Littlehampton Natural Health Centre
Welcome to the Littlehampton Natural Health Centre, a multidisciplinary clinic offering various health treatments, with our specialist Chiropractor focusing on the treatment of spinal and neurological conditions. Our clinic is based in the town of Littlehampton, close proximity to the beach on the south coast of West Sussex. Our practitioners are passionate about promoting natural health and well-being through a positive lifestyle – this includes healthy eating, regular exercise, and regular Chiropractic adjustments. Not to worry if this doesn’t sound like your current lifestyle, our Chiropractor is here to help! Our Chiropractor specialises in Chiropractic care for the whole family, providing Chiropractic adjustments and education on how to maintain a healthy body.
Welcome To Chiropractic!
When visiting our clinic in Littlehampton you will be greeted with a big smile by our receptionist! We invite you to make yourself feel at home in our waiting area while you wait. We advise all our patients to arrive at least 5 minutes prior to their appointment; this will allow time to settle into the clinic before the start of an appointment.
We have plenty of on-street parking located in close proximity to the clinic, directly out the front of our clinic and many roads surrounding, making access and parking for our patients easy and stress-free.
If it’s your first Chiropractic appointment, or we haven’t seen you for a few years, we like to spend some time getting to know you, or catching up on your life and health situation. This will include an informal chat, a personal history (including details on any past injuries, current medication, and any related conditions), and of course your reason for visiting the clinic. Once we have all the relevant information, your Chiropractor will assess your spine and perform tests to find out the root cause of your symptoms. We will then explain our findings and the necessary stages to help you return to normal function. If you and your Chiropractor are both happy to proceed and no further information is required, a relief adjustment will then be offered at your first appointment.
Our Specialities
Our Chiropractor doesn’t just specialise in one area, they have expert knowledge and experience in many areas including;
- Family Care
- Pregnancy Care
- Sports Injury
- Neck Pain
- Lower Back Pain
- Headaches
- Sciatica
- Arm Pain
- Leg Pain
What is Chiropractic?
Chiropractic is a technique for adjusting the spine to promote alignment. Skilled chiropractors can assess the spine, identify the areas experiencing the most stress, restriction, and irritation, and develop a rehabilitation plan to restore the spine's normal function. When the spine ceases to move, balance, and function as it should, this puts extra pressure on the joints, muscles, and nerves, reducing your ability to function and causing a range of symptoms, such as pain, stiffness, muscle tension, weakness, and tingling.
Chiropractic is a fusion of science and philosophy aimed at optimizing the body's performance. Through precise and targeted adjustments, chiropractors strive to improve the biomechanical health of the spine by achieving spinal alignment. Every day, countless individuals visit chiropractors to maintain their health, enhance their flexibility, and improve their posture for a better quality of life and athletic performance.
Our Patients
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.
What is the cause of your Symptoms?
Your nervous system controls and regulates every movement and every process in your body. Misalignments in your spine can cause interferences with your nervous system, leading to negative effects on your health, and overall performance and in some cases causing symptoms including pain, numbness, pins & needles, and tingling.
Unlike painkillers which can mask your symptoms, Chiropractors look to diagnose the main underlying cause and treat these accordingly. To find the cause we take a full history, and perform a physical, this can include a neurological, cardiovascular, abdominal, and respiratory screening, range of motion testing, and gait evaluation. Should the Chiropractor determine that further investigation is necessary, we can easily refer you for diagnostic X-Ray imaging locally. There may be times when we may need to refer you back to your GP for further tests.
Your Chiropractor will use effective adjustments to help correct any misalignments and encourage your body’s own healing mechanisms.
Meet our Chiropractors
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.
Common Symptoms
Patients visit Chiropractors with a variety of symptoms. Here you can find out more about some of the most common symptoms, what their potential causes are and how your Chiropractor can help.
Here is a list of our most common symptoms...
Neck Pain
Sciatica
Middle Back Pain
Headaches
Lower Back Pain
Hip Pain
Book Your First Appointment Online
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.
Checklist for New or Returning Patients:
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.
First Appointment - Initial Consultation
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.
X-Ray Referral
When necessary we are able to refer you locally for diagnostic X-Ray imaging. The clinic we refer to has the most up-to-date onsite digital X-Ray facilities to help us assess and diagnose the underlying causes of your symptoms. For the most part, Chiropractors rely on specific tests and palpation skills to diagnose the cause of your symptoms. However, there may be situations where the Chiropractor decides an X-Ray is required.
X-Ray imaging can be used to investigate almost any area of the body for reasons including:
- Trauma Injuries – any broken or fractured bones, swelling, or dislocations will need to be confirmed before any form of treatment can start.
- Scoliosis – undiagnosed scoliosis will need to be confirmed by X-Ray to find out the full extent of any structural changes.
- Degeneration – if your Chiropractor suspects you may have some degeneration such as arthritis this can be confirmed through X-Ray imaging.
- Infections – any serious infections which could be causing damage can usually be picked up on X-Ray.
Report of Findings
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.
What Does Treatment Involve?
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!
FREE Spine Check
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.
Book Your 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.
What's Next?
If after your consultation and examination, your Chiropractor is satisfied that they are able to help you and you would like to start your Chiropractic journey, they will then explain the next stages. This could include a more thorough examination of your spine, or any need to refer for diagnostic imaging (X-Ray or MRI). Once they have all the information required, they will look to perform their first adjustment. If you do decide to proceed with an adjustment or any diagnostic images, these will be chargeable and any costs will be discussed fully with you prior to proceeding.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Chiropractic is a method of spinal adjustments which aims to encourage alignment of the spine. The philosophy used by Chiropractors looks at the principle that better spinal alignment leads to an improvement in health, flexibility, performance, and a reduction in pain. Every day thousands of people visit Chiropractors as a way to stay healthy, increase flexibility and improve posture for a better life and sports performance. No. We view every client on an individual basis and formulate treatment plans to suit them. On some visits there may only be one or two areas that require adjustments, however, sometimes the many areas of the spine and other parts of the body (wrists, shoulders, elbows, etc) may require attention. 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. Chiropractors have to complete a 5-year Integrated Masters in Chiropractic (MChiro). Over the course of this degree, they study human anatomy, physiology, biochemistry neuroscience, pharmacology, pathology, behavioral science, musculoskeletal medicine, biomechanics, imaging & referral, clinical neurology, general medicine, differential diagnosis, patient assessment, and philosophy. Over the five years, Chiropractors develop their practical skills by working on patient assessment, physical screening, and safe effective adjustments. Once qualified the learning doesn’t stop, the General Chiropractic Council stipulates Chiropractors must complete 30 hours of CPD (continuing professional development) each year, which includes further training courses, research, and many other learning activities. No. We view every client on an individual basis and formulate treatment plans to suit them. On some visits there may only be one or two areas that require adjustments, however, sometimes the entire spine and other parts of the body may require attention. Around 80% of women will experience back pain during pregnancy with 25% also experiencing SPD (symphysis pubis dysfunction). Chiropractic adjustments can help make pregnancy more comfortable by reducing pain and lessening feelings of nausea, headaches, and fatigue. Yes. Your Chiropractor has completed over 5 years of training and has years of experience in practice. Chiropractors are experts in assessing and correcting dysfunction in the spine. Chiropractors also have to complete a minimum of 30 hours of CPD (continual professional development) each year, to keep up to date with the latest research and techniques. No. Self-adjusting can be dangerous. So that you can better help yourself and speed up recovery, your Chiropractor might recommend a selection of exercises, stretches, and lifestyle changes. If you are currently cracking your own spine, we would recommend stopping and seeking help from a registered professional.
Why do Chiropractors focus on the Nervous System?
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
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Conveniantly Located in Littlehampton, West Sussex
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