Happy Valentines 2021!
It is February. Love is in the air. Even with all the warm and fuzzies floating through the air there is one important person that often gets the cold shoulder. That person is your spine. I know… your spine isn’t really a person but if you knew how much it does for you you’d treat it like a valentine crush. Thats why February is Show Yo Spine Some Love month! We are going to share some things with you that you may not know about your new valentine.
Your Spine
Your spine is the foundation of the body. It is made up of 33 bones that stack up on top of each other. From the front it should be straight up and down. From the side it should have a series of curves that act like shock absorbers. The spine gives you structure, flexibility and protection. Its structure serves as the central support system of the body. Every body part is connected to it and depends on it in some form or fashion. It gives you support but it also allows for the basic movements of everyday life like bending, twisting and lifting. Lastly, in its most critical role, it serves as a protector of your most important organ system, your nervous system.
Your Nervous System
Your nervous system is your body’s master control system. It carries information through out your body. The most important information it carries is what you need need to heal and stay healthy. It is made up of your brain, spinal cord and nerves. The brain sits up on top of your spine in the skull. It becomes your spinal cord and drops down inside of your spine and goes all the way down to your tailbone. Your spinal cord sends off branches called nerves that exit between the spinal bones and go to all the parts of your body. Every cell, tissue and organ is connected to your brain by your spinal cord and nerves. This connection is the foundation of all healing because all your body parts depend on the information from your brain to heal and stay healthy. Chiropractic calls this the above down inside out principle of life. Meaning that all health literally flows from the brain above, down the spinal cord, from inside the spine, out across your nerves.
Misalignments
There is a problem. The bones of your spine can misalign and get stuck. This can put tension and pressure on the spinal cord and nerves which can interfere with messages getting across the nerves. When this happens it is called a vertebral subluxation. In the early stages of a subluxation there are typically no symptoms. Often times they can be present for up to 10 years before any symptoms occur. Eventually the subluxations can cause symptoms like aches, pains, tightness, numbness and tingling. They can also cause many other common symptoms like…headaches, migraines, ear infections, sinus infections, thyroid problems, heart problems, breathing problems, digestive issues, reproductive problems, urinary problems and many more. Surprising most people don’t know this but now that you understand the spine and nervous system it should be easy to see how almost any health issue can be impacted by your spine.
Degeneration
So subluxations can cause many symptoms but they also cause degeneration and arthritis. Degeneration is when the spine ages faster than it should, becoming more stiff. This makes normal daily activities like bending, twisting, lifting, walking more difficult to do. Ultimately it will rob you of your independence and quality of life.
Causes of Misalignments
So, what causes a subluxation? Subluxations are caused by trauma and the lifestyles we live. Traumas can be big like a c-section, a hard difficult delivery, childhood fall, sports injury or a car accident. Or they can be little things done repetitively that add up like poor postures, lifting the wrong way, or just sitting too much. You may not know this but sitting is probably the most traumatic thing your spine will encounter in your life time. The average person sits for ~10 hours per day with office workers sitting for a shocking 15 hours per day. Sitting for a short period of time isn’t the problem but these long hours in a chair are. Sitting compresses the spine putting pressure where it should not be. That causes the development of degeneration. It also causes degeneration of bones, discs, muscles, ligaments and joints by simple lack of use. The spine is made to be upright and moving. When it doesn’t move enough parts decay and degenerate. I was taught the sitting to your spine is like sugar to your teeth. If you want your spine to last, your nervous system to work well and your health to be high… you better take care of your spine.
Fixing it
If you are reading this you are already showing your spine some love. I do want to take a minute to teach you some things about your care. In the office, we locate subluxations by checking your spine’s structure and function. We use diagnostic x-ray to see the structure looking for misalignments and degeneration. We use a series of flexibility tests to check your spines function and mobility. These are the tools that allow us to locate the cause of problems and correct them naturally. We correct them by using specific chiropractic adjustments and exercises to improve the range of motion, improve alignment of bones and take pressure off the spinal cord and nerves. That allows your brain to better communicate with your body helping you to heal naturally from inside out. That is the big idea! We want your body to heal itself the way it is made to.
Inside Out
The “inside out” part is important to us. Most of our healthcare system uses an “outside in” approach. That means most doctors use things from the outside like drugs and surgeries to treat symptoms. There is absolutely a time and place for both of these things, but drugs and surgery rarely fix the root cause of an issue. Not only do they not fix the cause of an issue they don’t ever increase a person’s health. People don’t take medication to get healthy. They take it to get rid of a symptom. If the medication is stopped the symptoms return. That approach isn’t fixing anything. What about surgeries? Even though one may be necessary, removing a sick body part doesn’t address the reason why it got sick in the first place. We believe that there is an approach that all people can and should take part in before they venture down the road of the “outside in.”
Our “inside out” approach is to first optimize your body’s ability to heal itself through chiropractic care and build on that with a healthy lifestyle (eating well, moving well and thinking well). People who do these things well rarely need any medication or surgeries. Our hope is that you and your family experience the best natural health possible from the inside out. So, thank you for showing yo spine some love and being a part of our family.
“they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mark 16:18 NIV