Today I wanted to talk a little about a reason I occasionally hear as to why people don’t go to the chiropractor or any other doctor for that matter. And to be honest, I hear of this more commonly among women than men, though I believe men have the same feelings as well but may not verbalize them. The reason basically comes down to that they don’t go because it makes them feel like something is wrong with them, that their body is ‘broken’ in some way. And if they don’t go to the doctor then everything must be okay. I would like to come at this subject from a couple of different directions.
First, I want to say that our bodies are amazing! They were designed marvelously and do what they are designed to do. When they get stressed, the body adapts to those stresses the best it can. If the stress is great enough, the body will alert you by experiencing symptoms of some sort so that you can make a change to your surroundings/situation. Symptoms are not the issue, but instead show that the body is experiencing a stress and is dealing with it. Often the symptom is the way the body handles the stress. For example, if you get a cold, you may have symptoms of a fever, runny nose and a cough. The fever helps the body increase its metabolic rate and inhibit the growth of many germs. The runny nose and cough are ways that the body clears wastes and helps ‘flush out’ the germs. So the body is not ‘broken’ but doing what it is designed to do and handling the stress. Now sometimes getting outside help enhances the body’s ability to process the stress. With a cold, getting advice about extra rest and getting plenty of fluids are ‘outside’ help to allow the body to function better.
As a chiropractor, I am not looking for how I can ‘fix’ the body, because the body does not need fixing. I am looking for ways that I can enhance the body to do what it does and that is heal itself. I personally think this is the biggest difference between chiropractic and other holistic approaches to health versus traditional medicine. Medicine seeks to take control over the body by stimulating or depressing certain functions of the body with drugs because it views the body as not able to properly regulate itself. Chiropractic and other holistic approaches seek to find what is stressing the body so much that it is interfering with what the body is designed to do and knows how to do. I am looking to work with the body, not against it.
The second thing I would like to touch on is optimizing health. Now health is not something that you have or you don’t. Health is a continuum with infinite levels or degrees of health. And in fact what many people would consider being ‘sick’ is really the body showing that it is appropriately handling a stress, which is a healthy thing. Health is more than just the absence of disease or symptoms: it is optimal physical, mental, and social well-being.
Now many, many professional athletes use chiropractic care on a regular basis. Do you think it is because they are unhealthy? Or that there is something wrong with them? Or they are ‘broken’? No, they use chiropractic regularly because they know it helps them to be their best and perform better. Most of us are not professional athletes, but chiropractic can help you function at your best whatever you are doing. I truly believe that regular chiropractic care, even when nothing is ‘wrong,’ is very important and will help you and me to function better than we would otherwise. This is the reason that I love checking and adjusting little children, again not because they are ‘broken’ and need fixing but to help them develop and grow their best!
So remember that your body is amazing and not ‘broken’ and chiropractic is a great way to help it express its full potential. So don’t let fear stop you from achieving better health each day. We look to forward to working with your body to help it continue to be amazing, the way it was meant to be.
