FAQs at Canberra Spine Centre

There is often fear for people who have never experienced a chiropractic adjustment. ‘Is it going to hurt?’ is one of the most common questions. Mostly, chiropractic adjustments do not hurt. Often there is temporary discomfort, such as you would experience in doing a movement or stretch that your body has not done in a while or is not familiar with. This is normal and natural and passes quickly. Most of our chiropractic patients find the adjustment feels good straight away, with a sense of ease, relaxation and a drop in tension.
Various gentle methods are available to suit individual needs, ensuring comfort and success in improving spine and nervous system function.

While chiropractic care is based on improving the function of your spine and nervous system, we recognise that other areas of the body are important, too.

When your hip, knee, shoulder, ankle or other (extremity) joints aren’t working properly, this impacts your overall function. Your chiropractor is trained in diagnosis and management of conditions of the limbs and spine and will look at you as a ‘whole person’, not just a spine!

This was a description commonly used by chiropractors 50 years ago, but the science and understanding of what happens with spinal manipulation has moved on since then.

Perhaps the best way of thinking of misaligned vertebrae (chiropractors call these ‘subluxations’) is that they are not moving properly through their full range of motion.

The bones and the muscles moving them have fallen into a particular pattern – they move better in some directions than others. Chiropractic adjustments help to restore proper motion to the spine, thus restoring the normal pattern of movement.

Chiropractic adjustments reduce nerve interference, enhancing communication between the brain and body. Such improvements can alleviate issues like muscle weakness, joint instability and sensory changes like numbness. Additionally, these adjustments help regulate internal organs, potentially boosting energy, digestion and bowel function, sleep and mood. Essentially, spinal adjustments target local issues and benefit systemic health by optimising nervous system health.

We’d love to say ‘yes’, but while we endeavour to help everyone, there is a small proportion of people we cannot help. These people we refer to other practitioners, where a different approach may help.

Absolutely! Chiropractic, along with a selection of other health professions in Australia, is regulated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

There are strict requirements to practice as a chiropractor, among them, education. Generally, in Australia you need to study for 5 years (usually a double degree or Masters level qualification) at University to become a chiropractor.

Chiropractic is part of the Allied Health group of professions regulated by AHPRA (see above) and is covered by health insurers in the same way as any other health profession.

Your level of cover will dictate how much you are covered for chiropractic. If you are covered for things like dentistry and physiotherapy, you’ll most likely be covered for chiropractic too.

If your private health insurer covers chiropractic care, then any care you receive from the chiropractors at Canberra Spine Centre will be covered. Our staff can assist you with specific insurance queries, and we offer on-site claim processing with HICAPS.

Traditionally, this is the case, but more and more, these two professions are seeing the benefit of working together for the benefit of their patients.

Lack of understanding
Often in any section of society, the basis for not getting along is lack of understanding and poor communication. It’s no different in science and health care! Unfortunately, just like the rest of society, people in science and health can, at times, be reluctant to take on new ideas.

Different professions – different focus
Medicine and chiropractic do have a different focus on how to help their patients. Medicine’s expertise lies in helping people when things have gone really wrong and no-one else can help.

Think cancer, car accidents, broken bones, severe illness, etc. Medicine is the go-to profession for these types of problems. Chiropractic has a different focus.

Our job is to restore proper motion and function to the spine and nervous system so that the body can stop breaking down and heal itself.

Each profession has its place. They are both valid and necessary approaches in our health care system. At Canberra Spine Centre, we respect your right as a patient to see any type of practitioner. We’ll keep open the lines of communication and work in with what you need.

Treatment, examination, choice
This is a common misconception, but it’s all about choice. At Canberra Spine Centre, we take each of our patients through a trial series of adjustments followed by re-examination.

We present our findings (what’s changed, what your current state is) and give our professional recommendation for what is best for each patient. Any further care from that point is your choice.

Stay feeling great
Once our patients have reached a point where they are feeling great and functioning well, many of them choose to continue to see their chiropractor for maintenance of their spine and nervous system.

For them, it’s a way to stay feeling good and to prevent accumulation of stress and damage, like something between regular personal training and a regular dental check-up.

Not for you? No worries!
Many of our patients also decide that this is not for them. That’s OK. Our job is to give you all the information you need to make an informed decision and then stand back and respect your choice.