WHAT IS CHIROPRACTIC?

Chiropractic is a healthcare profession that focuses on disorders of the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system, and the effects of these disorders on general health.  Chiropractic care is used most often to treat neuromuscular-skeletal complaints, including but not limited to back pain, neck pain, joint pain, and headaches.  Inasmuch as all physiology is controlled by the nervous system, the chiropractic adjustment is often able to influence many other aspects of health including the immune system.

Doctors of Chiropractic practice a drug-free, hands-on approach to healthcare that includes patient examination, diagnosis and treatment. Chiropractors have broad diagnostic skills and are also trained to recommend therapeutic and rehabilitative exercises, as well as to provide nutritional, dietary, and lifestyle counseling.

The “Adjustment”

The most common therapeutic procedure performed by doctors of chiropractic is known as “spinal manipulation,” also called “chiropractic adjustment.”   The purpose of manipulation is to restore joint mobility by manually applying a controlled force into joints that have become hypo-mobile—or restricted in their movement—as a result of a tissue injury. Tissue injury can be caused by a single traumatic event, such as improper lifting of a heavy object, or through repetitive stresses, such as sitting in an awkward position with poor spinal posture for an extended period of time. In either case, injured tissues undergo physical and chemical changes that can cause inflammation, pain, and diminished function for the sufferer. Manipulation, or adjustment of the affected joint and tissues, restores mobility, thereby alleviating pain and muscle tightness, and allowing tissues to heal.

Nerve Function Impediment

For over 100 years chiropractors have focused their attention on the spine. The spinal cord projects nerves between the individual vertebrae and as such are directly affected when vertebras are not functioning correctly. When the spine misaligns or malfunctions, a disorder called a subluxation will occur.

A subluxation is a misalignment of a vertebra that inhibits nerve supply and causes a cascade of negative effects that include pain, numbness/tingling, muscle spasms and poor functioning of our vital organs. A subluxation can arise from any number of chemical, physical, or emotional stress factors. When the body is not able to communicate appropriately through the nervous system, it is not able to self-heal. Chiropractic seeks to identify, analyze and adjust subluxations.

The Doctor of Chiropractic restores the body's nerve function by adjusting the misaligned vertebra into its correct position. When nerve function is improved, bodily processes become more natural and healthy. As a science, chiropractic deals with the relationship between the spine and nervous system and the effects on the body's innate ability to express and maintain good health. As an art, chiropractic entails knowledge, skill and dexterity to locate and correct subluxations that impair and rob the body of its ability to maintain optimal health and wellness.

Is It Painful?

Chiropractic adjustment rarely causes discomfort. However, patients may sometimes experience mild soreness or aching following treatment (as with some forms of exercise) that usually resolves within 12 to 48 hours.  Your doctor will recommend home care to assist in alleviating any discomfort you may feel.

A Cooperative Profession

In many cases, such as lower back pain, chiropractic care may be the primary method of treatment. When other medical conditions exist, chiropractic care may complement or support medical treatment by relieving the musculoskeletal aspects associated with the condition.

Doctors of chiropractic may assess patients through clinical examination, laboratory testing, diagnostic imaging and other diagnostic interventions to determine when chiropractic treatment is appropriate or when it is not appropriate.  Chiropractors will readily refer patients to the appropriate health care provider when chiropractic care is not suitable for the patient’s condition, or the condition warrants co-management in conjunction with other members of the health care team.

The Source That Created the Body, Heals the Body

The foundation of chiropractic is built on the truth that health is the body's normal state and good health is perfectly natural. Chiropractors know that the body possesses a unique internal wisdom that continually strives to maintain a state of good health. The body's internal knowledge is also the guiding, healing force which allows our body to self-heal and self-regulate, permitting us to adapt naturally to the influences of the internal and external environment.

Chiropractic & Pediatrics

Every baby needs to have a healthy spinal column. The spine is the framework that will support your child throughout his or her growing years and adulthood. Studies have shown that newborn infants often enter the world with spinal trauma and stress due to the birth process. Even under the best conditions, birthing can be difficult for the infant who has spent nine months cradled in the dark, warm womb. It is very important to have your infant checked by a chiropractor shortly after his or her birth to be certain that there is not any nerve interference or spinal problems. Periodic checks should continue throughout your child's developmental years.

Scientists are still learning how to accurately assess the damage to infants. They do know that a forced pull on the neck during delivery can cause a subluxation that might cause damage, too slight to be noticed immediately. But eventually it might cause some form of dysfunction including but not limited to pain, scoliosis, earaches, or colic.

One of the greatest gifts you can give your newborn is a complete spinal examination by a doctor of chiropractic. Chiropractors feel strongly that the entire family can benefit by having spinal checkups. The children who have been under regular chiropractic care are sick less often and less severely. They rarely miss days from school. Recent studies have also shown that they have fewer emotional and learning disabilities and other neurological problems connected with childhood. In 1989, a study compared the patients of two hundred pediatricians with two hundred children who had been under the care of chiropractors. Not only was the overall health of the chiropractic children superior to those who had known only medical treatment but they also had fewer ear infections, fewer allergies, lower incidence of tonsillitis and less need to be given antibiotic therapy.

THE PETTIBON™ SYSTEM

Note:  This treatment process is available through association with Integrated Wellness.  See Recommended Services section on the Products & News page for more information.

Our office is unique to other chiropractic offices, in that we have implemented a spinal restorative system developed over the past 40 years by a gifted and tenacious doctor, Dr. Burl Pettibon. This system has tipped traditional chiropractic on its edge.

The Pettibon system of correcting spinal dysfunction is a leap in the advancement of correcting spinal postural imbalances. The system is different in part, because of the unique blueprint evaluation processes and resulting exercises designed by Dr. Pettibon. The exercises are performed in combination with the corrective spinal adjustments.

The Motivation for Change

After several years of research, Dr. Pettibon learned that attempts to adjust/manipulate vertebrae into different positions, whether into misalignment or alignment, offered temporary relief but did not make any lasting corrections; and, when attempted, often made a person's spine measurably worse.  As a result of his research, Dr. Pettibon realized a different approach to treatment was needed if patients were going to experience permanent spinal correction and life-time relief of their symptoms.  With this in mind, he created the Pettibon™ System.

The Pettibon Weighting System™

At the core of the Pettibon System is the patented Pettibon Weighting System. This System consists of specially designed head, shoulder and hip weights that patients wear. The amount of weights and their placement depend upon the spinal displacement that needs to be corrected.  Following specific spinal adjustments, practitioners then use this system to re-align the spine so that it can function optimally in its upright position relative to gravity.

How the weights work:  Wearing the weights alters the head's, thoracic cage's and pelvis's centers of mass, causing the righting reflexes to send spine correcting sensory input to the nervous system. To balance the body to the weights, the nervous system's innate organizing energy causes some involved spinal muscles to relax and others to contract, thereby repositioning and correcting the spine and posture relative to gravity. Additionally, the weights make the involved muscles do isometric exercises, needed to restore their strength, endurance and balance.

Why Isometric Exercises?

Two kinds of muscle fibers make up the musculoskeletal system. One is fast-twitch muscle fiber. The other is slow-twitch muscle fiber. Muscles have both types of fibers but usually one fiber type dominates a muscle group. Our postural muscles have mostly slow-twitch fiber.

In the gym, when we’re ‘pumping iron’ and doing aerobic exercises, we’re affecting fast-twitch muscle fiber or phasic muscles. What’s happening to our postural muscles? Not much. So exercises to strengthen phasic muscles don't improve posture.

When phasic muscles fatigue and/or when they’re injured they go flaccid and collapse. Postural muscles react very differently from phasic muscles when they’re injured or fatigued: they spasm. And the way postural muscles spasm is rarely even, either side-to-side or front-to-back. That’s why poor posture distorts our appearance because our spine is no longer aligned.

Isometric exercises, which involve pushing against a force that moves very slowly or doesn’t move at all, help eliminate postural muscle spasms as well as rehabilitate their balance, strength, and endurance.

Another Key Element of the Pettibon System:  The Seated X-ray

Seated x-rays are used for diagnosis, testing, assessing progress, and proof of treatment effectiveness.  The Pettibon System starts with an x-ray examination. Seven views of the spine are routinely taken, more if necessary. X-rays are also used in impairment ratings and 'tests' to determine if and how patients will respond to care.

The initial set of examination x-rays are compared to x-rays taken during treatment to assess progress and ultimately to prove the treatment's success. Whether the x-rays are for diagnosis, testing, assessing progress, post-treatment evaluation and/or proof, patients are seated and the x-rays are always taken, marked, and measured the same way, every time.

Why?

Abnormal spinal form can’t be detected on x-rays until the soft tissues fail. When the soft tissues are no longer are able to hold the hard tissues (vertebrae) together, erect and aligned with gravity, the spine buckles into its injured position.

When we go from a standing to a sitting position, we increase interdiscal pressure by 30%. When we go from lying down to sitting, the pressure is increased by 50%. So Pettibon x-rays are taken seated to increase stress in the spinal para-vertebral soft tissue. Having patients seated for x-rays also eliminates the influence of unequal contraction from the legs' muscles that attach to the spine.

Conventional chiropractic x-ray procedures don't consider spinal soft tissue injuries. The Pettibon System's x-ray procedures do.

Testing Before Being Accepted as a Patient

Prospective patients are not automatically accepted for care. Doctors need to determine ‘if’ and ‘how’ prospective patients will respond to this method of treatment. This determination requires testing. In one test, prospective patients will wear Pettibon System Weights and have their lateral cervical spine re-x-rayed. Other tests evaluate whether prospective patients’ postural muscles are strong enough for the corrective procedures. Typically, as high as 40% lack the strength and endurance they need. So they will be required to go through a rehabilitation program to strengthen their postural muscles before going on to spinal correction.

Once accepted as a viable candidate for this treatment, patients begin a multi-phase program that can potentially offer them relief from their symptoms and permanent correction of their spinal maladies.

NEURO-MODULATION TECHNIQUE

NeuroModulation Technique is a unique and highly effective alternative form of healing that:

• restores the body's innate capacity to heal
• is fast, safe, effective, and painless
• is about optimizing wellness
• has effectiveness that is not limited to any particular illness or disposition

NeuroModulation Technique (NMT) was developed by Dr. Leslie S. Feinberg, D.C. in 2002. Formerly known as the "Feinberg Technique," NMT has garnered a reputation as an especially effective, yet highly safe form of alternative healthcare. Many thousands of people all over the world have experienced relief from allergies, and autoimmune illnesses such as arthritis, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, lupus, myositis, scleroderma, and more, as well as inflammatory conditions. Often, patients suffering from chronic pain have either experienced a reduction, or even an elimination of their pain within minutes of an NMT treatment. Many of these patients have experienced successful resolutions of their health issues with NMT when conventional medical care and other types of "complementary" or "alternative" medicine has been proven ineffective.

The Significance of Informational Medicine

NMT is best described as “informational medicine,” because it works to identify and correct the informational source of illness— the confusion that can interrupt our innate healing mechanisms. Many believe illness results from some external affliction that viscously attacks the mind-body. The NMT position is that illness is the inevitable result of informational confusion and faults in the body’s systems responsible for regulating it functions; making them inadequate to produce the balanced internal-body state that wellness requires. The issue of illness, or “dis-ease” in the body happens by default when the mind-body is not sufficiently aware of its internal conditions and the requirements for healing. NMT retrains the mind-body to a better awareness so that it can more efficiently produce the optimal health it is capable of enjoying.

The Power of the Mind-Body

The NMT position is that the mind-body is a self-correcting system that always seeks to find and maintain the balanced internal state in which optimal health and vitality thrive. The mind-body is an integrated unit of 50-trillion cells which organize themselves into the body’s various tissues, organs, structures, and systems. Intelligence is found at every level of mind-body organization, including: the DNA of the first cell from which life begins; the memory and information processing structures in each cell of the body; the neurological networks in organs and the autonomic nervous system; and the top level of information processing, the brain. This intelligence includes both the “conscious” mind that provides us with the awareness we need to interact with people and events in our environment, as well as the “other than conscious” mind that is internally directed to quietly govern body function in the background without distracting the conscious mind from its responsibilities. The clinical focus of NMT is on the other-than-conscious activity because that is where body function is determined. NMT uses a unique form of dynamic muscle response testing (or dynamic MRT) for applying the NMT protocol. This process is used to train the mind-body to reach the more valid and complete informational state required to release the body’s natural capacity to heal.

Every bodily function originates as an instruction, a set of information that is relayed to the cells which is responsible for performing that function, triggering it to begin and end. Incorrect body function inevitably results from incorrect information, relayed to the wrong place, at the wrong time. Every person is unique in their genetic heritage— that range of physiological possibilities of which the mind-body is capable. Every person also carries compromising effects of previous disease, trauma, and aging. Skilled practitioners use NMT as a tool to evaluate all of these unique factors and optimize the possibility to be well again.Every bodily function originates as an instruction, a set of information that is relayed to the cells which is responsible for performing that function, triggering it to begin and end. Incorrect body function inevitably results from incorrect information, relayed to the wrong place, at the wrong time. Every person is unique in their genetic heritage— that range of physiological possibilities of which the mind-body is capable. Every person also carries compromising effects of previous disease, trauma, and aging. Skilled practitioners use NMT as a tool to evaluate all of these unique factors and optimize the possibility to be well again.

A Uniquely Developed Protocol for Healing

The mind-body was created with an amazing intelligence that allows it to produce a fully formed human being from a single cell, and to develop into trillions of body cells communicating perfectly to heal the body and maintain vitality throughout its lifespan. When that communication fails, the NMT system is a unique and powerful tool by which the NMT practitioner enters into a carefully developed therapeutic dialog with the patient’s mind-body. NMT uses special routines of questions and corrective training statements that are organized into therapeutic templates known as “NMT clinical pathways.” Each of these pathways is a window into a specific area of body function. Because the NMT system is exceptionally thorough, there are NMT clinical pathways available to address just about every type of problem. The practitioner guides the patient through a session by selecting the NMT clinical pathways to be used according to the priority the mind-body recognizes will be most effective. Follow-up sessions are used to evaluate how well the patient responded to the prior treatment session, as well as determine treatment priority as the NMT process continues.

The informational basis of illness and disease may be the most common, yet the most-overlooked roadblock to healing. Bodies suffer all sorts of negative impact in life: trauma, toxins, infection, stressors including emotional, physical, and chemical, as well as malnutrition, and more. Nutritional support, diet, and exercise all need to be part of a healthy lifestyle that recognizes the importance of preventing disease, and NMT practitioners often recommend these as part of their treatment plan. Conventional medical care may also be needed, especially to support emergent conditions. NMT strives to never be in conflict with traditional medicine and to always be complementary and supportive of such care. In fact, NMT is often a vital tool used to assist conventional medicine in the process of healing of illness and disease. No matter what other form of healthcare a patient may choose to receive, if the informational basis of illness has not been addressed, the healing resources of the mind-body simply cannot be efficiently expressed. NMT is a powerful tool to help the mind-body freely realize its potential to heal.

NMT is safe and effective for all people, and particularly safe for the very young and very old. NMT is also effective for animals and is used by NMT-specially-trained veterinarians and others interested in animal care.

Using NMT Along With Other Forms of Treatment

Other types of complementary or alternative medicines are often harmonious with NMT— acupuncture, chiropractic manipulation, homeopathy, and more. While other methods of informational medicine are available, none offer the rational, scientific, and carefully structured and thorough foundation as NMT. Other methods that are not as well crafted as NMT may actually confuse the mind-body further and compromise clinical outcome for a patient. It is advisable to discuss with your NMT practitioner any other types of healthcare you may be interested in prior to taking part in them.

The Preventive Aspect of NMT

NMT is not burdened by the limitations found in disease-oriented methods of healthcare. By focusing on prevention, NMT can provide help even before the onset of symptoms may make us aware of a challenge to our health. After recovery from some health complaint or illness, NMT may be used proactively to periodically evaluate and correct any subsequent confusion that creeps into the mind-body’s information processing systems to help maintain health. How much more efficient it is to maintain the health we have than struggle to regain the health we have let slip away.

The NMT Website is a Ready Resource

The official NMT website, www.nmt.md, provides a rich resource of information for you to learn more about this highly effective healing tool. There you will find articles and videos that demonstrate and explain NMT, testimonials from patients and practitioners, as well as a forum in which patients, healthcare practitioners, and other interested parties can freely discuss NMT. We invite you to share what you learn with your family and friends so they, too, can benefit from this unique new paradigm of healing.

How does the NeuroModulation Technique Work?

The mind-body can be optimally well only when its internal conditions are kept in optimal balance and harmony. We call this "homeostasis." This requires accurate mind-body awareness of its internal conditions and the external environment and an ideal ability to select the appropriate physiological processes that efficiently adapt to those conditions in response to the moment by moment changes in those environments.

The mind-body has certain capacities and mechanisms to heal itself and preserve or restore homeostatic balance. Any compromise of optimal mind-body awareness of its internal and external conditions can cause these healing mechanisms to be inefficient and to fail.

The information processing that produces the decisions that regulate body function occurs at an unconscious or "other-than-conscious" level. (OTC) Such information processing would otherwise be a great distraction to conscious mental focus and for this reason there is a veil of awareness separating the conscious and other-than-conscious mind.

Challenges from the external environment, for example the introduction of pathogens, non-toxic foods, or environmental chemistries may trigger disease such as infection or allergy. These may be seen as a cause of disease, but on a deeper level the cause of such disease will be seen to be informational in nature. Confusion and compromised awareness of internal and external conditions prevent the mind-body from efficiently applying its healing capabilities to eliminate pathogens and to stop inappropriate inflammatory behavior such as allergy.

The Neuromodulation Technique (NMT) solution for this informational problem is to enter into a highly structured and very specific NMT therapeutic dialogue with the patient's mind-body. There are a variety of NMT therapeutic dialogues called NMT clinical pathways which we use to address specific issues. For instance, the NMT Allergy Pathway permits us to look closely at the elements of the mind-body behavior that produce neural immune inflammation in response to benign chemistries in the food or environment.

Each NMT clinical pathway includes questions that ask the mind-body to reconsider its awareness in regard to the subject matter of the pathway as well as corrective statements that train the mind-body to make better physiological choices congruent with healing and wellness.

By applying the NMT protocol, the mind-body is directed to identify and correct the informational confusion that misdirects the mind-body toward illness and prevents efficient application of it healing resources.

What happens in an NMT Session?

When an NMT practitioner and patient come together in the spirit of goodwill and with the intention to interact cooperatively for the benefit of the patient, there is an opening of a channel of other than conscious communication between them that permits the exchange of information as "thought pictures" rather than words. We are all familiar with the experience of having a thought instantaneously come to mind that might require us many minutes to explain in words to another person. It is these whole thoughts and ideas that are communicated from the conscious/other-than-conscious mind of the practitioner to the other-than-conscious mind of the patient.

The NMT practitioner initiates the therapeutic dialogue of the NMT session in this way. The practitioner brings to mind a question or statement from the selected NMT clinical pathway. The practitioner silently reads or thinks that question or statement and by doing so brings to mind the meaning it represents. The practitioner holds the strong intention to communicate or share that meaning as a "thought picture" with the patient.

The same other-than-conscious messaging channel that permits the patient to receive such thought pictures from the NMT practioner is a two-way street. Thought images representing the patient's OTC response to communication from the NMT practitioner are also shared. Because that information is shared on an other-than-conscious level of awareness, some mechanism is required in order to bring the patients response to the conscious awareness of the NMT practitioner.

Muscle response testing (MRT) is used as a tool, an external indicator that will reveal an affirmative or negative answer about that other-than-conscious communication in a way that is obvious to the conscious mind of both the NMT practitioner and patient. This affirmative or negative response is revealed as a change in the quality of the response of the muscle used for testing. (Weak or strong muscle)

The NMT protocol proceeds in this way. The NMT practitioner identifies and applies the various NMT clinical pathways that are indicated for the patient for that NMT session. The result of this process will be to induce the mind-body to produce a more accurate awareness of its internal and external conditions and by so doing; informational obstacles to healing are eliminated allowing the natural innate response to heal the body.

Meet Dr. Leslie S. Feinburg, DC, ND, Father of NMT

See Dr. Feinberg demonstrate NMT on YouTube
Watch Dr. Leslie Feinberg, father of NeuroModulation Technique, treat a patient experiencing an anaphalactic allergy. Click on the link below to view the 7-part video.

http://www.youtube.com/user/NMTvideo


NMT featured on "Re-Wiring the Soul with Dr. Gabriella Kortsch"
Listen to and download the on-demand episode, "Leslie Feinberg's Neuro-Modulation Technique" by clicking on following link:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rewiringthesoul


"An Interview With Dr. Leslie Feinberg" by The American Chiropractor Magazine, December 2010 Issue
Read this insightful interview about NMT by clicking on following link:

http://www.theamericanchiropractor.com/interviews/item/4861.html

NATUROPATHY

The past 30 years has seen an extraordinary increase in consumer demand for safe, effective and cost-effective natural healthcare. Naturopathic medicine has emerged as the healthcare profession best suited to meet this demand. Although it almost disappeared in the mid-twentieth century because of the popularity of drugs and surgery, naturopathic medicine now offers safe, effective natural therapies as a vital part of the healthcare systems of North America in the twenty-first century.

Naturopathy, also called naturopathic medicine, is a holistic medical system—one of the systems of healing and beliefs that have evolved over time in different cultures and parts of the world. Naturopathy is rooted in healthcare approaches that were popular in Europe, especially in Germany, in the 19th century, but it also includes therapies (both ancient and modern) from other traditions. In naturopathy, the emphasis is on supporting health rather than combating disease.

Key Points

1. People seek naturopathic care for various health-related purposes, including primary care, support of wellness, and treatment of diseases and conditions (often chronic ones).
2. Naturopathy focuses upon treatments considered "natural," but it is not without risk.
3. Education and training in naturopathy vary widely. Ask about a practitioner's education and training, as well as any licensing or certification.
4. Rigorous research on naturopathic medicine as a whole medical system is taking place but is at an early stage.
5. Tell your health care providers about any complementary and alternative practices you use. Give them a full picture of what you do to manage your health. This will help ensure coordinated and safe care.

Key Principles

The practice of naturopathy is based on six key principles:

1. Promote the healing power of nature.
2. First do no harm. Naturopathic practitioners choose therapies with the intent to keep harmful side effects to a minimum and not suppress symptoms.
3. Treat the whole person. Practitioners believe a person's health is affected by many factors, such as physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, and social ones. Practitioners consider all these factors when choosing therapies and tailor treatment to each patient.
4. Treat the cause. Practitioners seek to identify and treat the causes of a disease or condition, rather than its symptoms. They believe that symptoms are signs that the body is trying to fight disease, adapt to it, or recover from it.
5. Prevention is the best cure. Practitioners teach ways of living that they consider most healthy and most likely to prevent illness.
6. The physician is a teacher. Practitioners consider it important to educate their patients in taking responsibility for their own health.

What Practitioners Do in Treating Patients

A first visit to a naturopathic practitioner is usually an extended appointment. The practitioner will interview the patient at length about his health history, reasons for the visit, and lifestyle (such as diet, stress, alcohol and tobacco use, sleep, and exercise). The practitioner may perform examinations and, if in her scope of practice, order diagnostic and screening tests. Toward the end of the appointment, a management plan is set up to address the patient's general health and problems with illness. Referrals to other health care providers may be made, if appropriate. Practitioners may deliver some naturopathic treatments in their offices, such as hydrotherapy or manipulation. Examples of additional treatments are:

1. Dietary changes (for example, eating more whole and unprocessed foods)
2. Vitamins, minerals, and other dietary supplements
3. Herbal medicine
4. Counseling and education on lifestyle changes
5. Homeopathy
6. Hydrotherapy (for example, applying hot water, then cold water)
7. Manual and body-based therapies such as manipulation and mobilization
8. Exercise therapy

NUTRITION COUNSELING

At Frogley Chiropractic, we take a very different approach to nutritional therapies from many doctors and healthcare providers. We believe, while it is possible to supplement a good diet and make it better, it is not possible to supplement a mediocre or poor diet and make it adequate. Food is our best medicine! That said, what should we eat? How much is too much? How do we know how many calories to eat or what quantities from which food groups are correct? How do we sort out all of the information out there and all of the conflicting opinions?

We understand that this is one of the most confusing subjects for many people. There seem to be as many opinions out there as there are people offering them. While we do not pretend to have all of the answers, we do take a very practical and holistic approach to the recommendations we offer. Most of the therapies and treatments that we advocate for our patients involve some form of supplementation, as well as recommendations for dietary changes. We believe the most effective healing tool can often be a lifestyle change. This becomes essential when our “illnesses” have been caused by following our current regimens. In today’s world of stress, immediate gratification, fast foods, quick-fixes, and other on-demand opportunities, our choices of desired lifestyles are usually the cause of most of what we are suffering. In the optimal health restoration process, a willingness to understand this, and especially making the efforts necessary to change, is really not only essential, it is vital.

In helping a patient understand the impact their lifestyle choices have had upon their current health status, we use a series of tests involving blood analysis, hormone and metabolic assessment, neurotransmitter assessment, hair and nail assessment, as well as others. The results of these tests guide us in determining where deficiencies or excesses in the body’s metabolic makeup may be contributing to or causing the present symptoms.

Unlike many practitioners who feel the need to analyze the entire body, we feel it necessary to only use the tests that seem to be indicated. Determining this ‘indication’ is done through a series of questions that we have found through many years of experience to be quite effective. Following the assessment process, we then offer suggestions and guidance for necessary lifestyle changes, as well as treatment plans to be devised in an effort to begin correcting the pathophysiology determined to be at the root of the illness.

This is obviously a completely customized approach to healing. Each patient is different. While two patients may have the same illness, the causes for that illness, as well as each patient’s ability to heal from it, are not. Because of these different physiological needs, what we may suggest for one may be different from what we suggest for another. The testing process and subsequent follow-up is a mainstay of our approach to restoring optimal health. We believe it is vital to be able to measure progress by a more reliable “yard stick” than merely symptom analysis. By maintaining an on-going diagnostic focus—whether it be through lab tests or other analysis protocols—we can be assured that our patients are actually responding well to their customized treatment plan. However, our greatest satisfaction comes when such tests are not necessary to measure improvement because the results are so obvious in the patient’s physical, spiritual, psychological, and emotional well-being.

At Frogley Chiropractic, we have a profound respect for the miracle of the human body, which leads us to a never-ending search to learn its secrets and how we can live in harmony with our surroundings. It is this respect that serves as our guide as we strive to help patients achieve their maximum levels in optimal health and happiness.