How Chiropractors Help People Get Well and Stay Well
Understanding that a chiropractor is looking for disturbance in the nerve system caused by subluxations, spinal bones that go out of place, is only the first step to comprehending what a chiropractor can do for you and your family.
Throughout your life, you are subjected to all kinds of stresses – some of them are based on mechanical stresses and trauma, like injuries, car accidents, slips and falls, and other types of physical insults.
Some of the stresses you encounter are chemical stresses, like poisons in the air and water, household agents like hairspray, insecticides and detergents, food additives like preservatives and colorings, and the by-products of faulty eating, like excessive sugar or fat or not drinking enough high quality water. Such habits reduce the raw materials needed for proper health and body function, and risk contaminating or polluting the body much like a lake, river or ocean may become toxic and filled with inappropriate substances.
Finally, we can be stressed for psychological reasons, where we interpret our daily experiences to be harsh, harmful, difficult or painful, and this brings about responses in our minds and bodies that do not serve us, that do not move us toward health and wellness, but rather toward poor body function and disease. While “psycho-somatic” illnesses were once dismissed or relegated to those with serious psychological issues, we now know that even small interruptions in healthy thinking can produce health problems.
Some chiropractors concentrate entirely on the adjustment of the spine and correcting subluxations, to counteract the effects of stress on the spine and nerve system directly and exclusively. These doctors may or may not make specific recommendations about diet and emotional support, but they invariably see the value of addressing these issues, even if it means engaging other professionals to advise you on these relevant topics.
Other doctors of chiropractic include counseling on nutrition and psychology, either themselves or through other professionals they refer to, on site or not. This gives you a chance to develop your team of health and wellness advisors, so you can feel prepared to handle any of these types of stress and minimize the negative effect on your health.
That’s why you will benefit more by being an active participant in your health and wellness care – knowing that you need a proper blend of structural care, nutritional advice and psychological support gives you the power and responsibility to be as healthy and well as you wish to be.
In fact, that is the technical difference between health and wellness. Health is what happens when your body is working right, but wellness is a deliberate choice to make things even better – improving nutrition, improving your mindset and worldview, and of course keeping your spine and nerve system healthy, with chiropractic care, appropriate exercise and avoiding traumatic injury.
Everyone has a slightly different and unique blend of these factors, and you will discover that personal blend by pursuing some of these habits and behaviors mentioned above. You can be healthy, and you can move yourself toward wellness – get regular spine and nerve system check-ups and adjustments when necessary, refine your diet and avoid or eliminate toxicity in your surrounding environment, and strike a sensible balance between family, work, leisure and other personal issues so you can maintain a positive mental attitude.
Apply these ideas, and you will get the most out of your chiropractic care, and help your chiropractor to help you to get well and stay well the natural way.
These three sources of stress, trauma, toxins and thoughts, are responsible for many of the maladies we suffer and the disease process that comes about as a result. That’s why your doctor of chiropractic is interested in addressing all of these, to varying extents based on his or her particular specialty and focus.