Welcome to Relief

Neck pain can be just as debilitating and frustrating as lower or middle back pain.  There are many causes of neck pain, however our chiropractors will focus on working out exactly the cause of your issues before they give you a plan of care.  Many patients struggle with movement in the neck, as our modern lifestyles make the middle of the neck stiffen and straighten making turning and extension very difficult and painful.  Often, X-rays can be indicated and allow us to have a much clearer picture of your specific issues, but this will be dependant on many factors around your neck health and mobility.  There may also be a muscular component from chronic stress which may need to be addressed during the healing process.

Headaches are often greatly improved with chiropractic care and massage therapy.  We would never claim to ‘cure’ a headache, because there are many different types of headaches and some of them are driven by other factors such as water intake, medication and mental stress.  Instead, we focus on any dysfunction or stress on the spine and neck tissues, which have a huge impact on headaches through nerve and blood flow.  Much like neck pain, an X-ray can be very useful in working out the specific cause of continuing headaches.  Evidence also shows that chiropractic is effective in managing migraines.

Sciatica is a form of debilitating leg pain, usually characterised by pain shooting down the back of the leg on one side.  This can be accompanied by numbness, pins and needles, loss of strength or burning, as well as lower back pain.  Other forms of leg pain to the buttocks, knee or front of the leg are also common (although not technically sciatica).  As always, the goal is working out why the sciatic nerve is irritated or trapped and working on a plan to rehabilitate the spine and pelvis so that the cause of the leg pain is alleviated.  We always aim to do this through conservative care with chiropractic and message therapy where possible, rather than resorting to drugs or surgery.

Shoulder pain is incredibly common, and the most common form of shoulder pain is ‘impingement’ on the top and front of the shoulder joint.  This will often result in reduced movement, especially in overhead tasks and behind the back.  Our chiropractors and sports massage therapists will perform a range of tests to narrow down the affected tissues in the shoulder.  Most shoulder injuries will require some muscle work and exercises simply because they are very ‘muscular’ joints.  However, cases of frozen shoulder and impingement will often have a spinal and collar bone component.  Whatever the cause of your shoulder pain, our practitioners will assess you thoroughly before offering a bespoke plan for your care.

We see a lot of sports injuries in clinic, ranging from sprained ankles to bad falls and subluxated ribs.  If you are unsure of how to proceed, we would recommend seeing one of our chiropractors for a consultation and examination where we can work out what sort of injury you have gone through.  Chiropractors are primary healthcare practitioners (like GPs) and so we can diagnose sports injuries and refer as appropriate.  Often, our sports massage therapists are an invaluable adjunct to care, and are able to massage the soft tissues, allowing your body to recover and heal.

We are fortunate to see lots of pregnant women at Relief, and we are happy to see them throughout pregnancy from 1-9 months.  There is no contraindication to chiropractic in pregnancy, and we are confident in supporting mothers during what should be a wonderful and special time.  In the early stages, mothers sometimes experience back pain, as well as throughout the process of growth and change.  Women’s bodies change significantly during this time, and we are very keen on our pregnant ladies feeling confident in their birth plan.  Stress on the pelvis and surrounding structures has a big effect on birth and we would love our patients to have the best experience.

At Relief Chiropractic Health Clinic, we see a lot of families once people realise the benefits of care for themselves.  We are very grateful to see lots of babies and children, for a range of reasons from colic, crying, indigestion, difficulty feeding and general failure to thrive.  Of course, there can be many reasons for all of these ailments, and only some of them will be because of stress on the spine.  However, we have seen wonderful changes to mood, sleep and function in practice, and we can quickly work out if chiropractic might be able to help.

With our modern lifestyles, postural problems are becoming more common.  Forward head posture for example (or ‘text neck’) puts pressure on the middle and upper neck, often leading to some of the headaches and neck pain we see in practice.  As well as chiropractic adjustments to relieve stress and improve motion, people often need advice on work and home postures so that they can reinforce good habits.  This allows them to stabilise the issue and avoid things slipping back.  Our patients also often notice that whilst they are getting treatment, their posture dramatically improves.