Guardian Family Chiropractic
Health in St. Catharines

Welcome to Guardian Family Chiropractic,
in the heart of St. Catharines.It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to Guardian Family Chiropractic. We truly appreciate the opportunity to serve you, and your family’s chiropractic health care needs. As you will discover during your first few visits to the office, chiropractic offers a unique pathway to optimum health and vitality. Of course, many people who are in a chiropractic office for the first time are there because they are sick. In our society we all too often disregard our health until we lose it. It seems that symptoms and sickness are great motivators. Our goal goes past symptom relief.Our goal is not to just relieve your particular symptoms as quickly and efficiently as possible, but to also find the basic underlying cause of your problem, and to deal with it so that you can enjoy a healthier and fuller life in the future.Our other chief concern is to teach you about health and the unique role that chiropractic plays in the promotion of wellness and in optimal health expression, in people of all ages. Using this “new” path to health, we have assisted many families in discovering the powerful, but often forgotten innate (inborn) healing abilities that they possess. As you learn about chiropractic and this inborn potential, we truly hope that you will choose regular wellness based chiropractic care as part of your family’s ongoing health strategy.

Subluxation – pronounced sub-luck-say-shun

Subluxations are problem areas of your spine that affect your entire nerve system. In these problem areas the spinal bones are misaligned or have lost their normal range of movement. This irritates or puts pressure on local nerves which interferes with the communication between your brain and body (and vice versa).

How do Subluxations Happen?

The stresses and strains of everyday living such as housework, gardening, desk work, lifting, or even sleeping on the couch, can cause spinal problems. So can falls, accidents (especially car accidents), sports activities and injuries. In children, subluxations may occur during the birth process, while they learn to walk and play, and from everyday childhood activities.

What are Some Warning Signs of Subluxations?

Symptoms such as headaches, back pain, neck stiffness, pain in your shoulders, arms or legs, numbness in your hands or feet, or nerveness are the most common signs of subluxations. But like a tooth cavity, most people will have a subluxation long before they notice any symptoms.

How are Subluxations Corrected?

Your chiropractor will reduce and correct subluxations with highly skilled adjustments to your spine. If the subluxations have been present a short time, you may need only a few adjustments. However, long-term, chronic subluxations will require more frequent adjustments to retrain the problem areas of the spine to hold the vertebrae in their normal, healthy positions. As subluxations are corrected, your nerve system starts to function properly again and your body heals itself.

How can I Avoid Subluxations?

If you want to keep subluxations from recurring, or new ones from developing, it’s best to have periodic adjustments. Combined with a sensible diet and moderate exercise, chiropractic care can help you enjoy the best of health for the rest of your life. Seeing a chiropractor should go with everyone’s job!Subluxations prevent you from enjoying
the best of health. Only a chiropractor
is trained to correct them.

The human body is made up of not one, but three nerve systems. Although, by category, these three nerve systems are separate, actually they are interdependent and interrelated. In order for the body to function properly, it takes all three nerve systems functioning properly, unobstructed and in harmony.At any given moment, millions of bits of “information” from the sight and hearing enter your nerve system and must be analyzed to determine an appropriate response. About 99.9 per cent is discarded as “unimportant” at the moment. While all this is going on, all of the other senses are active, too, bombarding the nerve system and demanding a response. At the same time the body’s many organs and functions must be tirelessly monitored, directed and unified. This is all accomplished by the integration of the body’s three nerve systems. The following is a description of each.The Central Nerve System (CNS) [yellow] is composed of the brain and spinal cord. Impulses originating in the brain are sent to various parts of the body via the spinal cord. The brain is protected and encased by the bones of the skull, while the spinal cord is protected and encased by the 24 individual and movable bones of the spine called the vertebrae.The spinal cord is a direct downward continuation of the brain stem that starts at the upper border of the uppermost vertebra (called the atlas), and ends at the lower border of the first lumbar vertebrae.The Peripheral Nerve System (PNS) [blue, green, red, orange] is basically an extension of the Central Nerve System described above. The Peripheral Nerve System connects the Central Nerve System with all the tissues of the body. Thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves exit the spine and form a very complex network of nerves reaching out to every part of the body. Messages or signals are thus relayed from the tissues of the body back to the brain and vice versa. Chiropractic’s unique clinical concern is the unobstructed transmission of these nerve signals as they travel back and forth from the brain to the tissues of the body.The Autonomic Nerve System (ANS) [not shown], also known as the “involuntary” nerve system controls activities of the body unconsciously. The Autonomic Nerve System includes all the nerve cells, or neurons, located outside the spinal cord and the brain stem.The ANS itself is divided into two separate entities: the Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic divisions. The Sympathetic division sends impulses that speed up or enhance (as in running) whereas the parasympathetic slows down (digestion). These two systems combined regulate the majority of the body’s involuntary functions. Examples of involuntary control are the heart rate, respiration, blood circulation and digestion.The Doctor of Chiropractic works with all three nerve systems to bring about a positive change in the body. Spinal malfunction can cause irritation in the spine adversely affecting any or all three nerve systems, a condition chiropractors refer to as the Vertebral Subluxation. A properly administered chiropractic adjustment can eliminate or reduce the Vertebral Subluxation Complex, thus restoring normal nerve flow and creating a healthier nerve system.