Chiropractic is a straightforward method of adjusting the bones of your body to maintain the correct alignment of your spine and to ensure that your body's nerve supply works efficiently. It seeks to eliminate the cause, not just treat symptoms, and through subtle adjustments, chiropractic care can relieve pain and discomfort, increase mobility and provide a route to better health.
Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae, the sacrum, and the coccyx. This column also houses the spinal cord through which nerve information is transmitted around the rest of your body.
Whilst the spinal column maintains correct alignment, nerve information is passed accurately. However, if any part of your spinal column becomes misaligned then a nerve may become impinged, compressed, or stretched, distorting the information that passes along it. This can lead to pain, discomfort, or restricted mobility.
Misalignment of the vertebrae or bones can occur for many reasons, such as incorrect lifting, car or sporting accidents, childbirth, falls, stress and poor posture, and these conditions will all worsen over time if not corrected.
McTimoney chiropractors use only their hands to make adjustments to the bones of your body. The key to the success of the adjustments is in the speed, dexterity and accuracy with which they are performed.
The gentle nature of the McTimoney Chiropractic technique makes it especially suitable for people of all ages including young babies, pregnant women and the elderly. Because of the way chiropractors positively affect the functioning of the nervous system, the following conditions often benefit from treatment:
Your chiropractor will take a full case history regarding your general health background as well as details of your symptoms. This will help in assessing and analysing your particular problem. They will then thoroughly examine all the joints in your body, literally from head to toe, and undertake any further clinical assessment that might be necessary to determine that it is safe to treat you. McTimoney Chiropractors have a very finely tuned sense of touch, developed in their four years of training, which enables them to identify misalignments of the vertebrae and other bones. Upon finding a problem, your chiropractor will use one of a number of light, swift and dexterous techniques, characteristic of McTimoney chiropractic, to adjust each individual bone that requires it.
If your chiropractor discovers or suspects a problem, which requires medical investigation or an x-ray, they will refer you to your GP. Wherever possible your McTimoney chiropractor will work in co-operation with your GP and a letter is normally sent to your doctor informing them of your treatment.
Will I get help and advice to ensure the problem does not recur? Yes. You will receive postural advice after the treatment to help your body get the most benefit from the adjustments you have received, and to raise your awareness of simple things that you may doing every day which may be exacerbating your problem. You may also be given some basic exercises or stretches to do if your chiropractor feels that would be beneficial.
The number of sessions needed varies considerably depending on:
Your age: you generally heal more slowly as you get older. The nature of the problem: a simple backache will often clear more quickly than a sciatic problem. How long you have had the problem: generally, yesterday's injury will resolve faster than one of 20 years' standing.
Most patients need between two and six sessions, but your chiropractor will give you a better idea of the probable treatment plan after they have examined you at the first session.
On your first visit to a McTimoney therapist you will be asked about your general health, past and present,as well as details of current symptoms. An explanation will be made of the aims and effects of the treatment. This is one of the few manipulative therapies that treats the entire body and is also very relaxing to receive. Most people feel immediately better, or soon after treatment.
Initial consultation is 1 hour. - $70 .
Subsequent treatments 40 mins - $50
Relevant posture exercises are recommended to reduce the need for continual treatment and dependence on therapy. It is the gentleness of the McTimoney adjustments which distinguishes it from other manipulative treatments . Most of the joints are adjusted with minimal force, allowing muscles to let go tension which causes nerve dysfunction thus reducing our natural healing potential.
When we think about good health, taking care of ourselves or overall wellness we often think about adjusting our diet, taking some exercise, losing weight and perhaps taking vitamins, all of which do offer a good way to health. However, there is more that we can do to really ensure that we look after our bodies and keep them in top form.
Paul Maunsell explains: "As more people are becoming aware, prevention is a much better option than cure. We offer a complementary health treatment that can help maintain good health, and mobility."
The McTimoney method is a uniquely gentle method of adjusting the bones of the body in order to relieve pain and restore movement. The aim is to maintain the correct alignment of your spine, thus ensuring that your body's nerve supply works efficiently. Through stresses, strains and injuries that you may have shrugged off as nothing more than a bump, vertebrae and joints of the body may become misaligned impinging on nerves and causing restriction in movement. However, if the spine and joints of the body are maintained in good alignment, the body has a chance to function properly.
The McTimoney technique is suitable for just about everybody, including the very young and the elderly. We find that a wide range of conditions can benefit from treatment, including pain, discomfort and stiffness in the joints and bones, migraine and tension headaches, muscular aches and pains, sciatica, whiplash and sports injuries.
Paul works in Hutt City. He says: "We treat all sorts of people; some come in because they're in pain and have tried everything else available, others, because a friend recommended it. We aim to get to the cause of the problem and work holistically treating the whole body at each treatment. It is very much a preventative treatment too, and we suggest that patients have regular check-ups to maintain a healthy functioning of the body. We also offer lifestyle and suitable exercise advice. In the McTimoney technique we only use our hands to make very rapid and extremely accurate adjustments which is the key to the light touch and effective nature of the treatment.
Paul also has established an "keep wellness" awareness in major companies in Wellington with his On Site Massage company using acupressure seated massage for stress relief commonly experienced in all sorts of different work place settings. For further details of how McTimoney Back Therapy may be able to help you contact Paul Maunsell at 04 5653331.
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Healthy Back & Paul Maunsell