There's an old joke in my profession that goes like this, ask 5 chiro's what it is we do and you'll get 6 different answers. Fortunately over the last several decades an enormous amount of research has shown over and over that what we do is effective for numerous conditions. Also, fortunately that research has more accurately demonstrated why it's effective. An inherent tenant in human physiology is that movement is life! We all instinctively know that. This adage very much applies to your joints. Weather they be the joints of your little toe or the 48 joints you have in your spine they all need to move. They also need to move properly. Specifically most joints need to rotate around in engineering terms what's called the X,Y and Z axis. Interestingly this is the same way a plane flys. I'm learning to fly so I thought this was an interesting observation. The problem starts when this motion is altered. Aside from this creating a problem with normal bio-mechanics this effects the neurological system. Let's say God forbid you break your arm. If the cast had to cover the elbow the ortho would not leave the cast on for much more than 6 weeks. Why? Because very predictably if they did you would start to see the elbow joint beginning to fuse from the lack of motion. We see the same thing happen when there is improper motion in any joint, especially your spine. All of us have a lubricating fluid around most joints called synovial fluid. Much like the oil in your car this fluid needs to be "topped off" now and then. In the case of your joints, constantly! What stimulates production of this lubricating fluid is , movement of the joint. This is why you are stiffer in the morning or after a long car ride as opposed to after you have worked out! Imagine how long your car's engine will last running around with low oil? So when we loose proper motion of the joint we don't produce enough "oil". This is the main reason we structurally degenerate or age faster than necessary. There are numerous ways joints can become stuck. Poor posture, which falls into the repetitive injury cycle. Trauma, sedentary lifestyles such as a desk job, to name just a few. Another problem is that the muscles around the stuck joint stiffen up, brace if you will to try and protect what the body perceives as an injured area. This is one reason we often have chronically tight muscles. The more concerning issue however is what's happening at the neurological level. We have two sides to our autonomic nervous system. The sympathetic side and the para-sympathetic side. The sympathetic side controls things like your heart rate and breathing. It is also controls your fight or flight response. The para-sympathetic side controls things like digestion, elimination, building new cells. All the things that are put on the back burner when your running for your life from the Saber Tooth tiger that wants you for dinner. Remember, there are 3 forms of stress. 1. Chemical, such as alcohol, drugs. 2. Emotional, such as a crappy boss or the jerk who just cut you off and 3. Mechanical stress. i.e. pain, (A stuck Joint). Although pain often does not show up from a stuck joint until severe degeneration has occurred. Your body cannot tell the difference between either, it just sees stress! So, when we have too much stress we become what's known as sympathetic dominant. Meaning were living in an alarm state. Because of our modern environment, most of us are living in that state. Can you see how if your sympathetic dominant that the other factors such as being able to properly digest your food or turn over new cells might become compromised? This is one of the great benefits of chiropractic. It prevents the premature aging of the joints and spine and It removes the mechanical stress from the system. Now, if you feed the body properly and address the emotional component through meditation, prayer whatever, now we have covered the trilogy chiropractic is founded on......Mind....Body.....Spirit. This is why patients will often come in for say headaches and while under treatment notice other things they may not have even mentioned start to clear up. I'm not curing any thing. I'm simply removing a very real problem that we all know is a monster and that's stress! This is why I'm constantly encouraging you to get checked at least once a month. Some need more, every ones different. I do. I can't imagine what life would be like if I wasn't getting adjusted on a regular basis. I'm sure I'd have a much lower quality of life, and a lot more restricted in my activity level! As always, watching your back...........
Dr. Steve