Perry Philemon Little, Jr.

I am a Doctor of Chiropractic, and I, myself, have to see other doctors of Chiropractic in order to have myself adjusted. Even where extremity adjusting is concerned (which is what adjusting wrists would be considered) not all Chiropractors do that. You would probably need to look for a Chiropractor with either the letters C.C.E.P. (Certified Chiropractic Extremity Practitioner) [which is what I am] or C.C.S.P. (Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician) to be certain that you are going to the correct Doctor of Chiropractic.

You more than likely have a pinched nerve in your neck! Either your neck has been traumatized in some event like a car accident, slip and fall, playing around too rough ... or you have experienced micro-traumas the form of: improper sleeping positions, improper lifting techniques, etc. There is a high concentration of nerves where your neck and shoulders come together called the Brachial Plexus. These nerves control all of your arm and hand movements. When one or more of the vertebra in your neck become misaligned (in one or more of the ways that described above) the joint area will become inflammed (which is what makes it so tender to touch ... and you may also be able to see that the area is swollen). Secondly the muscles in that area begin "muscle guarding" = going into spasm. Each of these is the natural bodily reaction to the underlying joint misalignment (which can be visualized on x-ray) ... the actual pinching of the nerve can be visualized on MRI. Doctors of Chiropractic are trained to effectively treat pinched nerves which are caused by joint misalignment, with drugs and/or surgery!

Oftentimes, you may not know! Most people will need an adjustment (of some sort) at least once a month. Only because most people don't live in a bubble ... meaning you may sleep in a bad position, lift something in the wrong way, play too rough, etc. And sometimes by the time that misalignment shows up as a persistent pain (all day/every day), it has caused the body to attempt to repair it on its own via inflammation and muscle spasm, which, if left untreated, can lead to osteoarthritic changes in the affected joint(s)! Think of it like having a cavity in a tooth ... you may not realize that you have one (without seeing a dentist), and by the time you do begin experiencing pain, the problem has been there for a long time!

Usually, most people do not "normally" have a leg length discrepancy that is detectable by the human eye, unless they have experienced a broken leg at some point in their life. With that being said, when one leg does show up significantly shorter than the other ... it is really an indication of which side of the body has the greater amount of muscles in spasm (which is one of the body's first responses to an underlying joint misalignment)! Think of it like moving the legs on a puppet ... in order to lift one leg or the other on a puppet, you have to "draw up" the string which is attached to the leg that you are trying to raise. Therefore, the muscles on the affected side, have gone into spasm, or have "drawn up"! It really is just a quick way to see which side is (more than likely) the more affected side!

The medicine "Muscle Relaxer" is actually misnamed! It is actually a tranquilizer, which will make you sleep, but does not actually relax your muscle(s)! One of the best ways to relax a muscle that is in spasm is electrical muscle stimulation in combination with ice (20 minutes on, 40 minutes off).

It is called an Activator. Some chiropractors use it as their primary form of making an adjustment ... I personally only use it for smaller joints, like wrists, feet, and sometimes cervical/neck adjustments!

More than likely you may have flat feet (Pes Planus)... fallen arches ... also known as: Hyperpronation! The remedy will, more than likely be: custom made Orthotics!

All Chiropractors are not created equal, but usually "Yes"!

30 seconds to a minute

Pretty simple actually ... it will be stiff and painful to make "normal" wrist movements!

24 hours minimum

Asking that question makes no more sense than asking a dentist how you can fill your own tooth. It takes analysis to determine how and in which direction the problem is. There is no "one way" to adjust a knee!

There are many adjusting techniques within the world of chiropractics. There is one called "motion palpation," which is where the individual joints (in this case, in the ankle) would be palpated (i.e., checked) for "normal" joint motion. Those joints which are fixated (stuck, not moving as they should) would be adjusted (freed up, so that "normal" motion, or at least better motion) is achieved. Also, joints which have become hypermobile (move too much) should be taped to immobilize that/those joint(s), to allow those joint(s) to stabilize.

If you are experiencing shoulder pain(s) that do not subside within a 4 to 7 day period, and especially if accompanied by loss of function and/or loss of "normal" range of accompanied by severe pain ... then you should definitely look into having a professional assess those issues, for guidance towards a remedy. Like most health issues ... early detection and early correction is always the preferred course of action!

It all depends upon what the "cause" of the "uneven hips" is! If you have broken one of your legs during your developmental years, and you ended up with a leg length discrepensy, then that type of "uneven hips" can usually be rectified with a heel lift in one of your shoes. If they are "uneven" because one or both of your sacroiliac joints has become "stuck" out of place, then that can usually be rectified by Chiropractic joint manipulation to one or both affected sides to free the affected side to allow for proper joint motion. Also, the uneven hips could be the result of the body's underlying response to a chronic lumbar joint misalignment, whereby the body initially responds with a: localized inflammatory response, and secondly with muscle spasms. It is those muscle spasms that will draw one side of the lower back higher than the other. Therefore, in addition to joint manipulation, the affected muscle (in spasm) needs to be addressed [either with massage and/or Physiological Therapeutics in the the form of: Electrical muscle stimulation. That is the long way to say YES to answer this question.

First of all, we need to establish what you mean by "hips"! Your "true" hips are on the lateral/outside of your lower back area (not on your "backside"! If you are pointing to the left and/or right of your sacrum (AKA "tailbone") then those are your sacroiliac joint(s). And pain(s) originating from there and continuing down (especially the rear of your leg) Usually signifies a "pinching" or pressure on one or more of the lower lumbar spinal nerve roots, that contribute (come together) to form the sciatic nerve. The Sciatic nerve is the longest and thickest nerve in the body, and originates from spinal nerve roots L4, L5 as well as multiple contribution from the cauda equina (multiple hair-like nerves) off of the sacrum. The sciatic nerve runs the full length of the leg to the sole of the foot, therefore pressure on these nerve roots (due to spinal joint mis-alignment can cause a numbing/tingling /electrical pain that some feel in the buttocks down, some feel it from the foot up, some feel a dull ache behind the knee, and/or some feel all three. Each manifestation is still referred to as Sciatica!

Usually, the more "cracks", signifies: instability. Anybody can make a bone (or bones) move, however, Making the correct bone move in the correct direction, is the job of a competent Doctor of Chiropractic. And, once stabilized, you will feel much less of a want and/or need to try to "pop" your own back!

My father was a Dentist. Asking "if you should see a Chiropractor for neck pain...posing that question to me (a Chiropractor) is like asking: "should I see a Dentist for tooth pain! There is no other profession that does what Chiropractors do (joint re-alignment) just as there is no other profession that does what Dentists do (ie an Orthodontist would re-align your teeth)! So to make a long answer a little shorter, the answer is YES! Disclaimer: There are about 20 different Chiropractic "techniques" therefore "all Chiropractors are Not created equal"!

It has less to do with your age, and more to do with "the age of your problem". As with all health issues; early detection and early correction, is always the way that you want to go. To answer your question; short of having some sort of complicating factor such as: osteoporosis, bone cyst(s), boney fusions, ect...(which is why it is important to have x-rays taken prior to being adjusted) it is possible to be adjusted up to once per day. Once, daily, not more than once per day.

Oftentimes, people injure themselves unknowingly. Through improper sleeping positions, lifting improperly, playing too roughly, ect. Joints can become misaligned through any of these types of activities. Once misaligned, pain is not always noticed immediately. However, early detection, and early correction, is always the way to go, the longer any problem goes undetected, the bigger and worse the problem becomes. The first bodily response to joint misalignment is: inflammation. Inflammation causes the injured joint to become tender to touch. so you might turn a certain way, or someone might touch a spot on your back that might be very tender, that you probably never noticed until they touched you, but because the pain did not persist, you did not believe that that was anything to be concerned about, when that was your body's way of letting you know that there was something going on there, but you ignored it. The longer that joints are allowed to remain misaligned, the more likely those joints are likely to begin the degeneration process, which is called: osteoarthritis. You do not automatically get osteoarthritis by getting older, osteoarthritis is the indication of how old the joint problem is. X-rays show weather there is osteoarthritis setting up in joints or not, as well as revealing the alignment or misalignment of joints.