Chiropractic Care Services in Kennewick, WA

Chiropractic is a way of looking at the human body as a whole. It’s based on the idea that the body is self-sustaining and self-healing.

You know that your brain controls your body, but the spinal cord and vast network of nerves that carry its messages are just as important. When this system is not functioning at its peak, your body’s overall performance suffers.

In the chiropractic world, we don’t use drugs to treat our patients. While supplementation and nutrition are almost always a part of the bigger picture, drugs and prescriptions can be viewed as band¬aids to treat symptoms rather than the problem’s source. Chiropractic treats the problem naturally and, in turn, prompts the body to heal itself.

About Our Practice

Dr. Scott Akridge has been a proud Tri-City resident since 1968. Dr. Akridge is a second-generation Chiropractor, following his father in practice, after graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1980. Dr. Akridge’s passion and focus in practice is the desire to bring state-of-the-art holistic care to all his patients with a primary focus on Diabetes and Peripheral Neuropathy.

Top Reasons To Visit A Chiropractor In Kennewick

Treating The Cause

The essence of chiropractic care is that treatment focuses on the root cause of the problem, not just the symptoms.

Compared to prescribed medications in a recent study, it was found that 56% of patients who saw a doctor saw a 30% reduction in low back pain after four weeks. But 94% of patients who underwent Chiropractic treatment saw a 30% reduction in low back pain after four weeks.

Improve Sleep With Chiropractic Care In Kennewick

A National Sleep Foundation poll found that 60% of American adults experience sleep problems at some time. In fact, according to the APTA Move Forward survey, 37% of adults said that lower back pain affects their sleep, with over half stating that they suffer from poor sleep quality.

Chiropractic treatment and the manipulation therapies used are believed to help to improve blood flow in patients, which is essential for great sleep.

tri cities pain relief Chiropractors also focus on correcting misalignments or subluxations in the spine. These subluxations lead to a stress response that puts the body out of balance and does not rest.

A well-trained chiropractor will adjust these subluxations with safe and careful techniques to get your body to function normally.

Chronic Pain Relief in Kennewick

In the first session with a patient with chronic pain, a chiropractor will aim to get to the root of the problem, work out where inflammation and muscle tension may occur and build an effective treatment plan.

It is this approach that causes so many to turn to a chiropractor for help with chronic pain. For those with long-term conditions, studies have shown that chiropractic care is more effective in treating pain intensity than pain clinics, which only focus on the pain symptoms.

A chiropractor may also employ complementary procedures such as laser therapy and other techniques to complement their spinal adjustment treatment.

Boost Your Immune System

Evidence supports the theory that chiropractic treatment can boost the immune system, as the nervous system and immune system are so interlinked. It’s often believed if you tweak one, then you squeeze the other!

It’s not a new concept either, as it’s believed that chiropractic treatment was used during the Influenza Epidemic in 1912.

A series of studies published by the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics showed that several immune system cells showed increased biological activity after a chiropractic adjustment.

Avoid Medication

Many people choose to see a chiropractor in Kennewick as an alternative to taking pain relief medication and the inevitable side effects.

Instead of treating the symptoms like pain relief medication does, a chiropractor aims to get to the root of the problem, to help you better manage your condition, put together a treatment plan to help you get back on track.

A study by Annals of Internal Medicine to find the best option for treating neck pain found that after following 272 neck pain patients for 12 weeks, those who used a chiropractor or exercise were more than twice as likely to be pain-free compared to those who took medication.

These are just some of the reasons people come to visit Dr. Akridge. The reasons are endless. Please read our FAQ section below. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by email or phone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does spinal manipulation work?

There are well over 100 types of adjustment techniques used by chiropractors throughout the world. Some practitioners may use force and twisting, while other techniques are more gentle. Regardless of how they are performed, these techniques are intended to restore or enhance joint function with the objectives of reducing pain and resolving joint inflammation.

When vertebrae shift out of place, there is an overall systemic response from the muscular system to the central nervous system. Without proper alignment and flow, our nerves, our immune system, and our minds cannot function at their highest peak.

Overall, spinal adjustments and manipulations are an excellent way to keep the body functioning at its highest level without any discomfort. When the body is adequately aligned, it becomes able to respond and perform as it was built to do.

Is chiropractic effective?

Chiropractic helps to remove postural imbalances and structural misalignments that can accumulate in our bodies over time. Chiropractic works by restoring your own inborn ability to be healthy. For your body to remain healthy, your nervous system must function well. For your nervous system to function well it must be free of interference. By restoring spinal function with Chiropractic adjustments, nerve interference by misaligned vertebrae is removed, thus allowing optimal nervous system function and improved health.

Why should I see a Chiropractor?

Seeing a chiropractor is not only for back pain and neck pain. Chiropractic care is an excellent way to keep your body at its peak performance through nutrition, adjustment and overall wellness. In addition, chiropractic care has been known to help a wide range of conditions from fibromyalgia to diabetes.

What is subluxation?

When a vertebrae becomes misaligned or moves out of its normal position, this is referred to in the chiropractic profession as a subluxation. Subluxations can be caused by a wide range of issues ranging from a minor slip or bump to a car accident or any sudden trauma. When a vertebrae is subluxated, it begins to put pressure on nerves, blood vessels and everything around it. This pressure comes with a price. The subluxation interrupts the natural pathways that the messages sent from the brain need to be clear in order to be completed properly.

How does chiropractic care work?

Chiropractic is an overall way of looking at the human body. It’s based on the idea that the body is self-sustaining and self-healing. The body is in essence completely controlled by the brain through its connection via the spinal cord and the vast networks of nerves that make up the body. When this system is not functioning at its peak, the overall performance of the human body is lacking.

In the chiropractic world, drugs and medicine are not utilized as a form of treating a patient. While supplementation and nutrition are almost always a part of the bigger picture, drugs and prescriptions can be viewed as band-aids to treat symptoms rather than going to the source and treating the real problem.

While it’s often perceived that the chiropractor is solely here to treat back and neck pain, this is simply a small piece of what the profession really is capable of handling. Chiropractors not only treat soft and hard tissue problems such as sciatica and joint pain, but are largely called on to deal with more significant issues. Some of these issues include fibromyalgia, allergies, insomnia, headaches and many more.

What can I expect from my chiropractic visit?

Going to the Chiropractor is a new experience for many of us. Maybe we’ve heard through a friend or have done some research online. It’s possible that you are just fed up with living in pain and it’s time to do something about it. In either case, your first visit to the chiropractor will really be about getting to know the chiropractor and discussing your history, current condition and goals.

What is a chiropractic adjustment? Is it safe?

Adjustments, or manipulation as they’re sometimes referred to is the minor movement of vertebrae in the spine. The objective of this movement is to realign vertebrae that have moved out of place for a number of reasons ranging from normal daily activity to trauma such as a car accident.

When these vertebrae are out of place, it has an overall systemic effect from muscular to the central nervous system. Without proper alignment and flow of all nerves and systems in the body from the brain, we can’t function at our peak.

An adjustment is often a pressure from the chiropractor utilizing the hands or an instrument to move a vertebrae back into place. This happens with a quick movement and is often without discomfort. You may hear a noise that sounds like you’re cracking your knuckles referred to as joint cavitation. It is the release of gases such as oxygen and nitrogen from the joint.

What results can I expect from treatment?

Chiropractic is based on the idea of removing imbalances both structural and postural in an effort to allow our body to heal itself. For this to happen the network of nerves and signals from your brain, down your spinal cord, to the network of nerves must be allowed to flow freely without any interruption. Chiropractors have the ability and skill to remove these interruptions or misalignments and allow the body to perform as it was meant to.

If you’ve ever been in a car accident, played a sport, fell down or just bumped into something too hard, it’s very possible that you are not functioning at your best due to a misalignment. While there are many potential mechanical or structural causes for misalignment, there are also chemical reasons. For instance, if you smoke or drink excessively or even just have a poor diet, the chemical issues in your body can eventually cause underlying conditions and disease to appear.

Allowing a chiropractor to get you back on track both chemically and structurally will bring your body back to the proper state it should be in to perform at its peak.