I never got to post anything as I took the day off for some much needed play time with my sister. Before the play time began though, I rushed off first thing in the morning to my weekly chiropractic appointment.
That got me to thinking, how many of you might wonder about chiropractic and if it's necessary - or even good for you. I applaud the critical thinking. There's so much vying for your attention when it comes to what's necessary for health and wellness. It can sound so overwhelming.
My introduction to chiropractic came just after a car accident I had in 2006 - and cancer treatment in 2005. Rough time LOL. I have to be honest, while I understood the concept of righting the spine's wrongs, I didn't particularly care for the first one I tried. After the PIP ran out (insurance coverage for treatments because of the car accident), I quit going. I didn't feel it helped me, I didn't see that the chiropractor had any real evidence to base his approach to my spinal issues. There were no films taken (ex rays) or any sort of measurements taken with sensors or electronic equipment to gage where my spinal health was or wasn't.
Months went by and my lower back seemed to scream with pain. Eventually, I was barely able to shift from a sitting to standing position. I tried applying heat, stretches the first chiropractor told me to do, exercises he recommended. Nothing helped. One day I was in a store and with almost no warning my right leg went out from under me and I almost fell.
I told a friend about it and she happened to be working for a chiropractor at the time. I told her of my past experience with chiropractic and my skepticism. She empathized but assured me "this guy is different." I'm a thickheaded Italian. While I respected my friend, I needed more to go on.
"How" What makes him so different?"
Long story short, she was of course right. My experience at my current practitioner's office (the video above is one of the promotional videos they have on youtube), was night and day different. After giving Franson Chiropractic a full medical background on paper (including every fall I could remember), they took an Xray and they weighed me, one scale under each foot. This method of weighing is to determine where my posture was causing an imbalance in weight. Often times the body overcompensates by leaning away from pain and we aren't even aware. If memory serves me, there was a significant difference in my weight from left to right. The Xray report showed the same thing.
In my report a few days later, I learned that at 32 years old I had completely lost the curve in my neck. This spells all kinds of danger. I also had phase 2 degeneration in my spine, my lower back (the part that was causing me the most grief!) was almost at phase 3. But my new doctor was hopeful. He felt a regular intensive schedule of chiropractic care would really help. For the first 3 or 4 weeks he had me come in 3 times a week. I then downgraded to twice a week as I improved. Progress was measured by periodic weight tests as I described, and yearly Xrays. Well, I'm happy to tell you that within a year of care, the curve in my neck had returned. My immune system was a lot stronger, my posture visibly better. My health overall was better, though I was still recovering from very aggressive cancer treatments.
For patients, my chiropractor doubles as a wellness coach. More than once I've gone to him for an extra consultation about various health issues. For a while it was my blood platelet count. My bone marrow took a beating during intense chemotherapy and radiation therapy in 2005. Through my chiropractor I learned about the benefits of juicing. In my own research I learned the magic of coconut water and between the 2, my blood finally returned to better than normal within a few years.
Today while I still have pain, I've improved greatly and I am down to weekly visits.
Back to the original question: is chiropractic good for you?
Allow me to simplify what can be very complex if I were to spell it out in clinical terms. I will use an analogy.
If you have a hose, a garden hose, a hose in your vehicle, any kind of hose - and somehow that hose ends up with a kink in it, are you able to get the maximum function out of what's at the other end? If it's a vehicle, your fluids are blocked. If it's a vacuum cleaner, the suction doesn't work properly. A kinked garden hose won't water your tulips as well. Think of your spine as that hose. Your spinal column houses the nerves that feed every organ, every tissue and ultimately every cell in your blood. You are as healthy as the joints that keep everything connected and fed are. Like I said, I'm simplifying here. As I always do, I urge you to do your own due diligence. I highly recommend that if you decide to give chiropractic a try, please seek out a practitioner that will give you CORRECTIVE care. You don't want to just get hooked up to a bunch of nodes that are going to temporarily ease pain. You need something that will help your body position itself for healing and strength!
I hope that is helpful to you. :)
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