FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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At the heart of everything we do is this truth: your nervous system controls everything else in your body. Your brain, spinal cord, and all the nerves throughout your body make up this incredible communication network that coordinates every function, every movement, every breath, every heartbeat.
The goal of neurologically-focused chiropractic care is to ensure there's no interference in your nervous system. When we experience stress, whether it's physical (trauma, poor posture, repetitive movements), chemical (toxins, poor nutrition, medications), or emotional (worry, anxiety, overwhelm), that stress leaves an imprint on the nervous system. Over time, repetitive stress creates subluxations, or areas where communication gets stuck and your body can't adapt properly.
Here's what's important to understand: your symptoms aren't the problem, they're your body's reaction to nervous system interference that prevents proper adaptation to stress. Pain, digestive issues, sleep problems, anxiety, frequent illness, these are all signals that something deeper is going on.
Our goal isn't to adjust a specific area to make symptoms disappear (though that often happens as a side effect!). Every adjustment we provide affects your nervous system in a positive way, allowing your body to process and adapt to internal and external everyday stresses and function more optimally. Your body does the healing, we just remove the interference so it can do what it was designed to do.
When your nervous system has no interference, it has the potential to heal from any ailment you may be suffering from. We can't pick and choose what heals and when, but what we know for sure is this: a properly functioning nervous system is better than one with interference. Always.
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Yes. Chiropractic is very safe. It's a non-surgical, non-invasive, drug-free approach to health and is among the safest of all healthcare practices. In fact, because chiropractic is so safe, chiropractors enjoy one of the lowest malpractice rates of all healthcare practitioners.
Here's what chiropractic doesn't do: It doesn't take anything out of the body or put anything into the body (no medications, no surgeries, no invasive procedures). It's designed to clear the path of communication in your nervous system so your body can heal and maintain its own health naturally.
Think about it this way: what's riskier, taking medication with a long list of side effects, having surgery with all its inherent risks, or receiving a gentle adjustment that helps your body function the way it was designed to?
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We believe chiropractic care establishes the foundation for generational health. The frequency of visits recommended to you will vary on goals and how long you have been under care at Profound Chiropractic.
Think of chiropractic care like exercising. You wouldn’t expect one workout to put you in the best shape of your life, and in the same way, one adjustment can’t resolve everything at once.
Phase 1 (Pattern Change/Release): This is typically the most intensive phase where we're working to change deeply ingrained patterns in your nervous system. Frequency might be higher (2-4 times per week initially), but it tapers as your body starts responding and holding adjustments better.
Phase 2 (Rebuild): Your nervous system is learning new patterns and building neuroplasticity. Visits become less frequent as your body integrates the changes.
Phase 3 (Restore/Wellness): You're in maintenance mode, keeping your nervous system resilient and prepared for whatever life throws your way. This might be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on your needs.
Just like braces take 2-4 years to straighten teeth, or physical therapy takes months to rebuild strength after an injury, neurological healing and pattern change takes time and consistency.
Schedule an appointment to learn how often we recommend chiropractic care to achieve your health goals.
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At Profound Chiropractic, we take your health very seriously.
Your first day in the chiropractic office will consist of several assessments including a neurologic evaluation and spinal exam. Dr. Raya will review these in detail prior to your next visit.
Your second day in the chiropractic office we will share our care recommendations. At this appointment you will have your first opportunity to be adjusted. Any exceptions to our first-visit policy are made on a case-by-case basis.
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You can expect your first and second visit in our chiropractic office to be 1 hour. We will do a thorough initial health consultation, neurologic evaluation and spinal exam.
Once under chiropractic care appointments in our office are between 10-15 minutes. If you are pregnant, adjustments are between 15-30 minutes to provide prenatal specific care.
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We do not take in-office x-rays. If clinically indicated, we will provide a referral for chiropractic postural x-rays.
HAVE OLD IMAGING STUDIES? Please bring copies of any x-rays, MRIs, or other advanced imaging to your first appointment. We would love to review them. If warranted, we may recommend additional or different views to get the complete picture.
FOR PARENTS & FAMILIES
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First of all—CONGRATULATIONS!
Yes, chiropractic care performed by a specially trained prenatal or perinatal chiropractor is safe. There are many benefits to receive chiropractic care while pregnant!
Your body is doing something absolutely miraculous right now, and it's also going through tremendous changes that can feel overwhelming. Here's what's happening:
Physical changes:
Increased hormones lead to less stable joints (thanks, relaxin!)
Weight distribution shifts around your abdomen, changing your center of gravity
You feel strained maintaining good posture as your body works to support your growing baby
Your frame is working overtime, and energy levels can decrease faster throughout the day
Back pain, pelvic pain, sciatica, and round ligament pain can make daily activities challenging
But here's what many expecting parents don't realize: pregnancy isn't just physical, you're also experiencing a lot of emotional and mental stress.
The worry, the planning, the information overload, the big life changes ahead... it's a lot! That responsive fight-or-flight state in your nervous system can actually pass to your baby's developing nervous system through the umbilical cord "power cord," priming them for an increased stress response to life as well.
This is where we come in! Our Webster-certified doctor specializes in helping pregnant moms in the Oswego and Fox Valley area be more comfortable and achieve optimal pelvic positioning to contribute to safer, easier pregnancies and births.
Research has shown that being under chiropractic care during pregnancy can help:
Lower labor pains and delivery times by up to 60%!
Reduce the need for interventions
Support optimal fetal positioning (hello, head-down baby!)
Improve your ability to adapt to stress (which benefits you AND baby)
Enhance postpartum recovery
When your nervous system is balanced and regulated, your body can do what it was designed to do, grow and birth a baby beautifully. We help create the optimal environment for both you and your baby to thrive.
And here's the beautiful part: by getting adjusted during pregnancy, you're not just taking care of yourself, you're giving your baby the best possible start before they even arrive. Your baby's nervous system is developing right now in response to yours. When you're regulated and balanced, so is baby.
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Webster Technique is a specific technique developed to help care for patients during pregnancy. The technique optimizes the physical and neurological function of both the mother and baby for birth.
Webster Technique does not move breech babies; however, the technique relieves tension on mom’s uterine ligaments, giving the baby more freedom to move encouraging a head-down position for birth.
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The best time to begin chiropractic care is during pre-conception, but we are here for you at every stage of pregnancy and would love to support you.
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Yes, chiropractic care is very safe for infants. We have specialized training through the ICPA to care best for your infant. Infant adjustments differ significantly from adult adjustments. The pressure used to adjust an infant is incredibly gentle, about the same as what you’d use to test the ripeness of an avocado.
If you're wondering whether your newborn really needs chiropractic care, you're not alone. Many parents don't know this, but here's the truth: birth is often the most traumatic event a child will experience in their lifetime.
Dr. Godfrey Gutmann, a German physician, conducted a groundbreaking study of over 1,000 newborns shortly after birth. What he discovered was eye-opening: over 80% of infants had suffered trauma to their cervical spine during birth, resulting in vertebral subluxations. The recognized factors causing this injury include traction (pulling), rotational stress (twisting), and hyperextension of the head—all of which happen during even "normal," uncomplicated vaginal births. More recent research has actually showed closer to 99% of babies experience neuro-musculo-skeletal dysfunction from the birth process.
Add in the fact that 65% of neurological development occurs in a child's first year of life, and you can see why early chiropractic care is so critical! This is the most important window for nervous system development. If there's interference from birth trauma, it affects everything that develops on top of that foundation.
Here's what we commonly see: When there's stress during pregnancy combined with interventions like forceps, vacuum delivery, C-sections, or even directed pushing, there can be significant misalignment of the top couple of vertebrae in the neck. This creates stress on the nerves of the upper cervical spine and brainstem area.
These nerves and muscles control some really important things for your baby:
Their ability to turn their head
Latching onto the breast properly
Making a good latch and solid bond with you
Swallowing and coordinating the suck-swallow-breathe pattern
Plus, there's a superstar nerve that comes from the top of the spine, the Vagus Nerve (your baby's "rest-and-digest" nerve that also plays a huge role in social-emotional interactions and regulation). This nerve runs down through the neck, into the thorax, and into the mid-gastric area, and it's responsible for opening up the esophagus and the entire digestive system.
If this nerve is subluxated (stuck under stress), and it's not addressed, it stays stuck in your child's neuro-spinal system. In the medical world, this shows up as colic, reflux, constipation, failure to thrive, sleep issues, and feeding difficulties. Doctors will give you medications or tell you to wait it out, but the root cause, that stuck nerve interference from birth, never gets addressed.
Our gentle pediatric chiropractic care addresses these root causes early, giving your baby's nervous system the best possible start for optimal development, health, and thriving.
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A child can be seen by a chiropractor as early as a few minutes after birth. We recommend bringing your little one in as soon as possible to support optimal growth and development.
At Profound Chiropractic, families may choose chiropractic support during labor (Labor & Birth Care) or opt for in-home newborn chiropractic care (Immediate Postpartum Care).
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The most critical system determining whether your child (and your entire family) is healthy or not is the nervous system. It's made up of three divisions, Sensory, Autonomic, and Motor, that work together to coordinate EVERY internal body function with EVERY movement and with EVERY thought, emotion, behavior, and cognitive function. It's "air traffic control" for the entire human experience!
That means that while you've probably invested quite a bit of time, energy, and resources into trying to support your child's gut health, immune system, and motor tone through PT, OT, speech therapy, supplements, special diets, and more, your current provider team may have overlooked the one common thread that ties it all together: the nervous system.
Think about it:
Gut issues? The vagus nerve controls digestion.
Frequent illness? The nervous system regulates immune function.
Sensory processing challenges? The nervous system processes all sensory input.
Speech delays or motor challenges? The nervous system coordinates all movement and muscle function.
ADHD, anxiety, emotional regulation struggles? The nervous system controls the stress response and emotional regulation capacity.
It all comes back to the nervous system. When the nervous system is stuck in a stressed state, the body can't properly process information, heal, or develop optimally, no matter how many therapies or interventions you try.
Every adjustment our pediatric chiropractor provides affect the nervous system in a positive way, allowing your child to adapt to various stressors and ignite the potential to heal from any challenge they may be working through.
We're not saying chiropractic replaces other therapies, we're saying it optimizes the foundation so all those other therapies can actually work the way they're supposed to. When your child's nervous system is functioning well, their body can better receive OT input, process speech therapy exercises, absorb nutrients from their diet, and regulate their emotions more effectively.
We've seen kids go from non-verbal to speaking, from constant meltdowns to regulated responses, from sleepless nights to peaceful rest, from chronic illness to thriving health and even be able to reduce medications. Not because we "fixed" anything, but because we removed the interference so their nervous system could do what it was designed to do: coordinate health, growth, and development.
Your child doesn't need to "grow out of" their challenges. They need their nervous system supported so they can grow INTO their full potential. That's exactly what we do.
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Think of your nervous system as the foundation of a pyramid, everything else builds on top of it. Before gut health protocols, nutrition changes, exercise programs, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, or brain-based training can work optimally, your nervous system has to FUNCTION well and be REGULATED first.
Here's why: Physical therapy and massage focus on muscles and mobility, working to restore range of motion and release tension. These are valuable therapies! But here's the thing, if the neurological communication from your brain to your muscles is obstructed, your body will continue reverting back no matter how many times PT increases your range of motion or massage releases a muscular knot.
It's like this: if you have a kinked garden hose, you can keep adjusting the spray nozzle all you want, but until you unkink the hose, you won't get proper water flow. We unkink the hose (restore nerve function). Then the spray nozzle (PT, massage, other therapies) can actually work the way it's supposed to.
Neurologically-focused chiropractic specializes in how stress gets stuck within the nervous system, restoring brain-to-body communication through specific neuro-tonal adjustments. When we address this foundation first, something amazing happens:
Inflammation decreases
Sleep improves
Your body can better receive and process information from other therapies
You see optimal results from PT, OT, speech therapy, nutrition, and supplements because your body can actually integrate what's being taught
We work beautifully with other providers! We're not saying "chiropractic instead of" other therapies, we're saying "chiropractic FIRST, then watch everything else work better."
Your nervous system is air traffic control. It has to work properly for all the other "planes" (therapies, treatments, lifestyle changes) to land safely and effectively.
AFTER YOUR FIRST ADJUSTMENT
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Here's the honest truth: every person is different, and the way your body responds depends on many factors. For example, if you've been dealing with neck pain and acid reflux for 10 years, it would be unrealistic to assume you'll feel completely better after just one adjustment. Your body didn't get into this state overnight, and true healing doesn't happen overnight either.
That said, here's what we typically see:
Some individuals feel better after the first adjustment. They walk out feeling lighter, more mobile, sleeping better that very night. It's like their body was just waiting for someone to flip the right switch!
Others feel better after weeks or months of consistent care. Their body needs more time to unwind years of stuck stress and pattern changes. This is completely normal and doesn't mean anything is wrong, it just means your nervous system needs more repetition to create lasting change.
Some people experience healing sensations or "retracing" and can feel worse for a period of time as they begin their journey to functioning better. Think of it like spring cleaning, sometimes your house looks messier before it looks cleaner. Your body might bring old injuries or symptoms back to the surface as it works through layers of compensation and finally addresses the root cause. This is actually a GOOD sign that your body is healing!
Most of our practice members report sleeping better and experiencing more energy and mental clarity after their first few adjustments, even before pain changes. Why? Because these are nervous system improvements! Remember, pain is only 20% of what your nerves do. The other 80% is function. So you might notice your digestion improves, your mood is better, you're sick less often, or you just feel more like "yourself" again before the pain fully resolves.
Here's what we can guarantee after each adjustment: Your body will begin functioning better. Once you have proper nerve function and you're holding your adjustments well, the nerves can begin to heal and you will feel better as a result.
Think of it like working out or wearing braces on your teeth, true healing takes time and repetition. You wouldn't expect to go to the gym once and have six-pack abs, right? Your nervous system works the same way. Consistent care over time creates lasting results.
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We're so glad you're feeling better, that's amazing! But here's something important to understand: "feeling fine" is not the same as functioning well.
Remember our friend Pain aka the worst employee you've ever had? He's usually the last to show up to work and one of the first to leave. Pain is a warning signal that dysfunction has been present in your body for too long, often for months or even years before you feel it. And when pain goes away, it doesn't necessarily mean the underlying nervous system dysfunction is resolved.
Think about it this way: if your check engine light turns off, does that mean your car is fixed? Or does it just mean the warning light stopped appearing while the problem is still brewing under the hood? Your nervous system works the same way.
Achieving true health and healing takes time and repetition. When we're reaching your health goals, the last thing we want is for your body to reverse back to where it was, or become even worse off than before. It happens all the time when people stop care as soon as they feel better.
Similar to brushing your teeth, achieving a fitness goal, or maintaining a healthy diet, maximizing your health and the work you've already done with maintenance chiropractic care ensures the continuance of optimal function and healing. It keeps your body prepared to handle the various stresses we experience every day, work stress, family stress, environmental toxins, poor sleep, the unexpected challenges life throws our way.
Think of maintenance care like this:
You change your car's oil regularly to prevent breakdowns, not just when the engine is smoking
You brush your teeth every day to prevent cavities, not just when you have a toothache
You maintain your fitness routine to stay healthy, not just to lose weight
Wellness care is the same concept. It's about keeping your nervous system functioning optimally so your body can continue adapting, healing, and thriving, not just "managing" your symptoms.
Plus, here's a practical consideration: it's a whole lot more affordable to maintain your health than to have to rebuild it from scratch later when symptoms return and you need frequent, intensive care again.
We'll help you determine the right maintenance schedule based on your specific nervous system, your lifestyle, your stress levels, and your health goals. Some people need weekly adjustments, others do great with bi-weekly or monthly wellness care.
OUR CREDENTIALS
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Yes! Chiropractors are absolutely doctors. While we're often casually referred to as "chiropractors," our official title is Doctor of Chiropractic (DC).
Now, chiropractors are not Medical Doctors (MD) or Osteopathic Doctors (DO)—but just like MDs and DOs, DCs undergo extensive education and training before becoming licensed professionals. We're talking years of rigorous education!
Here's what's interesting: our curriculum is grounded in the same core sciences as medical doctors—anatomy, physiology, pathology, biochemistry, and more. We know the human body inside and out.
The big difference? While medical doctors focus largely on pharmacology (medications) and surgery, chiropractors dedicate those same hours to:
Nutrition and how it impacts nervous system function
Neurology (the study of the nervous system—which makes sense since that's what we specialize in!)
Advanced imaging and diagnostic techniques
Manual adjusting techniques and neurologically-focused care approaches
Think of it this way: MDs are experts in medication and surgery. DCs are experts in nervous system function, spinal health, and the body's innate ability to heal itself when interference is removed. Different expertise, same level of education and professionalism.
Both are valuable, they're just different approaches to health. We believe the body is incredibly intelligent and has an innate ability to heal itself when given the right support. We're here to remove interference and optimize function so your body can do what it does best: heal, adapt, and thrive.
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Prior to entering the doctorate program, students are required to master core sciences such as:
Chemistry
Biochemistry
Anatomy
Physiology
Pathology
Physics
(Sound familiar? It's the same foundation medical students complete!)
Once in the doctorate program, the real specialization begins. Students continue intensive training in advanced clinical sciences, including:
Neurology (extensive study of the nervous system)
Bacteriology
Virology
Radiology (x-ray analysis and advanced imaging)
Toxicology
Orthopedics
Differential diagnosis (identifying various conditions and knowing when to refer to other specialists)
Here's what sets chiropractic education apart: While chiropractors don't practice medicine (we don't prescribe medications or perform surgeries), we receive PhD-level education in nutrition, understanding how what you eat impacts your nervous system and overall health.
Students also receive extensive hands-on training in various adjusting techniques. This isn't something you learn from a textbook, it takes thousands of hours of practice to perfect the art and science of the chiropractic adjustment. All students must complete clinical internships where they work with real patients under supervision to hone these skills before graduating.
And before we can even practice? All doctors of chiropractic must pass several rigorous national board exams, we're talking comprehensive, multi-day examinations covering everything from anatomy to clinical sciences to practical skills. After national boards, we must also pass state-specific licensing exams.
Our doctor has also completed specialized training:
Webster Certification - Specialized training through the International Pediatric Chiropractic Association for working with pregnant women and optimizing pelvic balance for safer, easier births
We take our education seriously because we take YOUR health seriously. You deserve practitioners who are extensively trained, continuously learning, and deeply committed to providing the highest level of neurologically-focused care. That's exactly what you'll find at Profound Chiropractic.
READY TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP TOWARD WELLNESS?
LET PROFOUND CHIROPRACTIC BE YOUR PARTNER IN HEALTH