THEY say prevention is better than cure - and preventing their patients coming back with health problems is top of the agenda for chiropractors Jorgen Rasmussen and Stefan Nilsson.

The pair have been working together to heal the bad backs, sore necks and persistent headaches and migraines of the citizens of Henley since they set up practice together last August, and their aim is to make sure their patients leave after a course of treatments fully healed and aware of what they can change in their lifestyle to make sure the aches and pains do not recur.

The Henley Chiropractic Centre in West Lane is an amalgamation of two separate clinics that previously served the town The House Of Good Health where Stefan worked for 10 years, and the Henley Chiropractic Clinic which was established 15 years ago by Jorgen.

“What we did is pretty much to take the best out of the two worlds and merged them into a new chiropractic clinic,” said Jorgen.

“This is now a purpose-built building for chiropractic care, right in the middle of Henley, next to the GP surgeries and Townlands Hospital.


“We are in quite a unique position here because we can offer a fantastic service, and we have our own car parking facilities. All the treatment rooms are on the ground floor and we have full disabled access, and our aim is to create a centre of excellence when it comes to managing musculo-skeletal injuries.”

Most of the patients who attend the clinic present with a back ache, neck ache, a trapped nerve or other common complaints such as sciatica and shoulder pains, they explained.

“Spinal problems and back ache are very, very common,” said Stefan.

“They affect a vast number of the public out there, and it’s very important that these patients are being seen quickly and they get given effective treatment.”

Other common complaints that can be dealt with by chiropractic treatment include persistent migraines or headaches and sports injuries, as well as physical trauma following a road traffic accident, such as whiplash.

“Chiropractic care has now been mentioned in many government studies and, since 2009, is also the recommended treament for back pain far as the National Institute of Clinical Excellence is concerned,” added Stefan.

“This is a massive step forward. The chiropractic position has now been recognised based on the results we have been getting with our patients.”

When a patient first arrives at the clinic with, say, a persistent back ache, there are three steps in the process to getting them better.

The initial stage is focused on managing the symptoms, reduce inflammatory responses in the body that cause swelling and therefore pain.

The second is to stabilise the condition and try to find out what caused the pain to start in the first place - this could be poor posture at work or faulty office furniture (or ergonomics) or other lifestyle factors such as excessive stress may be contributory factors.

Once these have been established the team works with the patients to change the set of circumstances that caused the problem.

“Finally, we help maintain the progress made and assist the patient in making sure the problem does not recur as they go through stressful periods and events in their lives,” said Jorgen.

“One of our responsibilities is to take the patient through the different phases of recovery. Preventing something coming back is what we pride ourselves on.

“We like to think we address the different aspects of health, in an holistic approach.

“Our aim is to get sick people well and keep healthy people healthy. We do our best to achieve that.”

The centre team also includes a chiropodist, acupuncurist, massage therapist, nutritional expert, hypnotherapist and psychotherapist.

For information visit www.henleychiropractic.co.uk

Published 11/03/13