What is a subluxation?

Subluxation is one of those elusive words that not many people quite understand. And it's not surprising when we are given so many complicated and confusing definitions (see bottom of post for some examples).

So what exactly is going on when your body has a subluxation? Well, to put it simply, the nerves in your body are experiencing interference. That interference can affect how your body functions and your overall health. Because your Nervous System is connected to every aspect of your mind and body, when it is not working properly (due to interference), your body cannot function at its highest level.

Subluxations can be caused by physical, emotional, and chemical stressors, among other things. And the interference they create cannot always be physically felt. That is why pain is not a good gauge of a subluxation - our sensory nerves (those that relay pain) make up only a smaller part (roughly 10%) of the overall Nervous System. That's why it is so important to get regularly adjusted, even if you feel fine.

Chiropractic adjustments help the body adapt to correct subluxations. In our office, we use a series of scans to get a deeper look at nerve interference within the body, and use this information to help remove those interferences through chiropractic adjustments.

We want to keep you healthy for life, not just treat the symptoms that may have driven you to seek chiropractic care. So if you haven't already been scanned in our office, call us today to schedule an appointment!   704-899-5000

Some of the definitions out there:
"A lesion or dysfunction in a joint or motion segment in which alignment, movement integrity and/or physiological function are altered, although contact between joint surfaces remains intact. It is essentially a functional entity, which may influence biomechanical and neural integrity."
(World Health Organization) 

"A subluxation is a complex of functional and/or structural and/or pathological articular changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health." 
(American Chiropractic Association)

Office Scans Explained - The Heart Rate Variability Scan

Our patients might remember this test as the one that takes the longest-- sitting for five minutes with their hand in the Pulse Wave Profiler.  What exactly is this test measuring?  

The short answer is that we are measuring the overall effects of stress on your body. More specifically, we are measuring your heart rate patterns while you are at rest to determine your stress levels and how capable your heart/body is of handling stress. 


The image to the left is one our patients are very familiar with. This diagram shows the results of the HRV test.  Ideally, you want your dot to be in the green section as close to the center line as possible. 

To be to the left of the center line means that the Sympathetic portion of Autonomic Nervous System is more active.  To explain, the main function of the Sympathetic Nervous System is to control our flight-or-fight response. For our results to be more Sympathetic means that our bodies are in a state of stress. We are ready to fight or run away, to varying degrees.

To be to the right of the center line means that the Parasympathetic portion of the Autonomic Nervous System is more active. Since, our Autonomic Nervous System controls our organs, tissues, and glands, when our Parasympathetic Nervous System is more dominant we are in a relaxed "rest and digest" state.   

Our bodies optimum health (homeostasis) lies on the center line. At rest, our bodies should be neither stressed or overly-relaxed.  We need to be able to activate our fight-or-flight (stress) response or our restful state at a moment's notice. When we are in a state of constant stress, our bodies have a hard time switching to our relaxed functional mode, and vice-versa. 

The other component of the HRV test is the heart's variability:

 "An increase in variability is synonymous with the increased adaptability to environmental stimuli. A decrease in variability has been linked to any number of pre-degenerative or morbid, deteriorating physiologic states."

(David Fletcher, "Heart Rate Variability: Linking today's technologies with timeless, healing principles")

Chronic stress will reduce the heart rate's variability. Lowered variability means that you are not as capable as you could be of handling stress.


The Heart Rate Variability scan looks at your body's overall stress response. The other two scans we perform in the office (Static EMG and Rolling Thermal) delve more deeply into site-specific issues in the body. This is why we need all three scans to better understand exactly what is going on in our bodies. With both big-picture and more specific details in front of us, we can take better care of you and monitor your health over a lifetime.


If you have not had an HRV scan or have not had one recently, please call the office to get your scheduled.

My Carolina Town's Where It's At Winner!

We would like to thank everyone for voting us Best Chiropractor of Fort Mill and Tega Cay!  We appreciate the love and support of all those patients, employees and family that made this recognition possible.  We are continually striving to improve ourselves and our office to provide our patients with the best care, and we look forward to all of the exciting things planned for 2012!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year

from

Complete Wellness Chiropractic!

• 2nd Annual FAM JAM - Raised $7,300 for the Children’s Attention Home

• Cash 4 Crayons - Donated over $200 plus supplies to Riverview Elementary School

• Welcomed Dr. Boda to the Complete Wellness Chiropractic Team

• We were voted "Best Chiropractor for 2011" by Fort Mill Times

• Became Medicare compliant for "Meaningful Use" for 2015 standards

• Jamie and Racheal completed training and are now our new "Functional Movement Specialists"

• Have the ability to create "Custom Cocktail" supplements for individual

• 2nd Grand Opening Celebration

• Voted "Best Chiropractor in Fort Mill/Tega Cay" by My Carolina Town

Now It's Time To Get Everything In Gear For 2012!

Get help setting goals with nutrition, exercise, stress and time management.

We are holding a Resolution Workshop!!!!

We invite you to join us - (Save the date)

When: Saturday 1/21/2012

Time: 10:00am - 1:00pm

Where: Fish Market Bar & Grill in Baxter