Chiropractic care has been used for over 100 years as a natural and non-invasive means of creating health and wellbeing, as well as addressing symptoms and illness.
The premise of chiropractic care is built upon the idea that physical, emotional, and chemical stressors damage the nervous systems and rob the body of its innate healing capabilities. Once the nervous system has been damaged, signals of stress get sent to the brain in the form of symptoms like insomnia, pain, fatigue, anxiety, frequent colds, allergies, hormone imbalance, gut dysbiosis, etc.
When initial signs of stress on the nervous and musculoskeletal system are left unaddressed, they can turn into more serious conditions that affect your physical health. Some of the more commonly known conditions to benefit of chiropractic care include:
- Back, neck or other body pain
- Headaches and migraines
- Arthritis and joint pain
- Post injury or surgery healing
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Hypertension
- Infertility
- Scoliosis
- Sciatica
The spine is a communication highway
When the spine is healthy, your main highway of information traveling up and down the spine is working optimally. On the other hand, if your spine isn’t moving properly or moving in a less than ideal way, you may be experiencing vertebral subluxation. Vertebral subluxation changes the way your brain can sense what’s going on with the rest of your body.
This is important because most of what you perceive as reality is simply what your brain’s interpretation of all the information it gets from your senses, such as ears, eyes, skin, muscles, etc. Research indicates that vertebral subluxations can change the information that part of the spine sends to the brain, leading it to get different information. This can result in pain or other dysfunction in the body.
Some of the most common reasons why subluxations occur are:
- A slip or fall
- Sports injury
- Poor posture
- Sitting or standing for long periods, like at work or on airplanes
- Post-surgery
- Inflammation
- Stress
- Osteoporosis or degeneration
- Overly tight or unsupportive muscles surrounding the vertebrae
These are the most popular reasons why people visit chiropractors, however chiropractic care offers many other benefits as well.
Immune Health
Manipulating the spine back into alignment can trigger the activation of your neuro-immune-endocrine system. Yes, that’s a big word. But it essentially means that when you get adjusted, it alters your nervous system which impacts your immune system, increasing your body’s ability to fight bacteria and viruses.
According to Dr. Ron Pero. New York Preventative Medicine Institute and Environmental Health at NYU, “People who receive regular chiropractic adjustments have immune system competency that is 200% greater than those who don’t.”
Stress, Sleep and Hormones
Several studies support the idea that chiropractic care can help:
- Reduces blood pressure and stress symptoms.
- Triggers an increase in hormones such as neurotensin, oxytocin, and cortisol.
- Improve sleep patterns and insomnia
Brain Health
One recent study out of New Zealand showed that one chiropractic adjustment improved blood flow to the prefrontal cortex by 30% within minutes of the adjustment. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that controls thoughts of possibility, hope, and logical thinking.
Watch my interview with Dr. Bill Moss on chiropractic benefits for the brain.
At Family Life Wellness we use a specific style of corrective and brain based spinal care that provides safe, specific correction to restore the natural position of the spine, enhancing brain function, calming and connecting the nervous system, and activating the body’s ability to defy disease and thrive.
Everyday Life
One of the best things about chiropractic care, and what keeps patients coming back weekly, is that adjustment can enhance functionality in everyday life, and athletic performance. Specifically, chiropractic care can help with mental clarity and oxidative stress, muscle tension and best of all, naturally increase energy levels.
Children and Chiropractic Adjustments
Do children need chiropractic adjustments? Yes! Childhood can be a very physical time, consisting of many falls, stumbles and bumps related to learning how to crawl, walk, play and participate in sports. These misalignments can press on spinal nerves and interfere with the efficient function of the child’s nervous system, so regular chiropractic adjustments can help them sleep better, support their mood, and help the body heal properly.
Newborns
It is never too early to improve wellness with chiropractic care. In fact, newborns can benefit from their first chiropractic visit as soon as possible. Childbirth can be incredibly traumatic, and many common challenges that infants face like colic, torticollis, ear infections, and breastfeeding difficulties may be due at least in part to misalignments resulting from the birthing process.
How is your spinal health?
Having your spinal alignment assessment should be a part of your health care and prevention routine. We do this regularly with our clinic clients, using an Insight Health Analysis. This allows us to look at your heart rate variability (HRV), surface EMG and blood flow to your organs. Using this information we are able to create a comprehensive and personalized chiropractic plan that is tailored to your body’s needs and unique stressors.
Book a Health Assessment today, or call us at 408.298.8092.