How making the switch to alternative health and seeing a chiropractor may help you more than just fixing back pain.
Almost everyone has heard about chiropractic before or knows someone who is under chiropractic care. "They crack backs", or "my friend goes to see one and they like it", or even "I've never been, but they are a bunch of quacks!" These are some common responses when asked about chiropractors. Not only am I a chiropractor, but I have my own health journey where alternative and natural health literally saved my life. Conventional medicine could not find the cause to any of my symptoms: rashes all over my body, weakness, cramps, swollen lymph nodes, tight chest, chills, anxiety, night sweats, major weight loss, and body jolts and nerve pain when trying to sleep to name a few of them. Because they could not find a root cause, I looked to alternative health care. I can honestly say that through natural/alternative health care and chiropractic (and lots of prayer), my body fully healed! This subject is very near and dear to me, and I understand the stress involved when you cannot find any answers about your health, especially when you need them NOW. My goal is to share with you the wonders of chiropractic and how it may be able to help you the same way it helped me!
Chiropractic is a very powerful form of natural and alternative healthcare. But what does a chiropractor actually do? Is there even a chance that a chiropractor can help with my condition? Is chiropractic actually an alternative to conventional medicine? If these questions are going through your mind, I plan to answer all of them through this blog, and set you on the path to diving into alternative health care.
#1: What does a Chiropractor Actually do?
Chiropractic officially started in 1895, when the founder of chiropractic, Dr. DD Palmer gave the very first spinal adjustment to a deaf man. It started around the time before healthcare and medicine as we know it today was so large and set the rules for health in America, and there was a battle between allopathic medicine (conventional medicine), osteopathic medicine, and chiropractic, as to which form of healthcare was the best way to treat disease.
Chiropractic was founded on the science that the nervous system controls the whole body. This means that the brain, the spinal cord, and all the nerves that emerge from the spinal cord work together to regulate growth, development, and maintenance of all systems of the body including:
Endocrine (hormones)
Digestive (food)
Respiratory (lungs and breathing)
Circulatory (heart and blood)
Urinary (waste removal)
Musculoskeletal (muscles and bones)
Lymphatic (fluid movement)
Immune System (directly linked to the central nervous system)
The nervous system touches and controls every single cell and organ in the human body. When all of these body systems and organs are working together, that is what we call health. When symptoms are present, which can be anything from a stuffy nose all the way to constipation, they are warning signs that there is a problem going on in the body. These warning signs or symptoms are a direct reflection of how the nervous system is working, or not working rather.
Chiropractors trace the symptoms back to the intricate and complex nerves and nervous system. Many times, we trace the nerves back to the spine, which is the protective housing for most of the nervous system, and where the problem of the nervous system many times occurs. Since the spine and nervous system are so closely interconnected, when there is a problem with the spine, it can cause irritation and inflammation to nerves that go out and supply muscles, bones, organs, skin, and connective tissue which can be the cause to many common and uncommon bodily ailments. When the part of the spine is found that is causing the nerve irritation and inflammation, which in turn can cause symptoms, a correction to the spine is performed very specifically so not to disturb the rest of the nervous system and spine, but to remove the irritation of the nerve in question, resulting in restoring proper nervous system function. Chiropractic adjustments are meant not only to correct the cause of problems and symptoms of the body, but also to prevent problems from occurring in the future.
Chiropractors make specific spinal corrections (otherwise called chiropractic adjustments) to maintain proper nerve communication throughout the body. When the nervous system is healthy, the whole body is healthy. That is the chiropractic purpose for correcting and adjusting the spine.
Now in theory this makes sense, but what about MY condition? Can chiropractic help me with what's wrong with my body? Keep reading!
#2: Is There Even Any Chance a Chiropractor Can Help With My Condition?
Many other health provider's may not agree with me, but I will hang my hat on the fact that ALL body problems are nervous system problems. Getting a chiropractic adjustment is not limited to just back pain, a chiropractic adjustment is for anyone looking to be healthy. Let me show you what I mean.
I previously mentioned that the nervous system controls all other systems of the body. If you were to cut a nerve from the spinal cord, whatever that nerve supplied, whether it be an organ, skin, muscle, or other tissue, that part of the body would not work and would eventually die. If you cut the nerves to your heart, it would not pump blood any longer. If you cut the nerve to your eye, you would not be able to see out of that eye anymore. If you cut the nerve to your bicep muscle, you would never be able to use that muscle again. I think you get the picture.
Cutting the nerve is an extreme example, but imagine if that same nerve was inflamed and irritated. Do you think that could effect the function of the heart? Or stomach? Or could cause certain symptoms to arise? Absolutely! When the nervous system is not communicating properly because of inflammation and irritation, problems WILL occur. So the fact that the nervous system is so important makes looking at your nerves the #1 priority when your health is involved. A Chiropractors' #1 priority is to make sure your nerves are free from irritation and inflammation. Sometimes, you hear a "crack" or a "pop" noise during the spinal adjustment, which is where the idea that chiropractors crack your back is from, but the noise doesn't actually matter. What matters is that the adjustment moved the bone and took the irritation off of the nerve in question and the nervous system.
Lets say you might be having an array of symptoms. Maybe you feel tired, maybe you have no appetite, you get rashes whenever you eat, dizziness, swollen limbs, feeling cold, hot, chest pain, back pain, ear ringing, waking up and cant go back to sleep, the list goes on. Where do you start? What is the root cause? Not all, but most medical doctors do not know where to even start when given a complicated case like this. At this point in the health journey, many times a blood panel will be taken. Maybe the doctor finds something of concern and places you on medication, but yet you still don't feel quite back to normal. Or if they cant find a problem in your blood work, you either circle around to different specialists trying to find an answer, or you are turned away since the doctor can't find proof of how you feel, so it must not be that important. Does this sound like your situation? Perhaps they are missing the most important piece: Is the nervous system in proper working order? If this statement was never considered, which many times it is not, then to answer the question 'Can a chiropractor help with my condition?' I would say, YES!
For more information on specific conditions or symptoms, check out my website Here!
Chiropractic can hold its own when up against conventional medicine. Time and time again chiropractic has proven to be the better (and safer) form of healthcare. The possibilities of health and healing are endless when the nervous system is carefully examined as a potential culprit to symptoms and disease.
In one case report, there was a 41 year-old female patient who had long-standing vertigo (dizziness), headaches, left-sided body weakness, and her body would sway from side to side with no explanation. She had visits with her general practitioner and three separate neurologists. None of them could provide relief for her. After ONE chiropractic adjustment utilizing the Gonstead Technique, this patient's vertigo ceased with relief of her headaches, the left sided weakness, and the body swaying! Now that is powerful.
In another case report, this time the patient is an 8-month old male baby. The main symptom he had was constipation. He had not gone to the bathroom for five days, and increasing fluid intake did not work at the time of the first appointment. He was under consistent Gonstead chiropractic care, and after his first few adjustments, the baby had a large bowel movement while sitting in the car (not so great timing!) and had another bowel movement 2 hours later. The mother stated the baby was much happier after the bowel movements.
The final case report I want to share with you involves an 8 year-old female patient who was medically diagnosed with Erb's Palsy. Erb's Palsy is a condition where one arm is paralyzed and cannot move due to an injury to some of the nerves that go to the arm. Usually Erb's Palsy is caused by birth trauma to the infant of some sort. This particular little girl had been dealing with this debilitating condition for 8 years! She had ongoing medical care which provided no solutions for her. After only 3 months of Gonstead Chiropractic care (are you getting tired of me mentioning Gonstead chiropractic yet?) this young lady was able to move her once paralyzed arm in all directions just as she could with her other normal arm! With function in both of her arms, she was able to participate in sports that she previously was unable to do.
Chiropractic and conventional medicine have two very different perspectives of health. Chiropractic believes that health comes from within the body, and removing nerve irritation allows for healing to occur naturally. Conventional medicine believes health comes from the outside using drugs and/or surgery. Its like showing two people one of those optical illusions. One person see's a young woman, the other see's an old woman. Chiropractic seeks natural means for health, and conventional medicine seeks drugs for health. Alternative health vs. conventional health: two different perspectives of health.
No matter what conventional medicine thinks or what chiropractic thinks, what matters is what works best for you. Everyone has a nervous system and everyone's nervous system controls their body. No matter what your health looks like, getting a different perspective through the lens of a chiropractor may be beneficial for you and may also provide you with more answers for your body and health.
With all the information you have learned in this blog, I encourage you to take the next step with your health, and call me to schedule an appointment as Restoration Chiropractic. I always take into account your previous health history, and apply it specifically to your condition. I understand the disappointment involved when you are not getting any answers about the state of your health, and I work towards finding not only an answer for you, but also a solution. For any further questions or more information, please see the resources below:
Thank you!
Nathan Covelski, DC
612-295-0180
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these photos. please note that all images and copyrights belong to their original owners. no copyright infringement intended.
Sources:
Hickman W, Alcantara Joel. Resolution of severe vertigo, weakness and headaches in a patient undergoing chiropractic care for vertebral subluxation: Case study and review of the literature [case report; review]. Ann Vert Sublux Res. 2019 Apr;2019():45-50. ICLID: 26739 URL: https://www.vertebralsubluxationresearch.com/2019/04/10/resolution-of-severe-vertigo-weakness-headaches-in-a-patient-undergoing-chiropractic-care-for-vertebral-subluxation-case-study-review-of-the-literature/
Alcantara Joel, Miceli J. Resolution of constipation in an 8-month-old child following adjustment of vertebral subluxation [case report]. J Pediatr Matern & Fam Health - Chiropr. 2016 Winter;2016(1):Online access only p 14-17. ICLID: 24315 URL: https://www.vertebralsubluxationresearch.com/2017/09/10/resolution-of-constipation-in-an-8-month-old-child-following-adjustment-of-vertebral-subluxation/
Alcantara JD, Alcantara Joel, Alcantara Junjoe. Chiropractic care of a patient with Erb’s Palsy with a review of the literature . Clin Chiropr. 2008 Jun;11(2):70-76. ICLID: 20317 URL: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.clch.2008.04.002
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