by Dr. Amy Mercovich
I have to break it to you… I don’t care all that much about back pain. “What?!” you say? Uncaring and heartless am I? Make no mistake, I want you and your family members to feel amazing yet what I care about the most is that your body’s innate (natural, inborn) healing mechanisms are working optimally, free from interference. Your body being able to express true health from the inside out, non-stop for the longest time possible, preferably well into your 90s or even 100s, is my primary goal and is what gets me excited at the start of my work day.
True health means that your body is able to properly detect things that are wrong and can fix them, automatically, all the time whether you are asleep or awake, and whether you are thinking about your health or thinking about the basketball game or upcoming holiday. True health means healing. It comes with the package deal of being human. We are self-healing and self-regulating organisms and it is only when there is interference in the control of those systems (in your brain, spinal cord, or nerves) that things go majorly wrong and disease ensues.
You may be asking, what does your spine and your posture have to do with your ability to heal? That is a very insightful question! This is the coolest part… your back (spine) houses your electrical system and that system depends on clear, unimpeded flow through all the bones of your back and neck. The best way to have clear nerve flow between your brain and all the cells of your body is have great spinal alignment, excellent posture, and nice flexibility and mobility of the spine.
No matter what traumas your spine has encountered along the course of your life, it can always improve in these three areas of alignment, posture, and mobility with regular chiropractic adjustments and old-fashioned good posture practices. Of course, we can also get a bit fancier with some people who need to rehabilitate the curves of the spine with special home spinal curve molding techniques.
Even more interesting, there is actually a whole other side to the story of the spine, the nerves, and your health. It turns out that the act of adjusting your spine (what we chiropractors love to do for as many people as possible!) sends impulses to the brain that starts a whole chain reaction of good things such as immune system stimulation, chemical production, adaptation to stress, and even more efficient energy production.
When you tell me how much better you are feeling, I hope I say to you…”that is fantastic and the best part is that your body is working better from the inside out in all the ways it is supposed to work for you to have a long, healthy, vibrant life.” Then, I hope you and your family continue to include maintenance chiropractic care for your lifetimes, not just because it makes you feel better, but because it makes your body be the perfectly self-healing and self-regulating organism that it is. And that, my friends, is why I love being a chiropractor.