Meet Dr. Wendy Brown

A chiropractic adjustment is the art of applying a specific, controlled force in a precise direction to a spinal joint to release tension on the nervous system. 

The purpose of an adjustment is to correct structural alignment and eliminate interference in the nervous system. For you, this means improved spinal function, reduction in pain, and an overall improvement in health and wellness.

When you visit your medical provider, you expect to be given a medication or procedure to address your issue.  This is an “outside-in” philosophy. Chiropractors address an issue by looking to your nerve system—and what may be interfering with it—in order to help increase your state of health. 

We believe: 

1. All healing starts within. We are born to heal and our bodies have an innate ability to adapt to outside stressors, given there is no interference to the brain’s ability to communicate with the body (and vice versa)
2. Interference to the flow of information between the brain and the body is the cause of dis-ease in the body.  
3. Healing is promoted by removing interferences (subluxations) to the nervous system by adjusting areas of the spine that are contributing to a decreased state of health.

Subluxation means that one of your spinal joints is not moving correctly and, as a result, is obstructing / interfering / irritating an associated area of your body, causing health concerns or symptoms over time.

That’s the goal! But, in reality, not always. A subluxation does not cause pain. It causes symptoms over time—the longer it is there without correction, the greater the symptoms, typically.  

We sometimes compare a subluxation to a dental cavity—you may have it for a long time before symptoms appear. And a small cavity always becomes a bigger cavity without correction.  

The vast majority of our clients find that periodic spinal checks are important for the very reason that a check reduces the amount of time a subluxation is present—thereby reducing the effect on their overall health. 

The ‘popping’ or ‘cracking’ sound you hear with the adjustment of a vertebral joint is actually the release of pressure in a synovial joint. It’s the same release of pressure that some people experience when they ‘crack’ their knuckles.  

The important point, however, is this: the sound is a side effect to an adjustment, not an indicator that an adjustment has occurred. Many times, a successful adjustment is delivered without any sound at all. In our office, every adjustment delivered is followed up with a ‘post-check’ to ensure it was successful prior to moving on to the next level to be adjusted. Results are measured, not “heard”.

It depends.

Just like anything else, it depends on you and how much pain you’re currently in. If you begin chiropractic care and you’re already in pain, an adjustment can sometimes cause more pain. 

Most discomfort following adjustments eases following the first week or two of care, depending on the severity of your problem and we do our best to help you navigate this period of care. 

As a rule, we’ll help you reduce your chance of increased pain by making specific home recommendations. The majority of our clients who follow our recommendations rate their initial post-adjustment discomfort as “mild” in nature when they first start care. 

For our long-time clients who are seeking maintenance or wellness care, discomfort during or following an adjustment is rare.

No. It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation. 

During your first two weeks of care, we’ll determine which technique is most helpful for you. ll techniques work—it’s about how you receive them.  For that reason, we are highly in-tune with how your body receives and holds an adjustment. We modify through your care plan, if necessary, to ensure your body heals and you receive the results you are looking for.

For infants and children, we only use instrument-based, low-force techniques.

The truth is, every single person is different.

To give you a rough outline, you should expect to be checked one to three times a week during your initial intensive care period (most fall within the three times a week frequency initially) with the frequency of checks reduced as you progress through care. 

We perform progressive re-examinations every 12 visits to ensure that you’re meeting the measures expected, thereby ensuring you the results you’re seeking. 

Though we can estimate length of care due to anatomical and clinical reasoning (and we do our best to do so during your Doctor’s Report on your second visit), we find it best to provide clinical “outlines” dependent upon your specific initial presentation and history (or your child’s) and individualize them as you progress through your care. 

The founding goal of a chiropractic adjustment (and followed by subluxation-based chiropractors like Dr Wendy) is not to mobilize a fixated joint but to improve neural communication between the brain and the body.

We’ll say that again. Our goal is not to help a stiff joint move more easily. Our goal is to help your brain and body communicate more effectively and so improve your overall health and wellbeing. 

We do this by delivering a precise adjustment, in the precise direction, with a precise force, to a precise (singular) joint found to be impeding this flow of communication between the brain and body. 

A chiropractic adjustment is not the same as a spinal manipulation, which your doctor or physical therapist may perform.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the “Chiropractic adjustment is safe when it’s performed by someone trained and licensed to deliver chiropractic care.” 

The American Association of Chiropractors (ACA) states, “Chiropractic is widely recognized as one of the safest drug-free, non-invasive therapies available for the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal complaints. Although chiropractic has an excellent safety record, no health treatment is completely free of potential adverse effects. The risks associated with chiropractic, however, are very small. Many patients feel immediate relief following chiropractic treatment, but some may experience mild soreness, stiffness or aching, just as they do after some forms of exercise. Current research shows that minor discomfort or soreness following spinal manipulation typically fades within 24 hours.” 

To put it another way, chiropractic is very safe overall when performed by a trained and licensed chiropractor. Some patients experience mild side effects such as soreness, stiffness or aching – about what you’d expect after a good workout. 

The National Institutes for Health (NIH) states, “Safety remains an important focus of ongoing research: A 2007 study of treatment outcomes for 19,722 chiropractic patients in the United Kingdom concluded that minor side effects (such as temporary soreness) after cervical spine manipulation were relatively common, but that the risk of a serious adverse event was ‘low to very low’ immediately or up to 7 days after treatment.”   

We sometimes have questions regarding chiropractic and the risk of stroke. There is much written on the topic and, yes, there is a small risk in a certain population. Chiropractors are trained in assessing your risk for an adverse event. 

Clinical research has found that the risk of a stroke from a chiropractic adjustment is 1 in 1 million (Haldeman DC, MD, PHD, Top Clin Chiro. 1995; 2(3 ) With these odds, you are more likely to be struck by lightning. As for kids, the risk of a neurological complication from a chiropractic adjustment for children is 1 in 250 Million” ( J of Vert. Subluxation Research, Jun 1998 ).The odds of winning the Powerball Jackpot are 1 in 292 million, for your reference.  

Mainstream medicine is not as ‘safe’ as everyone tends to believe. In 2018, medical error was the 3rd leading cause of death.

No adverse event is every “okay”. Life is a gift and health is a treasure. Chiropractic helps promote health and wellbeing with very minimal risk. 

Yes. Chiropractic is extremely safe for children. Our office is dedicated to raising healthy children as part of a thriving community.

 In our office, we do not use hands-on/manual adjustments on children under 14-15 years old, on average. Instead, we use low-force instrumentation for adjusting purposes. We choose this form of adjusting primarily because it’s most effective but also acknowledge that it eliminates risk.

A great resource for all pediatric questions is the International Pediatric Association. The majority of chiropractors specializing in pediatrics receive their post-doctoral education and accreditation through this organization. You can visit icpa4kids.org for more information on a variety of topics and we encourage all of our clients to access this phenomenal resource.  

Yes, absolutely! We excel at prenatal care. We are certified practitioners in Webster’s Technique and tailor adjustments to accommodate each stage of pregnancy as well as the unique needs of each mom. (americanpregnancy.org)

We are committed to helping moms-to-be to reduce nervous system stress. We want you to enjoy a healthy pregnancy and smooth delivery.

Absolutely. We modify our adjustive procedures for each person. Since the goal of chiropractic care is improving communication between your brain and your body, the fact that you’ve had surgery only matters in respect to the technique utilized to perform your adjustment. If you’ve had surgery, we know it’s vital for you to receive chiropractic care. Please don’t hesitate to schedule a call with the doctor to discuss this further.

Though we love helping people be well, we really love it when our patients already feel good! 

However, our focus is on normalizing and maintaining the function of your nervous system rather than gauging your health on “how you feel.” 

When your nervous system is functioning at 100%, your body has the best chance to not just get well but to stay well. 

The majority of health crises take years to manifest. Cancer, for example, is present in your body for 20 years before you have the first symptom. As corrective and wellness chiropractors, we refuse to rely on the presence or absence of symptoms as a determinant of your state of health. Instead, we measure and collect data that indicates your level of health and healing. 

We believe you and your family are worth nothing less and we will continue to find every means of providing improved test measures that provide evidence towards this end. If you’re already “feeling good”, ask us to perform a nerve scan (we’ll be happy to oblige). This way, we can clinically measure if how you feel is actually a true reflection of your level of health.

We took this directly from the site of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) because of it’s the best answer we’ve found to answer this question: 

“Doctors of Chiropractic are educated as primary-contact health care providers, with an emphasis on diagnosis and treatment of conditions related to the musculoskeletal system (the muscles, ligaments and joints of the spine and extremities) and the nerves that supply them. 

Educational requirements for doctors of chiropractic are among the most stringent of any of the health care professions. The typical applicant for chiropractic college has already acquired nearly four years of pre-medical undergraduate college education, including courses in biology, inorganic and organic chemistry, physics, psychology and related lab work. Once accepted into an accredited Chiropractic college, the requirements become even more demanding — four to five academic years of professional study are the standard. 

Doctors of Chiropractic are educated in orthopedics, neurology, physiology, human anatomy, clinical diagnosis including laboratory procedures, diagnostic imaging, exercise, nutrition rehabilitation and more. Because Chiropractic care includes highly skilled manipulation/adjusting techniques, a significant portion of time is spent in clinical technique training to master these important manipulative procedures.

In total, the Chiropractic college curriculum includes a minimum of 4,200 hours of classroom, laboratory and clinical experience. The course of study is approved by the Council on Chiropractic Education, an accrediting agency that is fully recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.”  (acatoday.org)

As you can see, that’s a very high level of training and education. 

Once qualified, we must also be licensed. In Virginia, chiropractors are licensed by the Virginia Board of Medicine and bound by the same rules as other medical professionals.  Our licenses must be renewed every two years and a minimum of 60 hours of continuing education are required to be completed during this period in order to qualify for licensure renewal. You may reference dhp.virginia.gov/medicine for more information.

Since the goal of chiropractic care is to remove interference between the brain and the body and to increase the body’s ability to adapt to stressors, yes, this is true.  

Chiropractic care aims to restore normal nerve function to the body which controls every organ, cell, muscle, thought, emotion, and system of the body. Therefore, if nerve system flow is restored, the body can balance and symptoms common to these “conditions” may resolve or reduce, thereby also reducing their outward effects on you.  

The goal of chiropractic care is to balance the function of the nervous system in each and every one of our clients. This is how true healing begins. 

Your initial treatment usually lasts several weeks and is termed ‘corrective care’. Once you are in better shape, we may recommend a Wellness or Maintenance Care Program. Whether or not you do that is entirely up to you. 

Not one person who chooses continuing care in our office has ever been “told” that they have to continue care or “go forever”. Instead, they have come to their own conclusion on the benefits that normalizing nerve system function has had on their own lives. 

If you choose to continue in a Wellness or Maintenance-based Care Plan, we will celebrate your decision. If you choose to cease care following your Corrective Care Plan, we will absolutely respect your decision and are always available to meet your needs, should they arise, in the future.