Treating The Cause and Not Just the Symptoms
Headaches, Back Pain and Neck Pain…
Often times as we are taking new families on their tour of the clinic, we hear them say to each other, “Wow, I had no idea chiropractic could help with ________”.
We talk about how chiropractic is useful for pregnant moms, infants, children, and entire families!
We have brochures on chiropractic for kids with ADHD, ear infections, asthma, allergies and many others (all illness information here).
We show them our handouts that we write weekly talking about how chiropractic improves every system in the body, and they are amazed. Most people by now know that chiropractic is excellent at dealing with pain, especially neck and back pain. I think is it is very important to first talk about how that pain comes about.
Musculoskeletal pain can be caused by 2 classifications of events:
- Big traumas such as car accidents, sports injuries, or falls
- Small traumas such as day to day repetitive stressors (work, sedentary lifestyle, lifting kids, ect)
Either of these classifications can cause tight muscles and aches and pains. We like to use the example of sleeping wrong. We have all slept in a bad position which caused our neck to be very stiff the next morning. Three days later our neck is back to normal and there is no long-term consequences of that event.
Let’s take that same example of neck stiffness, but instead of sleeping wrong, it’s caused by the fact that we work behind a computer 8 hours a day!
That stiffness comes and goes for weeks, months and even years.
The pain may not worsen at first, but the issue is that the stress is now impacting the bones they attach to. Over time too much stress can cause a misalignment in the spine.
There may not be any additional indicators or pain but a misalignment is present. That misalignment can then put pressure on the nerves underneath it.
When we have a misalignment in the spine that is putting pressure on the nerves underneath, it is called a vertebral subluxation.
So, What is REALLY Causing the Pain?
A vertebral subluxation can cause a variety of signs and symptoms such as numbness, tingling, sharp shooting pains, tight muscles or even atrophy of the muscles.
A chiropractor specializes in locating these subluxations and gently removing them, allowing the pressure to be taken off the nerve which can help tremendously with pain.
However, that is a wonderful SIDE EFFECT of what chiropractic truly does. The issue is that a subluxation puts pressure on a nerve and by doing so decreases the function of that nerve and the nervous system.
Its crucial to remember that every cell, tissue, organ and muscle in your body is controlled by your brain. Your brain communicates with those things through the nervous system and individual nerves. If that nerve is not functioning at 100%, the brain cannot coordinate the body properly.
When this happens–yes it can cause pain, but more importantly, it is a health issue.
A specific example would be a young lady that came into our office with neck pain.
She reported working behind a computer for the last 10 years and has also had 2 car accidents in that time frame. She came in initially only to seek help for her neck pain, After a one-on-one consultation she also stated that she has been experiencing vertigo, dizziness, ringing in her ears as well as numbness in both of her hands.
After locating the primary subluxation in her neck and correcting very specifically and gently she started to notice that the vertigo and her dizzy spells were gone.
A few weeks later the numbness in her hands started to improve and her neck pain was almost gone. We explained to her that the nerves in that region of her neck went to her ears, eyes, nose and throat and if those nerves were not functioning right, she could experience the things listed above.
DISCLAIMER: WE DID NOT TREAT HER PAIN OR ANY SYMPTOMS; WE REMOVED THE SUBLUXATION AND ONCE THAT PRESSURE WAS TAKEN OFF HER NERVOUS SYSTEM, HER BODY WAS ABLE TO HEAL.
That is why chiropractic is far more valuable than pain relief. As doctors of the nervous system, we make sure the body is functioning at 100%. When this happens people are amazed at what they are able to overcome.
So when you ask me is chiropractic for only neck and back pain, I will kindly remind you that it is an excellent side effect of your body working the way that it is suppose to!
Interested in how we locate subluxations and the state-of-the-art technology we use? Learn more here!
Blessings,
Dr. Aaron Cain