Chiropractic in Littlehampton

There are many reasons why patients come and visit the clinic. Some will originally visit us with symptoms such as back pain, neck pain, headaches, or arthritis, but once they are well again, many will keep coming back as the Chiropractic care they receive makes them feel great!

At the Littlehampton Natural Health Centre, we have many families visiting the clinic for regular adjustments – this includes babies, children, Mum, Dad, Grandma, and Grandad, everyone is welcome! 

We are passionate about sports! Not only do we see patients for sports injuries, but also lots of patients who understand how Chiropractic care can improve performance in their chosen sport. Many top athletes have Chiropractors as part of their team to help them stay aligned to maintain their optimum performance. 

Chiropractic is a mainstream healthcare profession that helps people from all walks of life.

We are a diverse team at Littlehampton Natural Health Centre, offering a fresh approach to health and well-being. We understand that one approach isn’t always what's needed and often a multi-disciplinary treatment plan can be more effective at achieving your long-term health aspirations. 

Dr Alex Liu - Chiropractor

Alex (Xinyue) was born in China, where she originally trained as a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor. Knowing that she wanted to offer more to her patients, Alex decided to move to the USA to spend an additional four years achieving her Doctorate in Chiropractic from Palmer College of Chiropractic, whilst completing additional training in Functional Medicine and Sports Chiropractic. 

Coming from a medical background, Alex dedicated years to seeking holistic, integrated, proactive options for health and well-being. Being a Chiropractor has given her the opportunity to offer those options to her patients.

In her free time Alex enjoys cooking for family and loved ones, and staying active with hiking, yoga and gym.

Alex has many years of experience in treating patients of all ages and backgrounds, from children with early signs of scoliosis to seniors after joint replacement, headaches, migraines, neck pain, back pain, sciatica and much more.

If you are ready to start your journey back to health, you can book your First Chiropractic Appointment in multiple ways. You can either call our friendly reception team on 01903 734373, or you can click the link below to go to our Online Booking page. The ability to book online isn't just available for new patients, this can also be used to book future adjustment appointments, allowing you the flexibility to book appointments at your leisure and from anywhere. 

After booking your appointment, you will be sent 2 emails; the first will simply confirming your appointment is booked. The second will include a link where you can complete your New Patient Intake questionnaire, completing this prior to your appointment will allow your Chiropractor to review the information before sitting down to consult with you. 

Book First Appointment    Call To Book - 01903734373

If it is your first time visiting the clinic, or if you haven’t seen us for a few years, we like to spend some time going through your current and previous health and lifestyle, catching up and ensuring we have a full view of your history. Below are some of the details you will need to complete on your Online Intake Form, or will need to bring along to your New Patient Appointment.

• List of current medications and dosage
• Details of diagnosed conditions (including dates)
• Details of operations and other medical procedures (including dates)

If you are able to complete the Online Intake Form prior to the appointment, this will give your Chiropractor enough time to review these details prior to your appointment. If not, your Chiropractor will run through these with you at your appointment and have the opportunity to review them in-depth prior to your Report of Findings appointment, more information about these initial appointments is discussed below.

Your Chiropractic journey starts here... when you book your first appointment we will email you an online health questionnaire, helping your Chiropractor to build a complete picture of who you are and why you are coming to see us. When you visit the clinic we will ask you to complete one more form, giving your Chiropractor as much information about your symptoms and reason for visiting the clinic. 

Your Chiropractor will then consult with you about your symptoms, how they started, what makes them better or worse, discuss any previous treatment you have tried and ask some specific questions to help them determine their next course of action. Once your Chiropractor is happy they have all of the information about you and your symptoms, they will then proceed with the physical examination. 

The physical examination will often start with an assessment of your spine, checking the alignment, movement and overall joint condition throughout your spine. Chiropractors are experts in locating areas of dysfunction in the spine, using their trained hands to palpate each spinal joint, applying a combination of gentle and firm pressure around the spine. They will also assess your muscle tension, check for any areas of inflammation or swelling and if needed will perform more advanced physiological and neurological testing.

Following your examination, it may be necessary to refer you for x-ray imaging to help us determine the underlying causes of your symptoms and ensure it is both safe and appropriate to continue with care. These x-rays will then help to form our rationale for care and ensure you are getting the most appropriate care based on your spinal condition. 

Once your Chiropractor is happy they have all the necessary information to assess your case, they will discuss their initial findings, and if you are both happy they will often want to perform the first adjustment. This adjustment is treated as part of the examination, as once the Chiropractor has located the joints in your spine which are causing your symptoms, they will then want to feel how your joints move and how they respond to being adjusted. 

After your first adjustment, your Chiropractor will need to go away and study all of their notes, the findings of the physical examination, your health history, and if available any x-ray images. This will then allow them to create a treatment plan aimed and rehabilitating your spine, restoring your function, and addressing your symptoms.

Following your New Patient Appointment, your Chiropractor will spend time studying their notes and findings from your appointment. This will include studying your intake form (which includes all of your health histories), primary complaint form (which includes information about all of your symptoms and reason for visiting us), all of their notes from your consultation, the findings of your physical examination, and if you have needed X-Rays they will need to study these in detail. If you have had X-Rays, these images are sent to a Medical Radiologist for a second opinion and to ensure nothing is ever missed.

Having studied your case fully and compiled all of this information together, your Chiropractor will then form the most appropriate treatment plan aimed at rehabilitating your spinal motion, restoring your function, and addressing your symptoms. These treatment plans are different for each patient and typically follow this rough structure;

Phase 1; the first phase of care is typically focused on restoring motion to areas of the spine that your Chiropractor has determined are the most fixated, out-of-alignment, or in the most amount of dysfunction. This will often include specific at-home stretches to encourage and maintain optimal joint motion between each of your Chiropractic adjustments. This first phase of care is typically the most intensive phase of care, lasting from 4 to 8 weeks and with adjustments 1 to 3 times per week. The exact frequency and length of the first phase are determined on a case-by-case basis and personalised to your recovery plan.

Phase 2; following successful completion of the initial phase of care, you will then move into the second phase, which is focused on increasing strength and stability to your spine, most importantly the areas which have needed the most amount of work during the first phase, or the areas which are the weakest in your spine and core. To complement the stretches in the first phase, your Chiropractor will often recommend various strengthening exercises to help increase muscular tone, strength, and stability throughout your body. This second phase of care is typically at a lesser frequency of adjustments, lasting from 4 to 8 weeks and with adjustments 1 time per week. The exact frequency and length of the second phase are determined by how you have responded to the first phase of care and personalised to your recovery plan.

Phase 3; by the end of the second phase of care, we would expect the majority of patients to have their symptoms under control, experience increased flexibility, and improved ability, feel stronger and more stable, and overall experience higher levels of well-being. The third phase of care is different for each individual, we typically have two directions from this point; some patients will be discharged at this stage, with either your chiropractor or yourself feeling like they have achieved everything you wanted. For those not continuing treatment, we still suggest a continuation of regular stretching and strengthening exercises to maintain your progress. In some cases, a maintenance schedule of care can be recommended, aimed at maintaining your spinal motion and alignment over a longer period of time. This can be important in cases where we have found evidence of joint degeneration, as these areas can be prone to stiffening and becoming dysfunctional far quicker, and can be harder to self-manage through only stretches and exercises. At the end of your second phase of care, your Chiropractor will consult with you on all options, allowing you to make an informed decision on the best path forwards for yourself.

Chiropractic treatment can involve many different forms of care. For the most part treatment centers around specific spinal adjustments aimed at restoring optimal neurological function by increasing motion in your spine, alignment of the joints of your spine, and decompressing the spine; allowing your body to heal and restore overall function. 

What is a Chiropractic Adjustment? - there are many different styles of Chiropractic adjustment. In summary, Chiropractors are trained spinal health professionals, specialising in providing specific movement to the spinal joints, with high velocity (quick), with low amplitude (small depth), aimed at opening a particular joint of the spine and encouraging natural movement through it. Chiropractors look to retrain spinal motion and alignment by performing these specific adjustments. These adjustments help to stimulate the nervous system to function optimally, taking pressure off the nerves and surrounding blood vessels, and allowing your body to start healing its joints.

For most patients adjustments are just one part of your treatment plan; your Chiropractor will also provide education, advice on posture, and various exercises and stretches to empower you to help yourself! 

If you are unsure whether Chiropractic treatment is the right option for you, we would like to invite you to attend a FREE Spine Check appointment. This is an opportunity for you to come and consult with one of our Chiropractors at NO charge. What does the FREE spine check entail and how could it help you?

• Intake Form - prior to the appointment we are going to ask you to complete a new patient intake form, this will provide your Chiropractor with your health and lifestyle background, allowing them to build a complete picture of your health. 
• Primary Complaint Form - this will be completed at the clinic before your appointment, this form focuses on your symptoms and reason for visiting the clinic. It will ask questions about where your symptoms are, what they feel like, when and how they started, and other relevant questions. 
• Consultation - this is where your Chiropractor will discuss your symptoms, and ask leading questions which will help them to gain all relevant and required information to determine the best and most appropriate course of action. 
• Examination - after your chiropractor has all of the information they require, they will then perform a brief examination to assess your spine, it's alignment, and movement and try to determine which areas are causing your symptoms. 
• Explanation of Findings - after your Chiropractor has consulted with you and examined your spine, they will then explain their initial findings and what they recommend next.

The nervous system is the main controller of your body.  It gives you sensation, movement, and control over all your bodily functions. If there is any breakdown in communication between your brain and any part of your body, this can cause dysfunction in the affected area. This dysfunction can present in many ways such as back pain, leg numbness, pins & needles, headaches, muscle weakness, and loss of skin sensation. Chiropractors look to use specific adjustments to correct any breakdowns in your nervous system, thus leading to better communication and less pain, and improved muscle strength.

The nervous system is the brain's way of communicating with the body and the body's way of providing feedback to the brain. This means every movement you make with your body, every process that happens in your body (digestion, hormonal release, etc), is controlled by your brain via messages sent through your nerves. 

However your nerves are not just a one-way messaging system, this is also how your brain receives feedback from the body in the form of sensations; hot, cold, rough, smooth, pain, pleasure etc. It also gives your brain proprioception of your body; awareness of where you are in space - where your arms, and legs are in relation to your body, whether you are standing on your feet or hanging upside down. 

When the nerves get irritated, compressed, or damaged due to issues in the spine, it has a direct impact on these nerve communication pathways; blocking or distorting these messages and leading to various symptoms including; sharp pain, dull aching, shooting pain, numbness, tingling, pins & needles, muscle weakness, loss of muscle reflexes, cold or hot sensations, sciatica, and many more symptom variations. 

Chiropractic treatment can involve many different forms of care. For the most part treatment centers around specific spinal adjustments aimed at restoring optimal neurological function in your spine, motion through the joints of your spine, decompressing these joints, and overall improving the function of your spine. 

For most patients adjustments are just one part of the care plan, we also provide education, exercises, and stretches to empower you to help yourself!

If you’re unsure whether Chiropractic treatment is the right option for you please come in for a FREE Spine Check. To book this FREE Spine Check appointment, please either call us at 01903 734373, or you can Book Online by either clicking the link below or following the steps on this page.

Book Your FREE Spine Check Call To Book - 01903 734373

Look forward to seeing you soon!

- Littlehampton Natural Health Centre