Let’s set the scene and have a very quick look at the spine.

The spine is made up of boney blocks called vertebra which stack on top of each other like a Lego tower.  Between these vertebral levels, there are nerves coming out of either side and, as a network of highways, these nerves travel throughout your body.  The purpose of this ‘highway of nerves’ is actually to allow your brain to communicate with the rest of your body and give it instructions.  These bits of information stemming from the brain, are sent down to the spinal cord (housed in your vertebral column) and ultimately to your nerves networking around your body.

Your brain controls every aspect of your living.  It controls your breathing, your hormonal levels, digestion, movement, repair, growth, immunity and much more.

If your body is not moving correctly, your spine doesn’t move correctly.  When your spine doesn’t move correctly, it puts a lot of pressure on the nerves in your body and stops the brain from sending its vital messages out.

When there is pressure on these nerves, your body starts to breakdown a lot of functional processes because it isn’t getting accurate/complete messages.  This shows up in many ways and some of these are in the form of pain, headaches, digestive issues, difficulty dealing with stress, slow or difficult movement, decreased mental alertness and many other physical symptoms.

Our main goal as Chiropractors is to take the pressure off the nervous system and allow the brain to communicate freely with the body using gentle Chiropractic techniques at specific joint levels.  All body systems can then work at peak performance, movement is easier, and pain is decreased because the body is not in a constant stress mode.

• Better joint movement
• Joint pain management
• Improved posture
• Slowing down of joint degeneration
• Increased energy and better sleep
• Enhancing your body’s ability to repair and heal
• Better brain function
• Improved stress management

After going through vigorous acceptance criteria, interviews and aptitude tests, if successful, students can be accepted into a Chiropractic study programme.  These training programmes are offered in only 2 places in South Africa, these being The University of Johannesburg and The Durban Institute of Technology.

Students are put through a 6-year undergraduate Masters’ degree programme wherein they have to be found both competent and pass every subject of the programme.  Subjects include human anatomy and full-body dissection, chemistry, physics, biochemistry, diagnostics, biomechanics, psychology studies, orthopaedic and neurology studies, pathology, x-ray and other imaging studies and many more.

In their fifth and sixth years, students study advanced neurology, orthopaedic and diagnostic procedures. They are also required to work in the clinic, treating patients to fulfil a certain number of patient requirements, complete a Master’s dissertation and then finally complete an internship programme.  Most students take anywhere from 6 to 8 years to complete this.  Upon completion, students qualify with a Master’s Degree in Chiropractic and may begin working.