by Dr. Scott Briggs

If you are new to, never been to, or been going for years to a chiropractor you may be wondering why a doctor of chiropractic who specializes in the care of the spine is talking so much about health. Questions may be coming up like what is chiropractic care and isn’t it just for back pain, or does chiropractic care really help people achieve better health.

I want to take some time and give a concerted effort to better explain what chiropractic care is, how it helps improve your health.

Improving health through adjustment of the spine began long before the official start of the chiropractic profession. A gentleman by the name of Danial David Palmer (DD Palmer) gave the profession it’s start in 1895. DD Palmer figured out how to adjust the spine with more specificity using contacts of individual vertebrae as short levers to make the spinal adjustment. From there DD Palmer created the first chiropractic school, Palmer School of Chiropractic, which remains in existence in Davenport Iowa. There are now 40 chiropractic schools around the world 19 of which are in the United States.

What is the premise of chiropractic health care? This is a fairly simple question that has a very lengthy answer if I were to dive deeply in to it. I am going to do my best to make it compact for the purposes of this blog post. I was taught that health comes from, “up to down, and from the inside to outside”. What does this little statement mean, all health begins with the brain, “up”, the required knowledge for health travels the spinal cord, “down”. I believe the human body is created to be healthy and self healing so if all the internal cells, tissues, and organs of the body are healthy, that health is manifested on the outside of the body.

Take a headache for example. What is your body trying to tell you when a headache occurs? Do you ever stop and consider that aches, pains, and other symptoms are simply the means of communication your body uses. This headache may be inadequate water consumption, or you forgot to eat, or ate poor quality food, or stress is high, or too many hours sitting and staring at the computer. All of these possibilities are easily fixed without any pain reliever. You have a choice, do you give your body what it needs to heal and therefore relieve the headache or are you going to cover up the headache with pain reliever and let the problem go unresolved. I can tell you what most people do, they take the pain reliever and let the problem go unresolved. How do I know this, my office is full of patients with long term unresolved issues.

We are now to the essence of what chiropractic care is all about. Chiropractic care helps the body solve unresolved health issues.

Patients that present with what is considered an acute injury, a slip and fall, over exertion in the weight room or lifted something that was too heavy are few. Most of the patients in the clinic report having symptoms and they don’t know what they did. What they did was ignore or cover up (pain reliever) the communication efforts of their body and therefore neglected the true problem. Neglected problems result in increased internal stress which commonly shows itself in the spine as inappropriately aligned vertebrae. Vertebrae that are misaligned lead to interference to the nerves roots as they exit the spine. Interference to the nerve roots means slow or inappropriate electrical signals traveling through the nerves to the cells, tissues, and organs of the body. All of this results in aches, pains, and overall feeling poorly for unknown reasons.

Ideally, I would rather have patients come to the office at the first signs of a symptom or even better yet, before the symptoms even begin. The old adage, “if it’s not broken, it doesn’t need fixed”, is not always true. When it comes to the health of your body you have the opportunity to prevent a health problem before it becomes a health problem. Regularly visiting a chiropractor when no symptoms are present has an amazing ability to prevent many symptoms for ever arising. This is the exact reason I believe having your infant adjusted is so important. Giving your child a strong neurological start to life and then maintaining the spinal health of the child as they grow is one of the best gifts you could ever give your baby.

Unfortunately, most patients wait until they are feeling so poorly and hurting so much before they go to a chiropractor that a long healing process make take place.

Dr. Scott Briggs

Unfortunately, most patients wait until they are feeling so poorly and hurting so much before they go to a chiropractor that a long process of healing must take place. Once their body has gone through the healing process then they can finally begin to experience life in a state of health.

It’s never too late to start moving your body in the direction of health. Talking to your chiropractor can provide opportunities to learn about not only the importance of chiropractic care, but also the importance of proper nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, and if necessary supporting your healing body with quality whole food based supplements. Contact your chiropractor today and make an appointment, the new healthier you is waiting.

Dr. Scott Briggs is the owner of Briggs Family Chiropractic in Converse, IN. He has been a chiropractor for over 15 years. He has invited everyone to join him in his health journey for 2022. You can visit the first post on this to receive free helpful downloads. Click HERE to find that post. You can also follow us on Instagram (@briggsfamiychiropractic).