To help you familarize yourself with some chiropractic terms, we have provided this glossary of terms you may hear in our office. 

Acute Injuries: An injury that occurs due to an unexpected event, such as a fall, motor vehicle accident, or sports injury.  The acute phase on an injury usually lasts 30 days or less.

Adjustment: A gentle, yet firm movement directed at a specific vertebra to restore proper motion and position to its natural position.  This action reduces nerve irratation or pressure, which in turn increases its function.  Chiropractors are the only profession trained to properly adjust the spine.

Arthritis: A gradual, degenerative condition where the joints of the body slowly erode.  This may or may not be associated with pain.

Atlas: The first cervical vertebra.

Axis: The second cervical vertebra, named so because the Atlas rotates around it.

Bulging Disc: A fairly common condition where the outer fibrous rings of the disc are torn, which allows the softer material in the center of the disc to bulge out.  This bulge, or herniation, may or may not cause direct pressure on the nerve that exits between the vertebrae.  Bulging Discs are most common in the cervical and lumbar regions.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A sometimes painful disorder caused by a compression of the median nerve of your hand. The compression can cause numbness and weakness of the hand.

Cervical Vertebrae: The seven vertebrae immediately under the skull, or the neck area of the spine.

Chiropractic: An alternative noninvasive health care practice with the mission to diagnose and treat mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system in order to relieve the obstructed nerves and improve overall health.

Chiropractor: Also known as a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.), diagnoses and treats a broad range of physical conditions in patients with muscular, nervous and skeletal problems.

Chronic Pain: Pain that has been present longer than three months.  

Coccyx: A triangular shaped bone at the bottom of the spine.

Degenerative Disc Disease: A condition in which the vertebral discs dehydrate and lose their ability to act as shock absorbers in the spine. This disease is also called arthritis of the spine.

Electrotherapy: A pain management technique that applies electrical stimulation to affected nerves and muscles and encourages the body to release pain-killing chemicals, such as endorphins, and blocks pain signals from being transmitted to the brain.

Exercise Therapy: A form of chiropractic treatment used to help manage pain, rehabilitate damaged soft tissues, such as muscles, ligament, and tendons, and restore normal range of motion.

Heat Therapy: A form of chiropractic and physical therapy often used in patients who have chronic or long-lasting pain. Heat is not indicated in an acute injury.

Herniated Disc: A common disorder in which a disc tears, and disc material shifts to a position that irritates the spinal nerves. A herniated disc occurs frequently within the lumbar region of the spine.

Ice Therapy (Cryotherapy): A form of therapy involving the application of ice to treat several types of acute injuries. Ice cuts down inflammation, which leads to decreased pain.

Lumbar Vertebrae: The last five freely moving bones in the lower back.  They are just above the sacrum, or tailbone.

Manipulation: A form of chiropractic treatment, which involves the application of gentle, yet firm, specified pressure to bones. The goal of manipulation is to relieve pressure from the surrounding spinal nerves, eliminate pain and restore normal range of motion.

Maintenance Care: Also known as "preventive maintenance", maintenance care is a subluxation correction program that involves spinal adjustments and examination in order to maintain spinal alignment.

Migraine: A severe headache that has a tendency to reoccur when blood vessels and the head and neck spasm, restricting the blood flow to the brain.

Sciatica: A condition in which the sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve bundle in the body, is injured. Sciatica causes numbness, tingling and in the buttocks, legs, feet and toes.

Scoliosis: A medical term that refers to side-to-side spinal curvatures. This condition often begins in early childhood.

Slipped Disc: A common term used to describe a condition of the disc, usually a bulge or hernaition.  In actuality, discs can't slip because of fibers that connect them to the vertebrae above and below them.

Spinal Column: The term for the bones of your back that protect your spinal cord and allows the body to move in several different directions.

Strengthening Exercises: Exercises that focus on strengthening the core muscles that protect your spine.

Stretching Exercises: Exercises that focus on increasing the flexibility of the muscles and tendons surrounding your spine and extremities.

Subluxations: Another term for the misalignments of the vertebrae. Subluxations can create pressure on the spinal nerves, causing a wide variety of symptoms throughout the body including localized soreness, pain, numbness, bodily irregularity and weakness.

Therapeutic Massage: A form of massage that involves manipulating the soft tissues of the body to prevent and alleviate pain, discomfort, muscle spasm and stress.

Thoracic Vertebrae: The middle twelve segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae.

Ultrasound: A pain therapy technique using sound waves to heat soft tissues.

Vertebral Discs: Composed of collagen, discs act as "shock absorbers" and are situated between vertebral bodies.

Whiplash: An injury to the neck or cervical spine that occurs when muscles are hyperextended followed by a rapid hyperflexion.