Our Approach to Chiropractic | May Chiropractic

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Dr. David May performs an examination on a patient. Free Consultation for new patients to our Salem, VA chiropractic office.

OUR APPROACH TO CHIROPRACTIC CARE

Chiropractic care is a powerful and important tool for any patient of any age. Whether you're seeking wellness or pain relief, chiropractic will help get you straight - literally! Our goal is to get your spine in line so that your body can perform at its peak and heal most efficiently from an injury.

In a few words, our approach to chiropractic is to learn about your condition and treatment goals, then custom build a treatment plan to most effectively and efficiently help you reach your goals. Whether you want wellness or pain relief, we are ready to help your spine work at its peak potential.

We value the face-to-face time spent between doctor and patient and believe it is an essential part of your treatment here. Unlike most other medical offices these days, our doctors are not required to see a certain number of patients per hour and are not restricted to 3 - 5 minutes per appointment if you need more time.

Our doctors primarily employ the Gonstead Method of chiropractic, and have devoted their careers to mastering the most complete and intricate manual spinal manipulation technique delivered by a chiropractor. First they'll use a variety of quick, painless preliminary tests to identify the problem areas. They will then adjust only those specific areas, allowing your spine to return to its natural state of free motion. This will help your spine and nervous system to function at their best!

ABOUT THE GONSTEAD METHOD OF CHIROPRACTIC

Dr. Clarence S. Gonstead, the brain behind the Gonstead Method, practiced for 55 years and delivered over four million adjustments! His extensive clinical research was centered around the idea that the vertebral disk, not the bone, is the cause of nerve pressure which causes pain. That research led to the realization that adjustments should be delivered precisely to the disk out of place.

In order to locate the precise origin of the pain, Dr. Gonstead developed and practiced an examination and testing protocol that is still the most complete biomechanical analysis tool available to chiropractors today. The Gonstead chiropractor goes beyond what many chiropractors consider a spinal assessment by using some combination of these five tests to detect vertebral subluxation:

Visualization - Watching the patient walk and move reveals subtle changes and clues to a trained eye.
Instrumentation - The Temposcope/Neuroscope detects uneven distributions of heat in the spine, which are indicative of inflammation and nerve pressure.
Static Palpation - Feeling your spine while you're not moving to detect the presence of swelling, tenderness or abnormal texture and tightness in the muscles and tissues of your back.
Motion Palpation - Feeling your spine while it moves and bends at different angles to determine range of motion and ease of motion of the spine.
X-Ray Analysis - In some cases, an X-Ray is taken to substantiate the findings of the preceding four tests, and to get a more in-depth look at joint and disk integrity and vertebral misalignments. We also use X-Ray images to rule out a more severe problem that would need referral to another practitioner.

After the origin of the pain is identified, Gonstead chiropractors deliver an adjustment to one vertebral disk at a time. The method of adjustment is a subtle, sudden movement of the spine delivered by hand. It must be delivered from a precise position and direction to provide an accurate and painless realignment of the spine. Such precise adjustments take years of experience and dedication to truly master, and can make a huge difference in over 100 chronic and acute conditions.

AboutGonstead