True Correction vs.Temporary Relief
Although Chiropractic is effective in providing a band-aid or temporary pain relief treatment, we have found that true spinal correction offers long-term benefits. This is precisely why our office specializes in Neurologically-Based Chiropractic care.
Thanks to advancements in technology and advanced understanding of the spine and nervous system, we are now able to correct the spine and utilize pre and post x-rays to document the correctional change taking place. These changes are achieved through a series of highly specialized and gentle adjustments. If we are able to accept your case, a care plan will be recommended for you based on the pre-existing levels of degeneration within the spine, your age, levels of physical activity, and your response to the adjustment. Not every spine can be corrected, so we always start with an assessment to determine your potential for success and results in our office.
When a person seeks out chiropractic and is accepted for care by their chiropractor, it is essential that both parties are working toward the same goal. The main focus of health care is traditionally centered around one’s symptoms and the treatment or relief of their symptoms, thus the basis for relief care. Today, Chiropractic care is highly recognized for its ability to provide relief care and is commonly referred to as unbelievable in its ability to provide help where all other forms of health care have failed. However, although many chiropractors specialize in and are extremely successful with providing temporary relief care, this was never the original intended purpose for Chiropractic, as its founders created it to be. Chiropractic was designed to be a Proactive form of healthcare that honors the bodies incredible self-governing and self-healing potential.
The goal of neurologically-based chiropractic care is to locate and identify the underlying cause of one’s health concerns and correct them at the source. A condition of the spine, known as Vertebral Subluxation Complex, interferes with the human body’s natural ability to heal itself. Chiropractors locate Vertebral Subluxation, analyze all of its components thoroughly, design a specific protocol of adjustments to correct Vertebral Subluxation, and, most importantly, educate you and your family on how to achieve a state of optimal health and wellness and how to maintain a healthy spine and nervous system for years to come.
To fully appreciate and understand the difference between chiropractic corrective care and temporary relief, and the importance of corrective care, let’s start by looking at the difference between “symptoms” and “warning signs”. The difference is best understood through a simple comparison. If a person sprains their ankle, and they experience pain in their ankle – this is a direct cause and effect relationship. The location of pain and the site of the injury are the same. This is a perfect example of a symptom. However, if an individual is suffering from heart disease and has pain radiating into their left arm – the problem is likely nothing wrong with the left arm! This is a classic warning sign of a problem with the heart. It would seem ridiculous – even foolish – to spend an immense amount of energy and resources treating the individual’s arm pain when the true cause of this pain is stemming from their heart.
Similar to the spine – if vertebral subluxation is affecting the spine and nervous system, causing pressure on the nerve going to your leg, over time one may begin to experience leg pain (commonly called sciatica). We could examine and treat the leg, but we would be doing so in vain, since this was a warning sign leading us to the site of the true problem, the spine.
Depending on which nerve(s) in the spine is being affected, will determine what type of warning sign we may experience. Fortunately, or unfortunately rather, there is often a significant time delay between the onset of subluxation and when the first warning signs are experienced. This is a result of our body’s inherent ability to adapt to both its internal and external environment. For example, if you find a pebble in your shoe – you don’t lean on it – you lean off of it, similar to the manner in which your body behaves in relation to Vertebral Subluxation.
Commonly, one of the first Vertebral Subluxations to occur in the spine happens in the neck. This can happen for several reasons, including the fact that the vertebra, ligaments, and muscles in the neck are the smallest and the head (particularly in children) is disproportionately heavy in comparison to our body. Slips and falls as a child, or even the birth process itself, can result in the small vertebra of the neck becoming misaligned or subluxated.
The body, and its inborn intelligence, will alter our posture, often shifting the head in front of the shoulders and/or leaning the head to one side or the other, in order to reduce the pressure this subluxation places on the spinal cord and nerves.
As a result of the change in head posture, one’s ribcage may bend or shift causing reduced pressure on the spinal nerves and similarly the large muscle groups of the lumbar spine and pelvis will compensate in order to further reduce the unwanted pressure on the spinal nerves. This is a much better state for the overall well-being of the body than suffering the immediate and devastating effects of spinal cord and spinal nerve pressure. However, the imbalanced pressure remains on the vertebral discs, causing them to progressively wear out.
Most often it is not until the discs of the spine begin to substantially wear and the body begins losing its ability to naturally compensate to the Vertebral Subluxations present that we start seeing the warning signs related to subluxation appear. Often the first place the body begins to fail and lose its ability to compensate for nerve interference is in the lumbar spine. This is due to the fact that all of the forces of gravity within the body affect the lumbar spine, and we often use our lumbar spine to lift weights that cause no problems for a healthy spine; but with Vertebral Subluxation Degeneration, the spine continues to become weaker over time. Those simple tasks, which normally are done with ease, may start to be avoided because they cause pain.
However, the avoidance of these tasks is often the result of continued degeneration, as we ignore the warning signs our body is giving us. Similar to this scenario, if we begin treating the individual’s lower back pain without thoroughly analyzing the Vertebral Subluxation present in their spine, and the cause was actually coming from a Vertebral Subluxation in the neck region – we may be able to relieve their lower back pain, but only temporarily. It will only be a matter of time before the pain returns, because the back pain was simply a warning sign.
Contact Evolve Chiropractic Today to Schedule a Consultation
Make an appointment today by calling or filling out the quick contact form online, and see for yourself the impact chiropractic care can have on your health. Do not throw in the towel and think that you have to put up with recurring pain or regular sickness for your entire life. You can reach your optimal level of health and wellness, and it all begins with a consultation at Evolve Chiropractic in Elkhart, IN.
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