Sarah Smith was sceptical when her doctor referred her to a chiropractor but after the treatments she felt like a new woman. Sarah was suffering from severe pain in her arm and went to see County Down chiropractor Dr Helen Worthington.
"I heard about the services Helen offered from my GP", she said. "I was referred to her after I had a really, really sore shoulder and arm".
And Sarah admits that while she was in pain she was dubious about the process.
"I wasn't sure at the beginning if it would work but Helen was very reassuring", said Sarah. "I had heard of this kind of treatment before but because it was a private practice I thought they would try and sell me anything, then tell you it works brilliantly only for it to cost a fortune, so I was a bit sceptical".
But Sarah found the treatments made a real difference to her ailments. She said: "It really helped my problem. I would definitely recommend it to other people".
Chiropractic is an independent branch of medicine which specialises in the diagnosis and treatment of mechanical and structural disorders of the musculoskeletal system, which is the muscular system and the skeleton. Chiropractic offers gentle and effective relief from a variety of problems including back pain, headaches, sciatica, arthritic pain, whiplash and migraines. These symptoms can be caused by accidents, poor posture, lack of exercise, illness, daily stress and general wear and tear but by restoring normal function to the musculoskeletal system, chiropractic can help relieve these symptoms.
Sarah hopes more therapies like this can be made available on the NHS. She said: "I feel really sad now that it has stopped on the NHS because I can see the problem reoccurring again, and to be able to financially afford the treatment is out of the question at the minute."
*Name has been changed