A friend asked me this week, “What do chiropractic adjustments actually do to the spine besides make a cracking noise”?
He knows that every time adjustments are performed on him, he feels better, had more energy and flexibility and wanted to understand precisely why. However, to fully grasp the concept and philosophy of chiropractic, you must recognize how the body works and what may cause problems that minimize the body’s natural healing and function.
We all understand that the body is a self-healing, self-regulating entity. For example, when you fall and get a bruise and cut, what naturally happens in days? It heals. That is the best definition of health I explain to my patients. Health is not how you feel but how you function and heal, which is coincidently the first four letters of the word Health!
When the body is healing and functioning at its optimal levels, you’re healthy! This allows your body to fight off infections, traumas, chemicals, etc. at optimal levels, so you get immediate results. However, if there is interference to any system, this may slow down the healing process. For example, a person with diabetes will have a slower recovery rate than one without any health issues due to chemical and metabolic imbalances in the body.
So what causes any system to slow down? STRESS. The three primary stressors are physical, chemical and emotional stressors. You can group most issues if not all in one of these three groups.
Chiropractors deal with PHYSICAL stress to the spine. When there is a fall and or trauma, the spine is almost always affected. An injury to any joint can cause an overall shift in the body and the spine. With time, if the injury isn’t taken care of immediately, small changes start happening to the muscles, tendons, and ligaments that may cause chronic pain. A great example is when a person sprains an ankle. Due to walking off balance, this eventually affects the knee, hip, and spine (low back).
It is imperative to see a chiropractor immediately after an injury because an injured joint that is not adequately taken care of, over time will lose its integrity and mobility. If the joint does not heal correctly, it will cause chronic issues down the road. This is why chiropractic is a must with any injury. A chiropractor will find the injured joint, or as we call it subluxated vertebrae and joint, and restore its integrity and mobility. The keyword is MOBILITY.
People who see chiropractors after an injury according to studies heal faster, more mobility, less pain and less need of pain meds, etc.
Every adjustment creates better mobility and integrity to an injured joint, taking physical stress off the spine, allowing the body and nervous system to function better. That is it! It’s simple. The body needs no help, just less interference and we do that through natural hands-on therapy. How does it get any better than that?