Most people who walk into our office don’t actually know what chiropractic is. They know it involves spines, and they know it sometimes makes a popping sound, but the underlying philosophy is rarely explained.
That’s the part this post is about. Because the goal of chiropractic care isn’t to get you to believe in it. It’s to help you understand it.
The Core Premise
Your nerve system controls and coordinates everything your body does. The two main parts are the central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system: the network of nerves branching out to every muscle, organ, and tissue.
Nerve System: The body’s communication center. All information from outside the body and from inside the body passes through this system. The two main parts are the central and peripheral nerve systems.
Nerves: The extensions which branch off the brain and spinal cord and carry information to all parts of the body.
Spinal Cord: The extension of the brain. Coming off the spinal cord are 31 pairs of spinal nerves that communicate with the body as a whole. The spinal cord is protected by the spinal column.
The kind of chiropractic we practice here is what the profession calls principled chiropractic. It rests on three things: the science of how the spine and nervous system work together, the philosophy that the body is designed to adapt and heal, and the art of the adjustment itself.
The spinal column protects the spinal cord. The bones of the spine, your vertebrae, surround it and allow movement. There are 24 movable vertebrae plus the sacrum at the base of the spine.
Spinal Column: The bones of the back. The spinal column protects the spinal cord and allows for movement of the body in various ranges of motion. There are 24 movable bones (also known as vertebrae), plus a sacrum and a coccyx at the bottom.
Vertebrae: The individual bones of the spinal column. There are three areas of vertebrae: cervical, thoracic, and lumbar.
Sacrum: The triangular bone at the base of the spine.
Vertebrae are organized into three regions: cervical (the neck, usually seven bones, with the atlas at the very top), thoracic (mid-back), and lumbar (lower back).
Cervical: The vertebrae of the neck, usually seven bones.
Thoracic: The part of the spinal column from the base of the neck to about six inches above the waistline.
Lumbar: The vertebrae of the lower back, usually five bones.
Atlas: The uppermost and most freely movable bone of the spine.
When segments of your spine stop moving the way they should, signals between your brain and body can be disrupted. That’s the problem we work on. The care we provide is built around restoring proper motion to those segments so your nervous system can do its job.
For more on this, see the connection between your spine and nervous system or what a subluxation actually is.
Where This Comes From
The idea that the spine plays a central role in health isn’t new. Hippocrates was writing about spinal manipulation in the 4th century BC.
Chiropractic as a defined profession is younger than that. It dates to 1895. The man who founded it, D.D. Palmer, was born in Port Perry, Ontario, a few hours south of where this clinic sits today.
Palmer’s early framing of why the adjustment worked was a product of his time. He talked about misaligned vertebrae and pinched nerves. We know now that the mechanism is more complex, and more interesting, than that, and the language has moved on. But the basic insight he started from, that the spine and the nervous system are connected, and that how the spine moves affects how the nervous system functions, has held up.
His son, B.J. Palmer, ran the first chiropractic college and was one of the earliest health practitioners anywhere to bring X-ray imaging into clinical practice. That was 1910. Imaging has been part of chiropractic from the beginning.
What’s changed most in the last thirty years is the research. Modern neuroscience now lets us study, in detail, what happens in the brain when an adjustment is delivered to a dysfunctional segment of the spine.
Researchers like Heidi Haavik, a chiropractor with a PhD in neurophysiology, have published work showing measurable changes in how the brain processes information after an adjustment, and showing that those changes depend on the adjustment being delivered at the right segment, not just any segment.
That’s the chiropractic this office practices. Not the version from 1895. The version refined by 130 years of clinical experience and the last thirty years of neuroscience.
What a Chiropractor Does
A Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) is trained to find and correct restrictions in spinal motion. When you come in to see us, the process starts with a case history: your background, any past surgeries or accidents, and what brought you here.
What we don’t do is also worth saying out loud. We aren’t a multidisciplinary clinic. We aren’t a rehab clinic. The work here is the adjustment, supported by examination and follow-up. When physiotherapy, massage, or medical care is the right call, we’ll tell you and we’ll refer you to the right people.
From there, we perform a thorough orthopedic, neurological, and chiropractic examination. We may take X-rays to clarify the structural picture when indicated.
Once your exam is complete, I review the findings with you and outline a plan of care. We track progress over time with periodic re-examinations.
The actual care happens through chiropractic adjustments: specific forces applied to specific spinal joints, designed to restore proper motion and reduce nervous system interference.
For more on the adjustment itself, see what a chiropractic adjustment is.
How Chiropractors Are Trained
A Doctor of Chiropractic completes 3 years of undergraduate prerequisites followed by a 4-year graduate program: about 7 years of post-secondary education in total. Each candidate must then pass federal and provincial board examinations to be licensed.
The chiropractic curriculum runs over 4,500 classroom hours across anatomy, physiology, pathology, neurology, biomechanics, radiology, and adjusting techniques. To put that in context:
| Subject | Chiropractic Hours | Medical School Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Anatomy | 540 | 508 |
| Physiology | 240 | 326 |
| Pathology | 360 | 401 |
| Diagnosis | 630 | 324 |
| Neurology | 320 | 112 |
| Radiology / X-ray | 360 | 148 |
| Orthopedics | 210 | 156 |
| Total classroom hours | 4,485 | 4,248 |
Continuing education is part of the work. I take technique seminars and stay current with the research throughout the year, and most chiropractors do the same.
A Different Definition of Health
Chiropractic care is well known for helping with back, neck, and extremity discomfort. But the focus isn’t on managing those symptoms in isolation. It’s on supporting how well the spine and nervous system function together.
The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Health: A state of optimal physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.
That’s the standard chiropractic care is built around. The goal isn’t to be symptom-free. It’s to function well: to move freely, sleep deeply, adapt to stress, and live without unnecessary limitations on the things you care about.
That’s why many of our long-term patients started care for one specific concern and stayed long after. They didn’t continue because something was still wrong. They continued because they understood what staying ahead of dysfunction gives them. That’s what we want for you, too.
If you’d like to talk through whether chiropractic care fits your situation, the new patient exam is where that conversation starts. Book your exam.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a chiropractor actually do?
A chiropractor identifies restrictions in spinal motion and corrects them through chiropractic adjustments: specific forces applied to specific spinal joints. The goal is to restore proper movement so the nervous system can communicate without interference. Care is preceded by a thorough history and physical examination.
How much training does a chiropractor have?
A Doctor of Chiropractic completes about 7 years of post-secondary education: 3 years of undergraduate prerequisites and 4 years of graduate school, totaling over 4,500 classroom hours. Licensing requires passing federal and provincial board examinations. Most chiropractors continue their education throughout their careers.
Is chiropractic only for back pain?
No. While many people first come to chiropractic for back, neck, or extremity discomfort, the underlying focus is on spinal and nervous system function, which supports overall mobility, adaptability, and wellbeing. Many long-term patients continue care for general function and prevention rather than to address a specific symptom.
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