Behind the Scenes: McTimoney Chiropractic Care

Recently on the blog, we introduced Elyse, a chiropractor specialising in the McTimoney
technique. (You can read more about the marked difference between chiropractic and
McTimoney chiropractic care here.) This week, we go behind the scenes, and into a bit more
depth, to discover more about what’ s involved in a McTimoney chiropractic session and how
it helps. Over to Elyse…
During my journey of helping people as a McTimoney chiropractor, sometimes I receive
unexpected (but not entirely surprising) feedback from my clients. One of my clients said to
me recently, “after that last adjustment you gave to me, I don’t know why but I had an
overwhelming positive flow of energy run through my body - I’ve never ever experienced
anything like that before”.
Another patient told me, “I don’t usually sleep well, but after the first session, I slept like a
baby.”
Chiropractic care is way beyond simple pain relief or management. In fact, the main goal
of McTimoney chiropractic is to optimise the function of your body in a natural way,
without the need of drugs or surgery. Every time you visit, I will check and adjust the joints
of your body, and immobility in your spine.
Some people wonder: Why do I need to maintain my spine when I feel pretty good? Before I
answer that fully, it’s important to understand a bit about how misalignment and immobility
in the spine is formed in the first place.
Our spine protects the spinal cord and links the brain and nerves to the rest of our body.
There’s a section of our brain called the cerebellum, which receives all proprioception
information and tells us what’s happening in the body. The cortex of our brain controls
voluntary muscle movement, which plays a part in telling the body what to do.
When our spine is misaligned, each bone is not sitting correctly on top of one another. This
means the signals from the nerves, received in the cerebellum and cortex of the brain, will be
incorrect or scrambled. Our brain can send corrective responses to that particular area of the
spine via the nerve pathways, which causes our muscles to work and contract – it’s super
clever like that.
This can cause other areas of our spine and body to compensate, which may lead to
movements and asymmetric muscle use, for example: When a misalignment in the spine
happens, the body will also release stress hormones e.g. catecholamines and cortisol, which
can lead to increased inflammation in the body. Unfortunately, these changes can lead to a
vicious cycle.
Chiropractic adjustments aim to correct these misalignments, which help to break the cycle,
and catch “pain” before it occurs. Misalignments can be caused by daily activities, past or
current injuries or even mental impacts, like stress. It is pretty hard to avoid all of these due to
life and environment. The changes above can sometimes cause symptoms such as limited
movement or pain and stiffness, and these can gradually accumulate over time.

You might imagine the human body like a ‘waste bin’ and this bin accumulates waste over
time. Rather than letting it accumulate so much it overflows, leading to concerns like
discomfort or structural changes, it is important to clear it out regularly and maintain
harmony.
This is why maintaining your spinal health is so essential. Old, young, pain or no pain.
A chiropractic session helps you to optimise your body function and to get the most out of
life. This is why maintenance is so important, even once you start moving and feeling great
again!
McTimoney chiropractic is for everybody – it doesn’t just manage pain. It’s never too late,
and it’s certainly never too early. Chiropractic helps get people back to their best, and keeps
them there.
For anyone curious about giving it a go, please do book an appointment, I can’t recommend
this gentle approach to chiropractic care enough. I’s changed my life, it’s changed my
patient’s life too.
About:
Elyse has a passion for helping clients improve their mental and physical wellbeing, and has
dedicated her years to assist patients in restoring nerve function and alignment, improving
mobility, and promoting natural, consistent, whole-body health. To book a session with her
head to the Treat website.