World Spine Day
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Our clinic helped promote World Spine Days in the past 16 October 2006, 2007 & 2008 with week-long promotion of 'Spinal Screenings'. The clinic makes this an annual event with spinal screenings happening once again in October 2008. All the family can come in and be screened remember pain is only a warning sign something is wrong.
Spinal screenings are a time whereby you can come visit our chiropractors and have your or a family member checked for any worries that there may be, be it a curvature in the spine, poor posture, limp, or anything else from headaches, back and neck pain to infantile colic. This session includes a brief history, and advice on possible treatment, if needed.
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The cost will be R150 for the 20 minute consultation. Of that, R100 will be donated to the Red Cross Children's Hospital Trust.
Spinal Check-Up
For past generations, losing their teeth during life was the norm. However, due to maintenance dental care the situation has drastically changed to the point where the whole population takes for granted the need for dental checks. But when was the last time you had a spinal check?
In 2006 World Spine Day was on 16 October and was an initiative of the Bone and Joint Decade organisations action week. The organisation aims to promote awareness about a structure in our bodies we take for granted and from which so many common ailments occur, with the Chiropractic Association of South Africa being a partner in the organisation.
An objective chiropractic spinal exam can detect problems long before symptoms appear, just like cavities can be found a long time before a toothache develops. Strangely, despite the fact that back pain is one of the largest single reasons for taking time off work, most people still live in the hope that the spine will take care of itself.
Just because you can't see your spine, doesn't mean it is not a cause of problems. Perhaps if we carried our spines on the outside, do you think we would do more about it?
Our spine and frame in general, is a complex series of interactions of joints. Furthermore, our spine contains part of our nervous system - the most important part of us. Your nervous system controls every cell, tissue, organ and system of your body. Whilst your brain is protected by your skull, your spinal cord is protected by the 24 moveable bones of your spine. If one considers how many different ways we challenge and misuse our spine day in, day out, it is hardly surprising that things go wrong. Whilst a majority of problems are solved by our body's ability to heal itself, the problems which are too big a hurdle for the body to heal, stay with us and become chronic. During the course of just a few years each person develops their own collection of problems, which eventually start giving symptoms like headaches, backache and sciatica.
Dr Samantha Westbury says "Think even when you are born - the stresses and strains placed on your body, and ultimately your spine, can be a cause of childhood problems such as infantile colic, chronic ear infections, constipation and allergies." As we get older the stresses don't change. They range from being sedentary for too long at the computer/ TV to doing the wrong exercises at gym! These everyday activities can cause the spinal joints to lose their normal motion which can result in the nervous system not working optimally and ultimately ill health.
Dr Gary Kirwan says "Doctors of chiropractic treat problems with your joints, bones and muscles and the effects they have on your nervous system. Working on all the joints of your body, concentrating particularly on your spine, they use their skilled hands to make often gentle, specific adjustments (chiropractic word for manipulation) to improve the efficiency of your nervous system and release your body's natural healing ability. Chiropractors aim to treat in a way that decreases the unnecessary use of drugs or surgery."
What Can I Do
Here at Pineslopes Chiropractic Clinic we are promoting spinal awareness and taking self control by providing every spinal screening patient with access to the "Straighten Up South Africa" exercise programme. By having a chiropractor screen and treat problems early, whilst someone is being proactive with their spinal care by doing good spinal exercises and movements themselves, like the "Straighten Up South Africa" programme, spinal maintenance can be achieved.
If you are interested in having a spinal screen, you can start anytime of the year by contacting your local chiropractic clinic. Spinal screenings are about achieving wellness in your neuromusculoskeletal system rather than chasing episodes of pain that have had their causes long before you became conscious of a problem pain.