What is Chiropractic Care?
Chiropractic care is a holistic approach to health care. As a natural health care provider, we strive to get to the root cause of the problem. Our goal is not only to ease the symptoms, but to improve your overall health and well being. It is based on the idea that when your nervous system is functioning properly, without having to manage a crisis storm of bad neurological stimulation, our body has the amazing ability to do all that we ask of it. Chiropractic care is a natural, drug-free, non-surgical approach to managing chronic and acute pain, improving organ function, maintaining a good immune system, and delaying the soreness and achiness that most people associate with aging. Chiropractors use the terms “spinal misalignment” or “vertebral subluxation” to reduce stress on the nervous system. We treat patients from newborn infants, professional athletes, to people who are more than 100 years old! Chiropractic care is appropriate care for anyone who wants their body to perform as best as possible. 
What Type of Chiropractic Care does Gentle Health & Wellness Provide?
We provide patients with the latest, safest, most effective corrective adjustments to ease pain and discomfort located not only in the neck or back, but any joint, muscle, or to improve organ function. Dr. Del Monte often says, “Pain is not normal. It is your body trying to tell you that something isn’t working right. It is the last symptom to appear and the first symptom to disappear.” Sometimes, patients stop coming in for treatment when their pain disappears. Initially, patient visits may be frequent so that pain can be managed effectively. As a patient’s condition improves and their body holds onto the adjustments better, frequency of visits are reduced. Dr. Del Monte believes in treating a patient effectively, not over-treating. Dr. Del Monte has years of training and experience with chiropractic adjustments. She strives to always make sure her clients are comfortable and satisfied. While focusing on the care of the nervous system, Dr. Del Monte also takes the time to learn and understand all aspects of every patient’s life. She takes into consideration their lifestyle, career, family life, daily environment and surroundings, exercise and eating habits so that she can better care for her patients. Gentle Health and Wellness Center strives to make every patient experience enjoyable and informative.
What is Non-Surgical Spinal Therapy?
Chiropractic care is often referred to as non-surgical spinal therapy. Any good surgeon will advise you to seek surgery as a last resort, after exhausting non-invasive physical medicine therapies. Why? Because once you cut into the body and cause it to bleed, you create scar tissue which creates a cascade of altered movement, limited range of motion, and increases your risk for re-injury. As a a Chiropractic Doctor trained in how to read the body, adjustments are a gentle option to restoring optimal movement. Sort of like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, any any joint can move too little, too much, or just right. The goal of Chiropractic treatment is to identify those joints that need to be adjusted to move just right. Often, these joints are located in your spinal column, which is a protective cage for your spinal cord. Your spinal cord relays information from the body to the brain, which interprets every signal to determine if you are in imminent physical danger or not. Simply put, if it’s hot you sweat. If it’s cold you shiver. The spinal cord and all the peripheral nerves are a very delicate system and everything in your body is designed to protect it’s ability to function. In order to do that, your nervous system will recruit muscles to preserve a safe posture and adapt to physical activities to minimize risk of injury. These things can sometimes have a detrimental effect over the course of time, and pain is usually the last symptom to appear to get your attention. Because the spinal cord is a major pathway of the nervous system, it is very important for the spine to function properly. Acute injuries and chronic postural misalignments can cause the joints in the body to age prematurely. The chiropractic adjustments we perform on each individual patient are chosen to elicit a precise response in your nervous system. In some cases, this is an ongoing healing process that has both short-term benefits (immediate pain relief), as well as long-term benefits (ease of movement, improved stability, overall improvement in health and vitality, decreased incidence of flare ups, and less dependence on pain relief medication). In addition to chiropractic adjustments, therapeutic massage, nutrition counseling and physical rehabilitation are components of a successful and effective treatment plan.