Chiropractic Care

Healing Horizons Integrated Health Solutions

Grand Junction, CO

Mountain Valley Chiropractic: Dr. Joseph Heinecke

Dr. Joseph Heinecke bases his care on specific, scientific chiropractic adjustments. His goal with this care is to gently reduce and remove interference from your nervous system, known as subluxation. A subluxation is a misalignment of a vertebrae or other joint in the body that interferes with nervous system function which may cause pain and organ system dysfunction.

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Your body has an “innate” ability to be healthy, so long as the controlling mechanism, the nervous system, is free from interference. Subluxations are a major cause of interference to the function of your nervous system. With time and repetition, our goal is to correct subluxations and allow your body to return to good health naturally and without drugs.

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Reading and Interpreting X-Rays/Imaging

Before beginning care or while under the course of care it may be necessary to refer you to a qualified professional to take x-rays or other imaging to assess the condition of your spine or other specified area of anatomy. You may also present with recent, outside imaging and have it professionally read or interpreted by Dr. Heinecke.

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Techniques and Specialties offered by Dr. Heinecke:

• Activator

• Full Spine/Diversified (Manual Adjusting)

• Cranial Adjusting, TMJ

• Manual Muscle Testing, Applied Kinesiology

• Pregnancy

• Pediatrics

• Reading/Interpreting X-rays/imaging

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Alleviate symptoms through total wellness care:

Activator Adjusting Instrument:

The activator is a spring loaded hand-held instrument that delivers a gentle, consistent, low force, high impulse thrust that realigns the joints of the body such as the spine, knees, feet, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Activator technique is one of the most researched techniques in chiropractic.  Some patients prefer it to an “osseous adjustment” in which noise commonly referred to as “popping” can be heard coming from the joint after an adjustment by hand.  There are 6 different settings that range in the amount of thrust that given which allows for gentle care ranging from infants to elderly and everyone in-between.

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Full Spine/Diversified/Manual Adjusting: 
Full spine adjusting is a hands-on technique in which the doctor places his or her hands in a specific manner over a joint in the spine or other area of related anatomy and delivers a quick gentle force or sustained contact to the joint to restore motion and remove interference or irritation to the nerve or nervous system.  Full spine technique is just like it sounds.  The entire spine including neck, mid-back, lower back, pelvis and sacrum are evaluated for misalignments or subluxations and adjusted accordingly.  Often a “pop” is heard upon adjusting of the joint.  This is gas that is escaping from fluid inside the joints called synovial fluid.  A similar analogy is like unscrewing a lid on a carbonated drink and watching gas bubbles escape and hearing the noise that goes along with it. Manual adjustments can be extremely effective for long-standing misalignments in which a joint is extremely locked. This technique is also highly researched and is completely safe for all ages.

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Specialized techniques are used:
For children and pediatrics in which very little pressure is used and is often a sustained contact to the joint rather than a thrust.  the anatomy of their spines and joints are different requiring different techniques that are used on adolescence and adults.

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Muscle Testing/ Applied Kinesiology:
Please refer to the original inserted hyperlink.  It takes you to the Applied Kinesiology website which gives a full description and access to research articles on muscle testing.

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Pregnancy: 
Spinal and pelvic adjustments can reduce or resolve pregnancy discomforts such as back pain, hip pain, sciatica, and heartburn. 

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Reading/Interpreting X-rays: 
Professional reading and interpretation of X-rays, either brought with the patient from an outside source or as a direct referral while under care. X-rays are sometimes needed to fully diagnose a condition and help to provide the appropriate course of care. 

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Migraine Headaches: 
Millions of Americans suffer from chronic headaches including Migraines.  These headaches can be completely debilitating and ruin a person’s quality of life.  Misalignments to the upper neck can cause disruption to the nerve and blood supply to the entire head.  A specific nerve called the Trigeminal nerve is often involved with most headaches. Misalignments to the spine affect this nerves ability to properly function. Chiropractic adjustments restore proper motion to the bones of the neck which allows for proper nerve function and normal blood flow.  Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to have a significant positive impact on those suffering with all types of headaches including Migraine headaches.

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Chronic Pain: 
Chronic pain comes in many forms. Sometimes it is a result of an acute injury and in other cases ensues over a long period of time.  Chronic pain prevents people from participating in most of the activities they enjoy.  We experience pain because of the millions of nerves in our body that sense tissue damage or are irritated themselves and communicate this message to the brain.  Nerves have been classified into three main types: A, B, and C nerves.

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A and B nerves are our largest nerves: 
They have a layer of insulation around them called myelin.  Myelin helps to speed the message along the nerve at very fast rates.  These nerves are responsible for carrying messages from the brain to every organ, tissue and cell in our bodies.  These nerves allow us to sense pleasure and help to orient us to gravity allowing for proper balance as well as allow us to move our muscles.  These nerves become smaller over time and diminish in size as we age.  This is one of the main reasons that maintaining balance becomes more difficult as we become older.  C nerves are our pain sensing nerves.  They are the smallest nerves and only account for about 10% of our nervous system.  These nerves never change in size or frequency.  As a result, over time we have less signals making it to our brain that are responsible for pleasure and orientation to gravity, but the same amount of pain signals making it to the brain.  The result:  We are in more pain as we age, and we are more likely to suffer an unintentional fall.

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Chiropractic adjustments restore normal motion: 
To joints and helps maintain the health and functioning of our nervous system.  Adjustments stimulate A and B nerve function so that more signals from these nerves are making it to the brain.  The result:  We are in less pain but we also have proper nerve supply to the organs cells and tissues of our body.  We can process orientation to gravity better which results in better balance and less chance of a fall.

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Digestive Problems: 
Digestive problems have wide range of names and symptoms.  Acid reflux, indigestion, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, constipation, diarrhea, improper gallbladder function just to name a few.  Nerves that exit the spinal cord in the upper neck, midback and lower back control the function of our digestive organs.  If there are misalignments or subluxations in the bones of the spinal column, this can have a negative impact on the functioning of our digestive organs. A couple examples include the gallbladder dysfunction resulting in abdominal pain or pain that travels to the midback between the shoulder blades, the ileocecal valve,  a circular muscle connecting our small and large intestines, which can result in constipation or diarrhea, the lower esophageal sphincter, a circular muscle that sits on the top of the stomach which opens to allow food into the stomach and closes to prevent stomach acid or food from going up into the esophagus. If this muscle does not close all the way acid reflux or heartburn is a very common result.

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Chiropractic adjustments restore proper motion:
To the bones of the spine which results in proper nervous system function and thus proper nerve supply to digestive organs.  Many digestive complaints resolve because of chiropractic care.  Food is broken down into its basic building blocks and properly assimilated by the body so that cells and tissues can be properly nourished and have the nutrition they need to function at their highest level. 

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Dizziness/Vertigo: 
Some experts believe that more than 40 percent of Americans will experience dizziness/vertigo that is serious enough to go to a doctor. Even dizziness that seems minor, if undiagnosed, may be a signal of underlying disorders. Dizziness/vertigo problems are among the most common reasons that older adults seek help from a doctor. Many people are surprised to learn that the source of their dizziness may be because of an inner ear or vestibular problem. Dizziness due to a vestibular dysfunction are reported in about 9 percent of the population who are 65 years of age or older. Fall-related injuries due to dizziness or imbalance such as breaking (or fracturing) a hip are a leading cause of death and disability in older individuals. Some dizziness and balance conditions are also due to neurological conditions like Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Brainstem strokes (TIA), and Cervical vertigo. Other miscellaneous conditions that cause dizziness and balance problems can be psychological disturbances, post-traumatic vertigo, and post-partum vertigo.

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Specific screening test such as the Epley’s procedure is used to identify and help correct certain causes of dizziness such as BPPH and other vestibular causes.   Chiropractic adjustments help restore proper nerve supply to the cerebellum of the brain and inner ear which are major balance centers.

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Eye movements and eye movement processing can also be a factor in some cases of dizziness in which the cranial nerves responsible for eye movements are not functioning correctly and lead to visual processing problems.  Specific upper cervical chiropractic adjustments paired with eye movements help restore proper visual processing and acuity resulting in resolved dizziness.

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Fibromyalgia: 
Fibromyalgia is a muscular condition that leads to widespread pain throughout various muscles of the body.  It often creates very sensitive or painful touch.  One cause is thought to be the result of overactive nerves.  Nerves are hypersensitive to stimulation and fire off pain signals into the brain.  Also, blood vessels that supply the muscles are effected and create additional pain.  These blood vessels are controlled by our sympathetic nervous system, also known as our fight or flight nervous system.

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Specific chiropractic adjustments restore balance and remove interference:
From the nervous system.  This results in balance between our sympathetic (fight/flight) and our para-sympathetic nervous system (rest/digest).  Blood vessels function normally resulting in proper blood flow to muscles with less cramping and pain.  Specific supplementation can also greatly benefit fibromyalgia sufferers.  A combined approach often results in greatly improved or a complete resolution of symptoms.