It’s January. It’s 2023. Future Generations has hit the ground running. We are having a proper grand opening this month, on Thursday the 19th, if you are interested in coming. It is going to be a year of change for my family and I with the addition of baby Kiser, and a possible move to Escondido. The FG family is motivated to start the year strong, which will set up an incredible year for us all. We are introducing a membership program in the not too distant future for some of our families who expressed interest in such a thing, and may even be starting a curriculum on all things health. Stay tuned for more details on both! Future Generations is ready to turn the health of Escondido upside down. On that note, let’s get into this month’s blog. The theme of this month is “because chiropractic.” I’m excited to be talking about the top 10 most common benefits people experience while undergoing chiropractic care. You may know some, all, or none of these, so let’s rock…
- We only get one spine. Ideally, you get to live your life with no introductions of metal to your spine, removal of any part of your spine, or whatever crazy kind of surgeries they are doing nowadays. Our spine is responsible for keeping us upright, housing our spinal cord, and allows us to move and bend. That being said, do you have any idea what percentage of the population that actually takes care of their spine with chiropractic care? Maybe 10% according to some sources. I would put that number at a much smaller percentage, like maybe 3%. Our spinal column may just be the most important part of our skeleton, yet we don’t do much for it. People take better care of their teeth than they do their spine. Why is that? Easy answer – because you can see them. Regular chiropractic can help fix postural issues, structural shifts in the spine, stop and even prevent degeneration to the actual skeleton. Unfortunately because of posture and screen time, we are seeing kids come in with spines that look worse than their parents.
- Brain function is directly connected to the chiropractic adjustment. The spinal cord is housed in our spinal column. The spinal cord is directly connected to the brain making up the nervous system. How can the health of one not impact the other? You guessed correct, it can’t. You could write a book on this one and go into some serious depths of neurobiology, but that isn’t what this blog is for. Some of the more common things we see in regards to brain function are better memory, clearer mind, better emotional balance, better behavior, and better balance/coordination.
- Improved mobility is probably one of the top 2 or 3 most common reports we get from patients. An increase in range of motion, ROM, is noticeable instantaneously after an adjustment. It is one of the “fast effects” that people fall in love with right after getting adjusted. You will notice this after one adjustment, but normal ROM starts to reestablish itself after many adjustments. You can also notice ROM improvements in the extremities sans adjustments. For example, adjusting the neck may improve ROM in your shoulders. After we have broken through gunk in the gears so to speak, the joints can work how they are supposed to. Mechanically moving the joints improves ROM, but less stress on the nervous system in the area will also help with mobility.
- I’d say that a stronger immune system is one of the top things we hear from parents about their kids, but it is something adults benefit from as well. It seems like we’ve been seeing a never ending run of sick kids/families for the past 2 months. All of them are benefiting from a properly functioning nervous system. Families under regular chiropractic care get sick less and bounce back faster when they are sick.
According to Dr. Matthew McCoy, editor of The Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health–Chiropractic:
“Through research we know that chiropractic has beneficial effects on immunoglobulins, B-lymphocytes (white blood cells), pulmonary function and other immune system processes.” One such study, conducted by Patricia Brennan, Ph.D., and her team, found that when a chiropractic “manipulation” was applied to the middle back, the response of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (white blood cells) taken from blood collected 15 minutes after the manipulation was significantly higher than blood collected 15 minutes before the chiropractic procedure. This research demonstrated an “enhanced respiratory burst” following the chiropractic adjustment.”
You can read more about chiropractic and the nervous system at my past blog here.
5. Patients of all ages report returning home after an adjustment and taking a nap they were not planning on, or experiencing the best night of sleep they have had in a while after their first adjustments. Most of our patients report better sleep overall since starting care. They report that they can fall asleep faster, stay asleep, and get better quality sleep overall. Most of us have our nervous systems stuck on the gas pedal. When that happens, our bodies have a harder time relaxing, or activating. Getting adjusted is like us helping you slam on the brake pedal. When that happens the body can calm down, and do what we should do naturally – get deep, restorative sleep.
6. If you asked most people about chiropractic, they would tell you that it helps with low back pain and that is true. We see phenomenal results with pain pretty much anywhere. Most of our adult patients come in with some sort of nagging pain that they cannot seem to get rid of. We take care of our pain in the FG office, but it is not our focus. By focusing on the correction of the nervous system, and structure of the spine, we can dig into the root cause of the pain and repair it for good. Unfortunately, most conventional chiropractors get people out of pain in a couple of visits, only to have the patients come back in a month or so with the same exact pain.
7. Chiropractic and athletic performance are synonymous. It is very common to see pictures of athletes with their “thank yous” written on them hanging in offices. A decade ago, a plethora of offices had posters with Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, and Jerry Rice with quotes saying how chiropractic benefited from them. I’m sure these are still hanging in more than a few offices around the country. We have already talked about how chiropractic benefits mobility, pain reduction, balance/coordination, and nervous system function. It would be impossible to have chiropractic not benefit performance in conjunction with those.
8. The most common health goal we see on parents, or other adults’ intake forms is to have “less stress.” At Future Generations, we have what we call the “Four Ts.” Traumas, thoughts, toxins, and technology. These are the 4 types of stress that we are constantly bombarded with. The first 3 are what chiropractic was founded on. These types of stress get stuck in the body and cause interference to our nervous system. This can slow down, decrease the number of, or completely stop the messages our nervous system is trying to send to our body. When this happens, our body will potentially suffer from symptoms. By keeping the spine adjusted and clearing stress from the nervous system, the body can function normally with minimal to no stress. When there’s minimal stress stuck in our system, we perform better (see above), and are more adaptable to the constant stresses we come into contact with everyday.
9. Digestive support is right up there with sleep and immunity as being one of the more common benefits of consistent chiropractic care. Digestion is a parasympathetic activity, or brake pedal of the nervous system. The most common thing to happen to infants, toddlers, and young children is to have a serious bowel movement after the adjustment. It occasionally happens during the adjustment. I have never experienced a diaper blow out mid-adjustment (knock on wood), but Dr. Stan has. Again, taking the body off the gas pedal allows the body to do what it is supposed to do, which is poop. We should be pooping everyday. Some pediatricians will tell you that it is normal for your kid to not poop for 7 days. In what world? If you know someone dealing with that, they need to see a chiropractor asap.
10. The final benefit is what all of these relate to – an optimally functioning nervous system. It controls everything, and when it is performing normally, everything is performing normally. That means eating, sleeping, pooping, fighting off invaders, performing, moving, and adapting all happens how it should. You get to experience life with no limits to your physiology. All of these different systems in our body exist for the preservation and optimization of the nervous system. Make sure you take care of yours!
Well there you have it, the top 10 benefits of chiropractic care. There are a multitude of others. If you or someone you know might benefit from what we do at Future Generations, there is no better time than NOW….especially with our Gift of Health promotion available for the rest of this month!