Welcome to Melbourne Chiropractic
Thank you for taking the time to visit our internet site.
The Melbourne Chiropractic Group has been formed from like minded Chiropractors who maintain that every patient has individual concerns and our number one role is to listen to you.
In practice, we strive for excellence through superior patient treatment, education, and satisfaction.
Our goal is to get you better as quickly and painlessly as possible. We understand that if you have never been to a Chiropractor before, you will have questions and concerns. We try and address those concerns so that what we do makes sense to you
SERVICES
About Us
What is Chiropractic?
Chiropractic is a safe and natural, hands on approach to healing and health.
It can be described as both a Science and a Philosophy. It is a Science as it is based on sound scientific principles and continuous research. It is a philosophy because we know that the human body can heal itself if the underlying problems are addressed. This is in contrast to masking symptoms with drugs or performing avoidable surgery.
Chiropractors specialise in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions which are due to mechanical dysfunction of all joints but mainly the spine and the effects on the nervous system. All of us, through our daily lives put stress on our spines. This stress can be PHYSICAL; like a back or neck injury, poor posture etc. CHEMICAL; poor diet, medicines, drugs etc, or EMOTIONAL; job stress, family stress etc. The body will react differently, from mild ache to being in severe pain. But almost always, the spine will "stiffen" in response. The Chiropractor will adjust the spine to restore it to it's natural state of structure function and movement. Once the spine begins to function better, tissues will heal better, the nervous system will return to normal and pain and discomfort should ease.
What's an adjustment?
An adjustment in basic terms refers to the pocedure in which the chiropractor gently and skillfully applies a controlled force from his or her hands to a specific joint in the patients spine. Adjustments for the most part should not hurt. Chiropractors train for years to perform these correctly on patients. There is an associated "pop" sound which is simply a gasseous reaction within the joint of the spine. What the chiropractor is doing is getting the joints of the spine to move correctly and restore the spine to as normal a state as possible.
Why Chiropractic??
If I have Pain....
Why Chiropractic??
The basic focus of Chiropractic practice is the relationship between structure and function in the neuromusculoskeletal system - that is, the interrelationship of the nervous system, joints, and muscles. This may be in relation to an acute injury such as back pain of the last few days or possibly an old problem like having a sore neck from working at the computer. This interrelationship is evaluated for dysfunction in joint movement, muscle imbalance, etc. Chiropractic treatment emphasizes joint manipulation, known as an 'adjustment', in which your doctor will use his or her hands to move a joint in your spine. An adjustment helps to free-up joints that are fixed or stuck from moving in a full range of motion. Chiropractic aims at getting all the joints in your spine moving together correctly. This aids in decreasing pain and nerve irritation, as well as decreasing inflammation and muscle tension. Most back pain is caused by mechanical problems. That is, some sort of disruption in the normal way the spine functions. Taking medication such as Panadol may numb the pain somewhat but it does not address the root cause of the problem. Chiropractic treatment is aimed at the cause of the problem, not just the symptoms. A good analogy would be a stone in your shoe. If you get a small stone in your shoe it can make walking very uncomfortable. What are your options? You could limp and try to avoid putting pressure on the stone. You could strap a thick piece of foam to your foot to act as a cushion. or, the most obvious choice would be to remove the stone! Essentially, that is what Chiropractic is all about. We try to find 'the little stone' that is bothering your spine and then we remove it.
Causes of Back Pain
Injury, the normal aging process, or early aging due to misuse, can cause certain spinal problems. Then the discs or bones press on the roots of the spinal nerves, causing symptoms such as pain, stiffness, tingling and numbness.
Using your body incorrectly overstresses the three natural curves and results in an unbalanced spine. Too much flexion, (forward bending), or extension (backward arching) puts extra pressure on the spine. As a result, the vertebrae and discs wear out (degenerate) faster than normal, leading to bulging or ruptured discs, arthritis and instability.
Mechanical pain is often called back strain, because is linked with the movement of the spine. This type of pain occurs when injury to the spine's discs, facet joints, ligaments or muscles results in inflammation. These conditions include fractures of the vertebra, muscle strains in the paraspinal muscles, ligament injures in the spine and wear and tear of the spine's joints and discs.
Compressive pain is a result of pressure or irritation on the spinal cord or nerves that leave the spine. Usually, this pressure or irritation causes pain, numbness and muscle weakness where the nerve travels. It can be helpful to understand which part of the spine is causing your back pain and whether the pain is from a compressive or mechanical type problem.
Osteoarthritis is caused by a permanent breakdown of the cartilage inside the affected joint. Cartilage is the material inside the joint that cushions the bones of the joints from impact and allows smooth, gliding motions. Because damaged cartilage cannot repair itself, it begins to fray, making it less flexible and more prone to injury. Over time, the cartilage can wear away completely, causing the bony surfaces of the joint to rub directly against one another. Eventually, the joint becomes worn away, and bone spurs develop around the joint. Sometimes the facet joints are the main cause of back pain. Pressure overload on the facet joints is probably caused by degeneration of the intervertebral disc. As the discs degenerate, they wear down and begin to collapse. This narrows the space between each pair of vertebrae and affects the way the facet joints line up. When this occurs, it places too much pressure on the articular cartilage surface of the facet joint. The excessive pressure leads to damage of the articular surface, and eventually the cartilage begins to wear away. When facet joint arthritis gets bad enough, the cartilage and fluid that lubricate the facet joints are eventually destroyed as well, leaving bone rubbing on bone.
Radiculopathy is the medical term used to describe a "pinched nerve" in the spine when a nerve is irritated by something that is either rubbing on the nerve or pressing on the nerve. In some cases, such as a herniated (or ruptured) disc, there may also be a chemical reaction irritating the nerve. Chemicals released from the inside of the disc seem to irritate nerve tissue, causing pain and inflammation of the nerve. There may be numbness in the area where the nerve usually provides sensation, or feeling. The key to understanding a radiculopathy is understanding that your brain cannot tell where the problem really is. While the irritation or pressure on the nerve may be in your back, your brain thinks the pain is coming from your foot. In addition, the muscles that the nerve usually controls may not work right. You may have weakness in the muscles, and the reflexes controlled by the muscles will not work.
Sciatica refers to the pain that travels from the sciatic nerve in the lumbar region into your buttocks, back of the thighs and sometimes calf and foot. The pain is typically caused by irritation of the nerve roots that join outside the spine to make up the sciatic nerve. Conditions that can cause sciatica are herniated discs, bone spurs, cancerous tumors that are growing into the nerves and fractures that put pressure on the nerves.
Spinal stenosis is a term commonly used to describe a narrowing of a portion of the spinal canal and is most common in the cervical and lumbar spine. Although there is some space between the spinal cord and the edges of the spinal canal, this space can be reduced by many conditions. If anything begins to narrow the spinal canal, the risk of irritation and injury of the spinal cord or nerves increases. Spinal stenosis usually occurs in older people after years of wear and tear or degeneration of the spine. This wear and tear results in changes in the structures around the spinal canal, such as thickening of the large ligaments that connect the vertebrae together, bone spurs around the facet joints and disc space, and bulging of the discs themselves. The lack of space can also cause the supply of blood and oxygen to the spinal cord to be reduced. When the spine needs more blood flow during increased activity, the blood vessels may not be able to swell to get more blood to the spine. This can lead to numbness and pain in the affected nerves. The nerves also lose some of their mobility when the space available to them is reduced. Other symptoms of spinal stenosis include a sensation of heaviness, weakness and pain when walking or standing for a long period. With rest, these symptoms often disappear.
Discogenic pain is a term back specialists use when referring to pain caused by a damaged intervertebral disc. As the disc begins to degenerate, movements that place stress on the disc can result in back pain that appears to come from the disc. It may also feel like the pain is coming from your buttock areas and even down into the upper thighs. The experience of feeling pain in an area away from the real spot causing the pain is common in many areas of the body, not just the spine.
A herniated disc occurs when the intervertebral disc's outer fibers (the annulus) are damaged and the soft inner material of the nucleus pulposus ruptures out of its normal space. If the annulus tears near the spinal canal, the nucleus pulposus material can push into the spinal canal. This can cause too much pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots and cause pain, weakness and/or numbness in the area of the body to which the nerve travels. For this reason, a herniated disc usually causes pain of the compressive type. Sometimes a herniated disc is referred to as "slipped disc," though the disc does not actually slip. In most cases, a herniated disc can be treated without surgery.
Spinal instability (spondylolisthesis) occurs when the disc degenerates and flattens, allowing the vertebrae to slip back and forth and eventually allow a crack to develop. This motion irritates facet joints and nerves and creates or worsens stenosis.
Myofacial pain refers to muscle pain that occurs when muscles become stretched and inflamed.
HEADACHES/MIGRAINE
HEADACHES
If you suffer from headaches, a chiropractic spinal checkup is one of the best things you can do. Chiropractic's safe, gentle, drugless methods have helped millions of headache sufferers over the years. Yet chiropractic does not claim to be a headache treatment and cure-it has a different approach to health care. Doctors of chiropractic free your body from the vertebral subluxation complex, or VSC, that has the power to destroy your health. It affects millions of us-it is a hidden epidemic. When freed of subluxations your body works more efficiently to use its natural energies to heal itself. How is this accomplished? Read on.
Tension Headaches
Many things can cause a headache: strong smells; intense lights; sinus trouble; high blood pressure; dental problems; ear, eye, or vision conditions; fevers; infections; tumors; seizures; lumbar punctures; alcoholic drinks; drugs; accidents and other causes.You can get a headache just worrying about all the things that cause them. and that lead us to the most common headache of them all; the muscle tension, worry, or "stress" headache that makes up 90% of all headaches.
What Puts The Ache In Headache?
The ache in headache does not come from the brain.It's true! Your brain can feel no sensation. Even during brain surgery the patient is often wide awake feeling no pain, even talking to the doctors while his/her brain is being tampered with (a local anesthetic numbs the scalp). What puts the "ache" in your headache? Veins and arteries inside the brain and skull, membranes that wraps around the brain and certain nerves in the head called the cranial nerves. When these are pulled, stretched, compressed, irritated, inflamed or infected, headaches often result.
Treatment
Headache treatment depends on what caused it. A Headache arising from visual problems can often be cured by eyeglasses. An infection headache of the sinuses or ears is relieved when the infection subsides. But the most common headaches are usually treated with painkillers. The hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on everything from aspirin and Tylenol to prescription drugs may see provide blessed relief, but please remember-the pain may be gone but the cause of the headache is not corrected. That's why we may see millions of people swallowing pills for years, possibly suffering from the side effects of long-term medication-and not getting any better, only temporarily feeling better. Surely, that's not a healthy way to live.
The Chiropractic Approach
Millions of headache sufferers are turning to the natural, drugless chiropractic approach to health. Chiropractors are the only healing professionals who are trained to analyze and correct the vertebral subluxation complex-a spinal distortion that can damage your nerves, inflame your tissues, cause muscles to tighten and knot, weaken your body, cause fatigue and set the stage for sickness and disease. It is truly a hidden epidemic.
Meet the Chiropractors
Dr Paul Carless B.Sc.(H.Kin), B.Sc.(H.Bio), D.C.
Dr Carless left his native Toronto to study Chiropractic in Chicago at the National College of Chiropractic, graduating in 1996. Dr Carless then came to Australia and after a brief sojourn in Sydney decided to settle in Melbourne and beginning the practices in Camberwell and Brunswick. Since that time, he has built his practice upon a reputation of excellence with integrity, skill and care. Dr Carless employs a combination of soft tissue techniques with manual adjustments (Gonstead and Diversified). He is Committed to providing quality, patient focussed care.
Dr. Travers Price
Dr Travers Price. BAppSci (Human Biology) BAppSci (Clin Sci) B Chiro Sci
After finishing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Human Biology in 2000, Dr Price undertook a double degree in Applied Science Chiropractic Science and Clinical Science at RMIT. Upon graduating in 2005 he spent three years traveling around Europe, while practicing in Dublin, Ireland. Travers is now practicing in both Camberwell and Docklands Clinics.
Dr Sebastien De Potter
Dr De Potter has been part of the Melbourne Chiropractic Group Since Feb. 04.
After graduating from the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic in England, he came to Australia and practiced in North Caufield before joining the Brunswick and Prahran Clinics.
Dr Sarah Harper B.App.Sc (Clin. Sc), B.Chiro.Sc. , MHA
Dr Sarah Harper completed the 5 year Chiropractic degree at RMIT in 1998 and has worked in a variety of practices around Australia. She joined Camberwell Chiropractic Clinic in 2005 having previously worked as a locum at Camberwell.
Myotherapy
Myotherapy is a unique style of deep muscle therapy. Myotherapy is a combination of diagnostics, treatment and pain management of health disorders and conditions that cause pain and dibilitation of the musculoskeletal system.
Myotherapy is effective for several musculoskeletal disorders such as tendonitis, sciatica, back and neck pain, headaches, injuries caused by trauma, and much more. Myotherapy is also an excellent pain management system that helps targeted health problems like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and even scoliosis.
Myotherapy is beneficial in that a myotherapist can identify the roots of muscular pain that may affect range of motion. By discovering the source of problematic pain, myotherapy can provide prolonged relief from pain. Additionally, myotherapy can increase movement and flexibility, improve strength and functioning, is non-invasive, cost-effective and is totally natural.
Myotherapy treatment includes massage and soft-tissue mobilization techniques, trigger point management, thermal therapies, myofacial acupuncture, electrical muscle stimulation, muscle stretching, exercise regimens, and finally, pain management of chronic health problems.
QUALIFICATION DETAILS
Chiropractic, Corporate Massage, Deep Tissue Massage, Herbalists, Iridologists, Kinesiology, Lymphatic Drainage, Mobile Service Massage, Myofascial Release Therapy, Myotherapy, Naturopaths, Nutrition, Pregnancy Massage, Remedial Massage, Remedial Therapies, Shiatsu, Sports Massage, Swedish Relaxation Massage, Trigger Point Therapy
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