can affect your health. The process to relieve stress is not always as simple as taking a break, dealing with stress disorders or anxiety can make it hard to feel like you are in control. While chiropractic treatment can’t cure all problems, there are studies and research that show that consistent treatment by a chiropractor can help reduce and relieve some of your daily stress.

The first step is knowing what causes you stress and what type of stress you are experiencing. Talking with a doctor about what pain you experience, what seems to make it worse, and how you want to feel, will get you on the road to feeling better, faster. 

The Three Types Of Stress 

Acute- This is the most common type of stress that we experience. This can occur multiple times a day and usually comes on with instances such as getting stuck in traffic, getting pulled over, arguing with a spouse, or giving a speech. This usually develops quickly and can present itself in headaches, stomach pains, or rapid heartbeat.

Episodic Acute Stress- This type of stress occurs when you frequently experience acute stress. Most “Type A” personalities or people who worry a lot are more prone to this type of stress. Experiencing episodic acute stress consistently can lead to depression or heart disease.

Chronic- Chronic stress is stress that persists over time and is constant. This can be harmful to our health and cause symptoms that are debilitating. This can be caused by abuse, poverty, a poor work environment, or dysfunctional marriage. When left untreated, people with chronic stress can develop problems like insomnia, obesity, hypertension, heart disease, and more. 

Because stress can present itself in so many different ways, it also may lead to more anxiety and muscle tension. Experiencing stress puts a strain on all parts of your body. Chiropractic treatment works to help move that stress out of your physical body.

Relieve Stress From Muscle Tension

When we become stressed or nervous, we tense up our muscles. When individuals experience high amounts of stress for long periods, these muscles become harder to relax. You may also let yourself sit or stand a different way when you are experiencing stress. Over time, this puts strain on your body and your muscles may send signals to you that you are in pain and need to relieve stress and tension. 

Chiropractors adjust your spine and can even work specific muscles to help your body become more balanced and relaxed. 

Adjust Posture

Your posture, especially if you sit at a desk all day, can affect your spine and how your body holds tension. Because chiropractic treatment works with the spine, aligning your spine can help you to have better posture, and reduce the amount of pressure put on them. 

Chiropractors can also help give you education on how to adjust your posture and what you can do when you work at a computer all day. Getting up to walk or stretch every 30 minutes can help reduce tension in your spine.

Spine Alignment

As your backbone, the spine does a lot of work to help our bodies function every day. When you tense up from stress, your spine begins to move. Chiropractors know where the proper alignment of the spine is and can help your spine be able to communicate properly with the brain. Because our spine helps us function, its proper alignment can help relieve stress, keep us from getting sick as often, and have more energy. 

Massage To Help You Relax

While you may not need to go to a licensed chiropractor for this, massage helps the body relax. A massage therapist or a chiropractor can work the knots and tension out of your muscle groups and help reduce the amount of tension you feel. Massage also helps to decrease the stress hormone of cortisol. Massage can help your nervous system come back to a more relaxed state and take it out of flight or fight mode. 

Advice For Outside The Office

While patients can not perform adjustments or chiropractic treatment on themselves, there are small ways that you could help alleviate some pain at home. Having a healthy diet and exercise helps your body to release good chemicals and function properly. There is also food that can help reduce stress. If your stress is also affecting your mental health or is connected, seeing a professional therapist may help to put your mind at ease, helping your body to relax as well. 

Meditation, spine stretches, and relaxation techniques can also be suggested to help outside of the office. This advice can help you to sleep better and feel more relaxed throughout the day. 

Elevate Wellness Chiropractic

Our team at Elevate Wellness wants to help you understand why you are experiencing pain and works to help your body heal naturally. Dealing with pain each day can be exhausting so we work with you to target the specific pain you’re feeling and get you back to better movement. 

Stress is common in our world, and should not be taken lightly. We work with patients of all stress levels and help you to relax and feel more present in your body. Dr. Casey Simmonds knows the best treatment for patients of all ages and is certified in Webster’s Technique, an area of prenatal chiropractic care. Simmonds is also a member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association and has trained with other doctors in the EPIC Pediatrics group. 

We want to help you overcome dysfunction and long-term pain. Functioning as a human can be hard enough without back, neck, or other nerve pain. Visit our office in Bountiful, UT, today and see what we can do for you. Our office is open Monday through Thursday and works with patients from young to old. 

The common solution for surgery or chronic pain is pain killers or opioids. The use or overuse of these pain pills has caused an opioid epidemic throughout the United States, but especially Utah. In Utah, an average of 323 people die from a prescription opioid drug overdose every year. The solution for the Utah opioid epidemic may not be as simple as limiting access to opioids or going to a chiropractor, but it could be a more promising solution for those that experience extreme pain. 

How Chiropractic Treatment Can Help You Avoid Opioids

Historically, back pain has been one of the most common reasons why opioids are prescribed to patients. But on the flip side, there is really no evidence to show that opioids provide relief for chronic pain. Whether your pain is from surgery, an accident or is chronic, there are better options than prescription opioids.

Beyond the risks of prescription overdose, opioids can make the problem seem that it is less severe than it actually is, or make the patient think their condition is fully healed. This can lead to overexertion or delay the healing process. Chiropractic and other non-drug approaches to pain management can be the first step in eliminating the pain completely and keeping the opioid epidemic from growing. 

The American College of Physicians updated its guidelines in 2017 to suggest the use of non-invasive and non-drug therapies for back pain first rather than opioid use. Only when the non-drug therapies do not limit the pain is when other medicines such as ibuprofen and muscle relaxants should be recommended. The last resort should be opioids and should only be used after all methods of massage, acupuncture, heat therapy and spinal manipulation have been tested for the patient. This can limit the chance of overdose and help to heal you from your pain in a more natural way. 

With Elevate Wellness Chiropractic we have studied and mastered several chiropractic techniques to improve spinal biomechanics and reduce nervous system interference. We practice the safest chiropractic techniques and help to bring balance to the spinal column and pelvic girdle. 

Over time, it is common to see misalignments that can separate the vertebrae, causing pain through tilted and twisted vertebrae. What often occurs is pinched or compressed nerves, leading to pain. These subluxations can lead to a number of ailments throughout the body.

Not only can chiropractic care help your back and neck pain, but we can treat issues such as headaches, whiplash and help to prevent future injury.

A Look At The Numbers

According to this study with PubMed, “patients with spinal pain who saw a chiropractor had half the risk of filling an opioid prescription. Among those who saw a chiropractor within 30 days of diagnosis, the reduction in risk was greater as compared with those with their first visit after the acute phase.” 

According to Cleveland University “Recent research has found that one day of opioid usage carried a 6% chance of being on opioids one year later. After eight days of use, that chance increased to 13.5%, and after 31 days of use, the chance spiked to nearly 30%.”

A study by BMC Family Practice found that many patients did not know the potential of how the care of acupuncture and chiropractic treatment could help their pain. The study shows that more education and better accessibility to chiropractic care. 

Work With Elevate Wellness

We are dedicated to providing the highest quality care chiropractic care and focus on restoring your body to its proper state. Our treatments are non-invasive and we want to help you provide you with relief without pain medication. We offer care for infants, children and adults which is appealing to many because the use of painkillers can be very hard to give to your child. 

Using pain killers to treat pain does not have to be the default option anymore. We can provide the best chiropractic treatment, massage or heat therapy to keep you feeling pain free and have the best range of motion.

During your first visit we discuss your health history and talk about what you feel the best treatment is for your body. If you are wanting to feel better and avoid the risk of opioid addiction, we can help.
Elevate Wellness uses proactive chiropractic treatment and spinal decompression that can help you heal from auto accidents, sports related injuries, chronic pain and even help pregnant women with spinal alignment. We want to help discuss your pain and create a treatment plan that works best for you. Contact our office to schedule an appointment today.