FAQs

The simple answer is NO!

When done correctly, chiropractic never makes the body worse. The results from Bend chiropractors restore balance and nerve flow to all parts of the body. The doctors at Pangea Chiropractic have chosen to dedicate their entire lives to restore balance, health and wellness in the lives of their patients. The doctors at Pangea will be working directly with your nervous system to restore the body’s innate healing powers.

Your chiropractic and health journey at Pangea Chiropractic will begin with an extensive neurological, structural, orthopedic and chiropractic exam. These examinations will allow the doctors to assess and better understand your body’s current state before proceeding. It is important to understand that the body is constantly working to maintain balance or homeostasis. When the body shifts out of balance, it enters a state of Dis-Ease. At this point, the body may begin to recognize this new Dis-Eased or altered state as normal.

Structural, leading to neurological, imbalances in the spine (aka SUBLUXATIONS) will ultimately lead to functional abnormalities in the organs and tissues of the body via the central and peripheral nervous systems.

When a doctor of chiropractic detects and corrects areas of the spine that lead to a Dis-Eased state, some minor soreness can result for a limited amount of time. It is common that 10-15% of chiropractic patients may experience some minor soreness after their adjustment.

However, the doctors at Pangea will be sure to educate and teach you how to alleviate these symptoms if they may occur. Your chiropractic adjustment at Pangea is a gentle process. the Bend chiropractors have been specially trained to administer the correct adjustment with the least amount of force required.

NO! Self-manipulation is not recommended and is never a good idea to perform on oneself. Regular self-manipulation can actually lead to ligament laxity and increase in muscle tension leading to imbalances in spinal musculature.

When you self-manipulate or “crack” your own back, you are actually mobilizing your joints, and while this can lead to temporary relief of muscle tension, it can also lead to hypermobility or too much movement of the joint.

Hypermobility of a joint may then lead to the muscles having to work harder to stabilize the joint, which usually results in the tendency to feel like you need to “crack” or mobilize the joint over and over again. This vicious cycle of repeated mobilization will further prolong joint instability and muscle tension.

Your Pangea Chiropractor will reposition the bones into proper alignment promoting joint stability and removal of nerve interference or subluxation.

The Doctors of chiropractic at Pangea Chiropractic are spine specialists who have been specifically trained to detect and remove spinal subluxations.

Throughout life, there are many stresses, traumas and strains placed on our spines. The human spine and skull is a special armor that our “creator” designed to provide support and protection to the body’s central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). This central nervous system is the governing system of the body, which controls literally every single function of the body, even down to a cellular level. In order to communicate with the rest of the body, the brain sends a signal down the spinal cord that then exits through tiny holes in between 24 individual vertebrae. These tiny holes are called intervertebral foramina.

A subluxation occurs when an individual vertebra shifts or moves out of proper alignment. **This will lead to neurological interference as a nerve exits the intervertebral foramina. Subluxations are known to cause many different types of symptoms that initially drive people to seek chiropractic care.

However, subluxations do exist without any form of pain or symptomology while still causing crippling effects and diseased states to the body. It is now known that only 30% of the nervous system is capable of detecting pain. With that said, subluxations can and do exist, causing up to 70% interference of the nerves’ life forces without ever being known to the patient.

The Bend chiropractors at Pangea Chiropractic are specially trained to detect and remove subluxations that may be present in your spine. The chiropractor’s specific job is to remove subluxations and allow your body to function and communicate at its’ optimal potential!

Because your health depends on it! This is a very common question that many people often ask their chiropractor or someone who regularly sees a chiropractor.

The doctors at Pangea have a method and approach to healthcare where they will be spending time each visit educating or “enlightening” every patient on true health, prevention and wellness.

Your journey at Pangea to restoring or maintaining higher levels of health will begin with patient “enlightenment”. As stated in question #3, your central nervous system is your body’s lifeline, controlling every single function in your body.

This system tells your muscles when to contract and when to relax. It tells your liver how to clean your blood, your lungs how to exchange oxygen, and your stomach and intestines how to digest and absorb food.

This system is continually in direct communication with every single cell in the body, 24/7. Also, only up to 30% of your nervous system is capable of detecting pain.

This means that 70% of your nervous system has different, extremely important tasks, other than pain detection. For instance, when is the last time you felt your liver produce bile or pancreas release insulin to regulate your sugar levels?

Think of it like this. When was the last time you brushed your teeth? Do you only brush when you have cavities? Or are you brushing to PREVENT cavities? By the time your teeth start to hurt, you have likely had a cavity forming for quite some time.

If you only saw your chiropractor when your back hurt, doesn’t it make sense that you might have had a “cavity” or “subluxation” forming in your spine for quite some time? A cavity in your teeth can easily be fixed by your dentist while a “cavity of the spine” aka “subluxation” leading to decay of the spine cannot.

Besides, you can always get dentures if your old teeth fall out, right? Let’s face it, a new spine is not even an option.

Spinalhygiene is a critical aspect of overall health, vitality and proper function of the entire body, something your general practitioner or medical doctor has probably never explained to you. You should never see your dentist more than your chiropractor.

Think of it this way:

If you were trying to lose weight, would it make sense to quit trying after losing only 1 pound and expect the rest to disappear on its own?

If you start brushing your teeth as a young child, doesn’t it make sense to continue for the rest of your life? If you got your car’s oil changed at the first 3000 miles, doesn’t it make sense that you will have to change it again at 6000 miles?

If you are trying to build muscle would you only need to go to the gym 1 time or would you have to continue going?

If you were trying to grow vegetables, would it make sense to only water them once or twice and expect maximum production?

So, if you started feeling better and reaching higher levels of health, you could stop, but doesn’t it make sense to continue?

The chiropractors at Pangea will spend a lot of time educating you how spinal subuxations are caused by Thoughts, Traumas and Toxins and how we all are surrounded by these things everyday…….. so, doesn’t it make sense to see your chiropractor on a regular basis?

Once the doctors at Pangea Chiropractic begin educating you, you will begin to understand what it means to be TRULY HEALTHY. The 2CM team-of-doctors take a different approach to health and wellness and engage their patients to discover this new paradigm of health through education and responsibility.

~ There is no process in life that does not take time……..

~ “It is possible to be well adjusted and not yet well, but it is impossible to be well if not well adjusted”. Dr. James Chestnut

• Eat well!
• Think well!
• Move well!

These are three elements of health that the doctors at Pangea preach. If all three of these elements are regularly incorporated into daily living, it is likely that some form of health is being expressed. Eating healthy, daily exercise and positive thinking are crucial aspects of health. Almost no one would argue that in order to be truly healthy, one must regularly do these things. However, even more integral to good health is a proper functioning nervous system. This means that all signals from the brain are effectively communicating with the rest of the body.

The doctors at Pangea are highly trained to detect and correct the areas of your spine where nerve interference is present. Remember what we already discussed. Is it possible to be truly well if spinal subluxations are present in your spine? Even if you eat as healthy as possible and exercise as hard as you can, true health cannot be present if nerve interference exists.

Eating healthy, exercising daily, maintaining a healthy mind, and regular chiropractic adjustments are the key to living a healthy vibrant life!

No!

As a matter of fact, in 1895, Dr. D. D. Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, actually restored hearing in a deaf man following a spinal adjustment. Over and over again throughout the history of chiropractic similar “medical miracles” have occurred within the chiropractic profession. Dr. D.D. Palmer was not interested at all in pain but more so where in the spine nerve interference was present. The basic philosophy, principles and practice of chiropractic is based on the detection and correction of nerve interference regardless of symptomatology.

When a doctor of chiropractic detects an area of nerve interference, he or she will administer a gentle adjusting procedure by hand to correct the spinal misalignment and allow the vital nerve forces to flow again.

Please keep in mind, chiropractors at Pangea don’t claim to treat anything other than spinal subluxations or nerve interference. The beauty of chiropractic is that once the nerve interference is removed, the body can fully express itself and any number of the following conditions or symptoms may improve and even disappear:

Neck and Back Pain
Asthma
Attention Deficit Disorders
Chronic Pain
Autism
Bell’s palsy
Trigeminal Neuralgia Visual Disorders
High Blood Pressure
Cerebral Palsy
Colic
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Digestive Issues
Deafness
Dizziness
Tinnitus
Disc Herniation
Degenerative Joint Disease
Epilepsy
Female Issues
Erectile Dysfunction
Fibromyalgia Dystonia Gastroesophageal Reflux Headache
Migraine
Immune Function
Infertility
Otitis Media
Visceral Disorders
Multiple Sclerosis
Radiculopathy
Repetitive Stress
Scoliosis
Vertigo
TMJ Pain
Whiplash
Sciatica
Rib Pain

And the list goes on…….

This seems like a valid concern since chiropractors deal with the neck. However, modern science assures us that there is NO NEED FOR CONCERN! Lets review a few things to put into consideration.

• A simple shoulder check with 90-100 degrees of neck rotation while driving stretches the vertebral artery by up to 80% more than a cervical adjustment delivered by a licensed chiropractor.

When compared to most medical procedures prescribed for similar complaints of neck pain and headaches, the chiropractic adjustment appears to be hundreds, to thousands of times safer according to Lee KP, Carlini WG, McCormick GF, Walters GW.
Neurologic Complications Following Chiropractic Manipulation: A Survey of California Neurologists
Neurology 1995; 45 (6): 1213-1215:

• Complications From Cervical Manipulations 0.3 deaths/million
• Canoeing – 3 deaths/million
• Football – 39 deaths/million
• Automobile driving- 169 deaths/million
• GI Bleeding due to NSAID (ibuprofen) use- 400 deaths/million
• Spinal surgery- 700 deaths/million
• Appendectomies- 13,500 deaths/million
• Motorcycling- 20,000 deaths/million

In comparison, these common activities are known to cause a disruption in cerebral (brain) blood circulation:

• Nosebleeds
• Head check while reversing car
• Dental procedures
• Coughing/sneezing/yawning
• Overhead working
• Roller coaster ride
• Telephone call with head on shoulder
• Stargazing

In his recent article as a follow-up to the Canadian Stroke Consortium, Dr. Scott Haldeman reviewed a full 10 years worth of malpractice claims files in Canada for all 4500 chiropractors in practice. They found that: “The likelihood that a chiropractor will be made aware of an arterial dissection following cervical manipulation is approximately 1 per 8.06 million office visits, 1 per 5.85 million cervical manipulations, 1 per 1430 chiropractic practice years and 1 per 48 chiropractic practice careers. Sudden Neck Movement and Cervical Artery Dissection:
The Chiropractic Experience CMAJ 2001; 165 (7): 905–906a

We hope that you can rest assured now that you know you are more likely to die from an earth-impacting asteroid, plane crash, lightning strike, shark attack or even more likely a car crash.

YES!

Chiropractic is extremely safe and has grown today to become the nation’s 2nd leading form of primary healthcare behind only medical doctors. Just for the sake of comparison, let’s look at the facts of the practice of chiropractic vs. medicine.

• The United States as a whole, ranks almost last in health care outcomes of all industrialized countries worldwide. Number 37 out of 40 to be exact. Countries such as Costa Rica, Dominica and Chile rank above us.

• The USA spends $400 billion in annual prescription drugs, which is estimated to rise to $500 billion by 2015.
• The USA spends almost more on “healthcare” than all of the other 36 nations combined.
• Adverse drug events in the USA result in 2.5 million hospitalizations and 1 million urgent care visits resulting in an indirect cost of $65 billion to the “healthcare” system.
• Adverse drug events result in 100,000 deaths per year. (Current estimates suggest this number could be more than 10x higher! These numbers may not include prescription drug mistakes, wrong medications, dosage mistakes, or combination interactions)
• 55% of Americans take at least one prescription drug daily
• 83% of elderly (over age 65) take at least one prescription drug per day
• 75% of elderly take four prescription drugs daily
• 11% of elderly take five or more prescription drugs daily
• 1.6 million teenagers are prescribed at least two or more psychiatric drugs in combination with no safety studies to support combination prescriptions
• 300,000 children under age 10 are given two psychiatric drugs in combination
• Recent lawsuits on BIG PHARMA
o Merck settles $688 million suit due to delayed release of unfavorable study results for its cholesterol drug Vytorin.
o GSK pleads guilty ($3 Billion)to unlawful promotion of certain prescription drugs, failure to report safety data and false price reporting: Paxil, Wellbutrin, Avandia.
o Abbott Labs agreed to pay $1.5 Billion over allegations surrounding the promotion of their anti-seizure drug Depakote for uses not approved by FDA
o Merck only finned $321 million after their drug Vioxx killed nearly 60,000 people!

Chiropractic and the WELLNESS industry will soon be reaching the $5 billion mark. Can you see how BIG PHARMA has no interest in promoting health and wellness when their “sickness” and “crisis” care model is capable of generating hundreds of billions annually?

• Average chiropractors malpractice insurance = $700/year
• Average dentist malpractice insurance = $2,000/year
• Average surgeons malpractice insurance (Florida)= $100,000-$200,000/year
• Average OBGYN malpractice insurance (Florida) = $100,000-$200,000/year

Chiropractic care has virtually zero side effects if performed correctly and is generating a promising charge as people start becoming more educated on true health. True health comes from within (inside out) not from the outside (outside in). The human body is the world’s greatest drug factory providing the body with exactly what it needs to function and perform.

Of course!

This is a time when you definitely want to be seeing your Bend chiropractors! You will want to keep your body functioning at its peak during pregnancy. When a woman becomes pregnant, her body changes very rapidly, weight is being redistributed and hormones are relaxing the muscles and ligaments in the pelvis. These are the structural and functional changes occurring inside of mom while she is carrying her child. This is the perfect time to make sure the body is in alignment with no SUBLUXATIONS hiding in the spine. While pregnant, it is extremely important for mom to be healthy and well.

The Doctors at Pangea Chiropractic are specially trained to work with your body to make the birthing process as comfortable as possible for both mom and the baby. Chiropractic adjustments during pregnancy can help decrease stress, increase bodily function, decrease tension on the womb, allow proper positioning of the mother’s body, increase immune function and decrease general aches and pains commonly associated with pregnancy. If the nervous system controls everything in the body, doesn’t it make sense to make sure that everything is functioning properly in mom’s body to assure a healthy baby and a relaxed delivery?

Dr. Ashley of Pangea has special training working with pregnant mothers and will soon be completing her diplomat in OB/pediatrics.

Don’t forget to have the doctors at Pangea Chiropractic check your newborn baby soon after birth!

In most cases, if in a breach position, the baby may actually begin to adapt to this less than favorable position due to lack of room in the pelvis. If pelvic misalignments are present, the uterosacral ligaments may become tightened in order to stabilize the misalignment. This will ultimately lead to a torsion of the uterus leading to decreased room for the baby to move freely in the uterus. Once the pelvis is in proper position, subluxations removed, and the proper ligaments released, the baby is free to move about and assume proper positioning.

Children, although quite resilient, are equally affected by spinal subluxations. Just think for 1 minute how traumatic the birthing process actually is. An infant’s head squeezing through a very small passage way, not to mention the use of forceps and suction devices, can lead to central nervous system interferences in the upper neck. Interference in an infant’s vital force at birth may lead to life-long issues. The first several years of a child’s life are the most important developmental and growing stages of life. The doctors at Pangea cannot stress enough how extremely important it is to have your children checked early on to assure that their nervous systems are fully functioning during these critical years of development.

Remember that all forms of trauma can lead to subluxations in the spine. Think about all those crawls, falls and bumps as your child is learning to walk, run and ride a bicycle. By having your child checked for subluxations, you are preventing years of potential damage and Dis-Ease later on in life. A child that gets checked for subluxations and gets adjusted has better structure, function and quality of life. Bend chiropractors such as those at Pangea Chiropractic are trained to relieve pain that comes from the spine so you can improve your quality of life.