How our practice works
The what, why and how of Alive Chiropractic Clinic
Why we do what we do in the way we do it, and the road we walked to get to this point. First, a little background about me.
Spoleto, Italy
How I became a Chiropractor
I come from a small town called Spoleto. It’s in Umbria, the central region of Italy. After highschool, I went to Uni and studied philosophy for 5 years. For my Master’s, I graduated with a psychology of cognitive processes dissertation on the concept of causality. After Uni, I left Italy and went to Melbourne, Australia, where I enrolled in a PhD program which I never completed. I guess I realised that being an academic was not exactly what I wanted to do. Following Australia, I spent a couple of years traveling by myself. I was practicing and teaching yoga at the time, and it was in India that due to an injury on my left knee, I visited a chiropractor. Although British, he was living in India at the time and practicing Gonstead chiropractic in Mysore. He lent me a book (which I still remember perfectly, called “In the footsteps of Dr. G”) which was a biography of Clarence Gonstead, one of the greatest chiropractors of all times. I got totally fascinated by chiropractic, becasue it was matching with my view on the body I got from yoga, but on a deeper level. Rob suggested me to visit the AECC in Bournemouth, the college where he studied more than a decade back. Funny enough, Rob now lives in Italy, and I live in the UK. Anyway, this is how it all started.
My need to know more about the human body and how it works led me to enroll in a 5 years full time course at the AECC. The course was really intense and it required lots of dedication. To legally practice with the title of chiropractor in the UK, a 5 years full time course is required, plus registration with the General Chiropractic Council (more about licensing HERE).
Practice room at the AECC in Bournemouth
After graduation I gained experience working for a very busy clinic in Wiltshire, and after a while I felt that it was about time to set up on my own. In my opinion, it had to be in a special place, and this is why I chose Poundbury. Alive Chiropractic opened its door in July 2022 and it continues to expand and to serve the community of Dorchester, Weymouth, Bridport and nearby areas with passion, dedication and enthusiasm.
Our concept of health and chiropractic
For me, chiropractic is the science and art of what’s natural. I believe nature is the force that regulates life, and health is the natural result of its expression. This reflect in how me and the people close to me conduct their lifestyle, starting from nutrition, movement, and so forth.
Everyday, I try to reduce to the minimum the impact of modern life daily stressors, whether chemical, structural or emotional. And this is not because I value health and life above everything (even though I do) but because I believe that by following nature and its laws, I can live a happier life. However, this does not mean I ignore science. Our progress as human beings is largely due to science and its developments. I see science as a tool that allows us to verify and enhance nature’s laws. I do believe in science – provided that it’s not dictated by the economy -, but I do not believe in dogma.
Nowadays it is super difficult to live in harmony with nature, especially in the Western world. Our lifestyle it’s sedentary, the food we eat is artificial, we are constantly bombarded by the media. Our attention span decreased dramatically during the last 10 years, creativity seems to slowly lose its importance. All of this creates a situation of “friction” between who we are biologically and how we conduct our life. This friction – in our view – has the potential to create dis-ease.
Chiropractic differs from medicine
One of the first things I always clarify with my clients, is that chiropractic is different from medicine. If we leave on one side life threatening interventions (like heart or brain surgeries, and so on), the vast majority of medical treatments attempt to reduce symptoms, while chiropractic care attempts to produce more life by reducing the underlying cause. So long as there are no deficiencies and toxicities in the body, ease and wellbeing are normal; health is normal and if you lost your health, something must be interfering with its expression. Let’s try to create a list of what this “something” can be.
Chemical stressors
First, the fuel you put in your body. Nutrition. Do you eat proper food, or you stick in the oven whatever cheap ready meal you buy at the supermarket? Do you spend some time actually cooking the food you eat? Is there any nutrition in that food? Do you consume preservatives, colours, antioxidants, thickeners, flavour enhancers, sweeteners, artificial antibiotics (yes, some poultry, eggs, fish, honey and also tap water have antibiotics traces). Do you over do it with sugar? Do you eat too much, too often?
Do you smoke, consume alcohol without moderation? What’s the quality of the air you breathe? Does your mattress contain toxic substances? Do the body wash you use contain toxic substances? Are there pesticides in the food you consume?
I could go on and on. The logic is to reduce chemical toxicity and supply for any chemical deficiency (e.g. vitamin D consumption in the U.K.). Otherwise – in my view – the body does not stand a chance to express health.
Some reading for you:
Omega-3 and Vitamin D Co-Supplementation Improve Depression, Anxiety, and Sleep Quality. Brain and behaviour, 2021.
Joint Impact of Synthetic Chemical and Non-chemical Stressors on Children’s Health. Current environmental health report, 2019
A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020
Micro(nano)plastics pollution and human health: How plastics can induce carcinogenesis to humans? Chemosphere, 2022
Flame retardants in UK furniture increase smoke toxicity more than they reduce fire growth rate. Chemosphere, 2018
Structural stressors
Are you moving enough? Are you moving the right way? Are you sitting for too long? How about the mattress you spend 1/3 of your life on? Do you drive 8 hours a day and have a weak core and glutes? Modern life stressors can have a huge impact on health.
Engaging in regular physical activity profoundly influences our metabolism in a way that promotes overall well-being, both physically and emotionally. This is because human beings are inherently designed to necessitate physical exercise for the expression of good physical and emotional health. Physical activity can be considered a fundamental requirement for humans, and a lack of daily exercise is a primary contributor to the development of chronic physical and emotional conditions.
Scientific evidence supports the idea that exercise serves as a powerful remedy for preventing and managing chronic ailments such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, immune system disorders, cognitive issues, depression, digestive problems, sexual dysfunction, and nearly all other persistent health issues. No pharmaceutical drug has ever matched or will ever match the demonstrated advantages of exercise (or maintaining a healthy diet or cultivating positive mental attitudes).
What’s even better is that exercise doesn’t cost a thing, and its only side effect is an overall enhancement in health and quality of life.
To achieve and sustain good health, it’s imperative to incorporate daily exercise, follow a nutritious diet, and nurture positive mindsets, emotions, and social connections. If you aspire to be healthy and stay healthy, you have to reduce structural stressors and simply move more. There is no alternative.
Exercise more effective, safer and exponentially healthier than antidepressants. British Journal of Sports medicine, 2022.
Acute aerobic exercise‐conditioned serum reduces colon cancer cell proliferation in vitro through interleukin‐6‐induced regulation of DNA damage.International journal of cancer, 2022.
Accelerometer-measured intensity-specific physical activity, genetic risk and incident type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study.
British journal of sport medicine, 2023
Emotional stressors
Emotions – whether positive or negative – modulate our physiology. This is a fact. The old duality of body and mind is finally over. Emotions play a role in cognition, especially memory and learning.
“Our study showed that emotional valence and one’s physical condition negatively influenced one another, while fatigue and pain positively affected each other. These findings suggest that the mind and body interact instantaneously, in addition to providing a possible solution for the recording and management of health using a PHR on a daily basis.” PubMed
“Many disorders originate from stress, especially if the stress is severe and prolonged. The medical community needs to have a greater appreciation for the significant role that stress may play in various diseases and then treat the patient accordingly using both pharmacological (medications and/or nutraceuticals) and non-pharmacological (change in lifestyle, daily exercise, healthy nutrition, and stress reduction programs) therapeutic interventions. ” PubMed
Your nervous system controls everything
It does. It controls and regulates every cell of your body. Since somehow you lost your health, your nervous system is probably involved. Stress can overload your nervous system especially if protracted over time. As we listed above, the 3 main stressors we consider are chemical, structural and emotional. Which one you consider to put more pressure on you?
In order to accomodate stress, your body responds with adaptations, modifications; we call these adaptations “subluxations”. The spine and the skull are structures which are meant to protect the nervous system and the first to be affected.
Steps to recovery
Examination
Its purpose is to accurately listen and investigate your past medical history and present problems. If chiropractic can help you, we will tell you. If chiropractic can’t help you, we will tell you and possibly refer you to the best specialist or to your GP. If further investigations are needed (imaging such as x-rays, etc), we will refer you either to your GP or to a private clinic.
Care plan
Your care plan will be designed to get to where you want to be, in the shortest time possible. A series of adjustments might be needed; adjustments do not treat your symptoms. How you feel is important and will always be aknowledged, but the aim of the adjustment is not to reduce your symptoms rather to put your body in the best place possible so that it can express its innate healing abilities. As such, consistent visits will help retrain your spine; each visit is built upon the previous one. It is you that control the speed of your recovery, by attending visits but as importantly by implementing those changes that are necessary to remove pressure on your nervous system. The choice to continue or stop care is always up to you.
Maintenance
Usually people visit the clinic for maintenance care. The goal of maintenance care is maintain and prevent relapses. Like anything in life, your body requires maintenance. We believe that getting adjusted regularly is part of what we call maintenance care (paired with those lifestyle modifications that by then, will be in place).
Edoardo Elisei DC
Alive Chiropractic LTD
alivechiropractic.co.uk
1C Crown Gate Square
POUNDBURY
01305602314
“The beauty about chiropractic is the fact that it works with natural means. It puts nothing new into the body nor does it take away any natural gland or organ. Chiropractic simply releases life forces within the body, and lets nature do her work in a normal manner”.
Chiropractic care has been proven to be effective in managing a long list of conditions like sciatica, lower back pain, neck pain, headaches/migraines and much more. If you have any question, get in touch with our Poundbury clinic team; we will reply within a few hours.
If you are looking for a chiropractor in Dorchester, Alive Chiropractic team is ready to help you.
