In my more than 35 years of chiropractic practice I’m continually taken aback by people’s combination of a lack of understanding of chiropractic along with their inability to explore their wants and needs with the right chiropractor.
Are you in search of a chiropractor in Grass Valley or Nevada City? Have you considered what you are looking for? Read on…
And, that their lack of understanding often interferes with many taking advantage of chiropractic.
If you are going to use a service, a professional, a tool it makes sense to understand what they can offer you so that you can make an educated decision and gain the greatest benefit from it. If you thought all an electric drill could do was drill holes you would miss its ability to insert or remove screws.
The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow paraphrased a quote saying, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”.
A Culture of Immediate Gratification
We live in a culture that is predisposed to consumption and immediate gratification, from fast food to online shopping. We’ve been conditioned to approach our health in the same way. Here’s what I’m referring to…
Most of us have been led to believe that if we feel good and have minimal symptoms then we are healthy. There are plenty of examples of how we can feel good and be on the verge of death from heart disease to cancer.
And, when we experience symptoms our culture of immediate gratification has us wanting to do whatever we can to experience relief of those symptoms as soon as possible. This happens all too often without regard to the cause of the symptoms.
We have a drug, often an over-the-counter drug that promises quick relief…
…”pop, pop, fizz, fizz oh what a relief it is” Alka Seltzer
…”Excedrin Headache”
…”Imodium AD”
…”pepcid ac”
It’s understandable to want to be comfortable, to desire relief. But, rarely do we stop and ask “At what cost?”. A quick look around reveals the average American over the age of 40 to be in terrible health.
Yet, what is their response to their eroding health and vitality?
More and more prescription drugs, until they are often taking drugs prescribed to alleviate the side effects of other prescriptions.
Here are a couple of posts I’ve made to stimulate your thinking:
So, What Does this Have to Do with Chiropractic?
Everything and nothing! This approach results in the majority of people that I initially see simply seeking relief from whatever pain they are experiencing. That part is understandable.
Yet, that is where most of them stop. Few are really interested up front in determining what the cause of their chronic problems are, if there is a way to correct those problems, and what the long term complications might be.
Let me offer an example or two…
In the past few weeks I’ve seen a few new clients with a combination of acute and chronic lower back and hip issues. Acute in that the presenting issue had been present for a few weeks, and chronic because they have a long history of years with these issues.
These people understandably wanted relief. When we explored their history it was apparent that they’d experienced these symptoms before. What was very telling were the x-rays that revealed significant degenerative arthritis that had developed even though the past episodes of pain were sporadic.
Their reliance on simple symptom relief has resulted in a condition that is going to get progressively worse with greater limitations and more frequent episodes. And, this was largely preventable.
If you are going to use and benefit from Chiropractic how can you get the greatest from it?
3 Critical Ways to Benefit from Chiropractic Care
This is your decision but in order to make an informed decision you should understand what kind of “tool” chiropractic is and what it can be used for.
If you limit chiropractic care to simply pain relief you will never come close to addressing the underlying imbalance that is causing the pain. Over time these imbalances will cause problems that become progressively less reversible.
Even if the problem can’t be prevented or reversed, chiropractic care has the ability to dramatically change the course of chronic issues and positively impact your life.
Critical Way #1: Balance: Let’s use your vehicle as an example of the benefit of balance. If you put on new tires but the wheels are not balanced and the front end is out of alignment those tires will wear out at an accelerated rate and you’ll be lucky to get 50% of the miles they are projected to last.
If your structure starting with your pelvis is not in alignment and balanced it causes a chain reaction of compensations by the body in an attempt to achieve as much balance as possible. What does this result in?
- Accelerated Degenerative Arthritis. This is irreversible. We can slow it down but there is little chance of reversing it. This progressively worsens and is a significant cause of pain.
- Nerve Irritation. The imbalances put increasing tension and pressure on nerves that causes problems wherever those nerves go.
- Muscle Spasm and Tension. The body uses muscles in an attempt to maintain as much balance as possible.
One of the greatest benefits of corrective chiropractic care is to bring you back into greater balance which reduces stress and tension on your joints, nerves, and soft tissues.
Critical Way #2: Joint Function: What is the purpose of joints? Hopefully it’s evident they exist to allow form movement. When joints lose their proper alignment and mobility it causes a cascade of reactions.
- Nerve Pressure and Irritation that interferes with your nervous system’s ability to maintain balance.
- Accelerated Joint wear causing arthritis.
- Compensations in an attempt by the body to offset the loss of function from some joints.
Critical Way #3: Nerve Function: There is an intimate relationship between the spine and the nervous system. If the spine is not moving properly, misaligned, or imbalanced it transfers pressure and tension onto the nervous system. Since everything in your body is controlled by the nervous system this starts impacting health in many ways.
I commonly see improvements in a range of health functions with chiropractic care:
- Better digestion
- Improved asthma
- Better sleep
- Better breathing
- Lowered blood pressure
- Fewer illnesses
Everything that contributes to your health is what I call a process. What does that mean?
For you to benefit from chiropractic in a way that corrects the underlying imbalance and has far greater impact on your health than short term pain relief it takes some time. Far less time than it took you to get to the point where you experience either recurrent problems or issues that show up without any significant factor.
Processes take time!
We tend to view health as an event and as a result we seek medication to relieve our symptoms or a quick chiropractic adjustment to get out of pain.
Everything that you do that contributes to your long term health and well being is a process. That means that it has to be done on a regular basis. Everything has a different frequency to optimize benefit but it is all a process. Things like…
- Healthy diet
- Movement and exercise
- Water intake
- Sleep
- Healthy relationships
- Chiropractic care
I prefer to approach my clients using corrective and balancing techniques. Everyone who undertakes a corrective approach achieves long term benefits well beyond the pain relief. And, they also experience long term relief from their pain and escape the cycle of recurrent episodes of pain.
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