Should you wait until you have an undesirable symptom or disease before seeing a Chiropractor? Or, can you utilize Chiropractic in a different, more proactive way?
By its nature, Chiropractic is not medicinal. There is no particular chiropractic treatment for headaches or a specific adjustment to repair a degenerated disc. Chiropractic is not meant to be an “alternative” to medicine, even though that is often the perception.
If Chiropractic is not medicine or an alternative to it, then what does Chiropractic provide? Chiropractic corrects an upstream problem of your health, not downstream effects of disease. Let’s unpack this.
The Nerve System is tasked with maintaining homeostasis within the body. Physical, chemical and emotional stressors challenge this homeostatic balance. If the Nerve System can’t fully adapt to a certain quantity or quality of stress, compensations occur. Compensations can occur throughout the body, altering structure and function. One particular compensation is a vertebral subluxation.
A vertebral subluxation shifts and locks the spine in a misaligned position, disrupting nerve transmission. Nerve disruption creates abnormal body function. Over time, abnormal body function damages tissue. Damaged tissue creates symptoms. Create enough symptoms and a person will reach a point of crisis. This is the point where the majority of people seek Chiropractic care; only after exhausting all other medical and non-medical options.
Chiropractic aims to optimize the structure of the spine and the function of the Nerve System. This brings more harmony to body function. Over time, the body can heal damaged tissue and reduce symptoms. This can help a person reach more stability and balance in their health.
This is not to say that Chiropractors are callous to a crisis that a patient is going through or indifferent to the symptoms they are dealing with. We just don’t rely on these factors alone as our only markers.
If Chiropractic doesn't treat anything, why see a Chiropractor at all?
The biggest benefit that Chiropractic can offer has nothing to do with relieving symptoms or curing disease. It has everything to do with improving the adaptability of the body. A vertebral subluxation is not the precursor of disease. It causes a disruption in function.
Disruption in function at its core causes insufficiencies in our ability to adapt to stressors. Chiropractic wants to provide your body with the best chance to function.
Let me provide a few analogies. What will be better utilized by your body? Good, natural, organic, nutrient-dense food or artificially created, pesticide-ridden “food-stuff”? What heart will utilize your blood better? One that is strengthened consistently through exercise and resistance training or one that is sedentary and unworked? Chiropractic is practical because it improves the effectiveness of how your body functions. Chiropractic helps your body utilize health to a greater potential.
- Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP
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Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP is a pediatric, family wellness and upper cervical specific Chiropractor. He is an active member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). Dr. Jarek has postgraduate certification in Pediatric Chiropractic through the ICPA. Dr. Jarek also has postgraduate certification in the HIO Specific Brain Stem technique through The TIC Institute. Dr. Jarek is happily married to his wife Regina. They live in Youngstown, Ohio with their daughter Ruby.
