With the bustle and complexity of modern life, it’s no surprise that a large majority of the population seek out chiropractic care only in the wake of injury and pain. For many, chiropractic care is sought as a result of crisis—chiropractic care is perhaps best known for its ability to resolve back and neck pain, correct postural misalignments, and accelerate the healing of injuries. Because of this, many people discover chiropractic as the result of an acute or chronic condition.
The good news is, while a patient may walk into a chiropractor’s office suffering from persistent pain and discomfort, they often stay long after the condition has resolved! Those who find themselves in a chiropractor’s office for any length of time—especially individuals on a treatment plan for a specific condition—tend to make up the main population of individuals who visit their chiropractor regularly.
This phenomenon raises an important question: why do individuals primarily seek out chiropractic care when they are experiencing a physical imbalance? There are many potential answers to this question, but most prominent is likely the influence of modern medicine on social conditioning surrounding wellness and disease. Because traditional medical care is so often focused on treating disorder and disease, individuals are used to seeking care only when something is “imbalanced.” This is where chiropractic care is different.
Unlike the widespread understanding of traditional medical care, the power of chiropractic doesn’t lay exclusively in its ability to resolve imbalances (although this is one of its most valuable functions). Chiropractic care is different in that it is an outstanding tool for boosting overall wellness and vitality, even when no injury or imbalance is present. Chiropractic is an invaluable treatment for raising the baseline of an individual’s health, increasing their performance, extending their lifespan and longevity, and improving their overall comfort and agility in their body. Chiropractic care achieves these transformational results by way of improving function of the circulatory, immune, respiratory, muscular, nervous, and skeletal systems.
Increased Circulation
Chiropractic care doesn’t directly address the circulatory system through any particular treatment or intervention, nevertheless, the effects of chiropractic treatments on the circulatory system are noticeable and quantifiable. Individuals who experience regular adjustments and other forms of care from an experienced chiropractor often report enhanced perception of sensations in their extremities, warmer hands and feet, improved cognitive response and clarity, and a decrease or elimination of feelings of tingling and numbness.
Improved Immune Response
Individuals who seek regular chiropractic care report a more robust immune response and less instances of illness, exhaustion, fatigue, and inflammation. The role chiropractic care plays in immune response is related to the effect of chiropractic treatment on the body. When expert chiropractic intervention is delivered to the body to help realign bones and joints, ease muscle tension, and restore nerve function, the body immediately experiences a decrease in stress. The downregulation of stress hormones and chemicals in the body typically leads to a reduction in inflammation, and the rebalancing effect of chiropractic care on the body can result in improved response against foreign invaders and disease.
Restore Mobility & Flexibility
Expert chiropractic care works primarily on the neuromusculoskeletal system, meaning that it affects the nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems primarily. In addition to helping moderate the effects of anxiety and other nervous-system related imbalances, chiropractic care also helps to improve physical mobility and flexibility in the muscular and skeletal systems. This is accomplished through manual manipulation, which contributes to the restoration of ideal posture and balanced skeletal structure. Manual manipulation can also be used to soften and relax overly tense muscles which have developed abnormalities in an attempt to compensate for incorrect posture. When both skeletal structure and muscular imbalances and strain are corrected, the result is often significantly improved mobility and flexibility, which helps people to move and reside in their bodies more comfortably after each treatment.
Decreased Pain
Pain can occur in the body for a variety of reasons. Chiropractic care can help with back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, migraines, nerve and sciatic pain, and many other conditions and forms of discomfort. The reason for this is because much pain originates from the nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems, all of which chiropractic care treats. Depending on the origin of the pain—this can include postural imbalance, muscle tension, damage from accident or injury, and spinal degeneration—chiropractic care can help to soothe and de-inflame the comprised areas, allowing the body’s natural healing systems to intervene and promote long-term reduction of discomfort and pain.
Activities Improved by Chiropractic Care
Bending, Standing, Sitting
For many individuals, bending, standing, and sitting are normal movements that they engage in during everyday life. This may be part of their work or daily occupation, and for many adults, these movements and positions can become painful when repeated or over long durations of time. Chiropractic care is a powerful intervention for pain when bending, pain when standing, and pain when sitting. Regular chiropractic treatment can help to restore optimal posture in the body, soothe strained and tense muscles, and resolve inhibited nerve energy flow (which often leads to nerve pain like sciatica).
Sedentary Workplace/Lifestyle
Sedentary lifestyles and workplace environments can lead to injury and degeneration in the physical body. If a workplace is not ergonomically sound, meaning that there isn’t appropriate support for proper posture and body alignment, this can lead to chronic pain and other bodily imbalances. In the event of a sedentary lifestyle, constant sitting or laying down can lead to its own series of misalignments, compromising the body’s systems and overall vitality.
Chiropractic care can help to alleviate the pain and imbalances caused by a sedentary lifestyle or workplace, boosting the body’s wellness and better equipping it to handle prolonged periods of sitting or laying down. In addition to seeking chiropractic care, it may be beneficial to modify the workplace or living environment to support proper ergonomics—this will help prolong the benefits of chiropractic treatment and aid the body’s natural alignment.
Active Workplace/Lifestyle
Active lifestyles and workplace environments can also lead to injury and degeneration in the physical body. Without appropriate rest days and correct posture when lifting/bending/reaching/standing, the neuromusculoskeletal system can be strained, leading to chronic or acute pain. It is not uncommon for individuals with active lifestyles or workplaces that involve a substantial amount of physical activity to experience accidents or injury. Those who engage in recreational physical activities like hiking, walking, running, rock-climbing, weight-lifting, swimming, biking, and golf, are likely to experience injury if proper measures are not taken to prepare the body and rest the body, or if the body is pushed beyond its limits.
Individuals who work in physical environments that require climbing stairs, moving or lifting objects, standing for prolonged periods of time, and repetitive movements may also experience injury and pain due to the nature of their work. Chiropractic care is an ideal intervention for preventing and treating injury, strain, fatigue, and overwork.