The Myth That You Only See Chiropractors for Back Pain

(And Why It’s Holding You Back)

Why should you see me or any other chiropractors even if you are currently pain free? Most people do not think to see a chiropractor just because. Often people only come to chiropractors or come see me once they are in pain. I want you to know, that the best time to see me for care is now before the back pain, before the headache, before the degeneration and changes in your body start to happen. By the time we experience pain in our body, we already missed several signals that our body was sending us. You may have had a little tightness that became your new normal. You may have had a moment getting out of the car where you back was stiff and you decided to just walk it off or go back to yoga for a few workouts. All of these were your signs and signals that something is going on.

When you come into my office and you do not have any pain, my goal is to teach you and show you how you might be physically compensating and how to change that and get back to a better posture with more innately relaxed musculature.

I would challenge you to look into the mirror right now. Get up and go. Stand tall and shake it out jump up and down a little and swing your arms. Rock back and forth on your feet to toes and back down. Close your eyes and breathe a couple deep breaths and then open your eyes. What do you see? Are your eyes even or is your head tilted one way? Do you rotate your head one way? Does one shoulder slump down or forward? Is one foot turned out or one leg bent? You might even realize your hips are not even. All of these compensations are common but they are also showing you how your body is compensating. This compensation and posture is unconscious and you cannot change it by just reminding yourself to stand tall. You have to fix your brain-body connection.

Our posture is a response from our past injuries, our cerebellum, and our body’s proprioception. How I practice, how most good chiropractors, practice, helps improve how well your cerebellum and how well your body’s proprioception works to keep you balance and upright. The brain and body does not want to put asymmetric stress onto our tissue, joints, muscles and ligaments but it will if that is the “most optimal position” it can achieve. In my office during my exam I show my patients how things change standing, sitting, face up and face down with the leg length, tight sensitive muscles, and how well they contract their muscles. This is because I am testing their body’s ability to function in response to different stimuli. After an adjustment and myofascial therapy my patients feel a lot better physically and have an easier time contracting their muscles and it feels “stronger and easier.” The reason is because their muscles can contract with more fore and the brain can better nervous System feedback and feed-forward to facilitate that contraction.

Do you think that helps them prevent long term degeneration? Likely yes. Do you think it means other joint injuries or accidents can be prevented? I think so and believe so.

Story time: I have patient with previous chronic low back pain. At the time, she was very healthy and fit. She was working out with a personal trainer and had every day stress of being a business owner and parent but nothing more than I would say was too much. After a few months and around a dozen visits we got her out of chronic low back pain and feeling better. It took longer than usual for me because it was a unique case and she responded differently to traditional adjustments so had to approach her care specifically and differently. Her and I continued her adjustments and appointments consistently and sporadically for that wellness benefit I discussed and because chiropractic has other health benefits outside the physical. (watch my videos on this to hear some good stories). Fast forward a couple years and my patient was in a major car accident. A truck hit her at full speed going over 70 mph while she was going also 65 mph In the opposite direction in her truck. To give you an idea of how bad the accident was her GMC Sierra was totaled and span around on the road after getting hit along her driver side. My patient sustained multiple disc herniations in the low back, neck, and had a concussion. Typically most people would have to go to surgery or months of chiropractic and physical therapy just to get back to normal. My patient, immediately after the accident had pain but no where near where it typically would be. On a scale of 1-10 it was around 4-5 right after the accident. Within about 10 visits we had her almost completely pain free with her back and neck. The injury that lasted the longest actually was her wrist and elbow. If you ask any chiropractor, physical therapist, or orthopedic surgeon how long does it take to recover from a major car accident with multiple disc herniations it is a lot longer than 2 months and 10 visits. I believe a huge part of the reason she did not need as much care is because at the time of the accident her body and nervous system were very coherent and functioning optimally. This helped with the recovery & also minimized how much pain and suffering she experienced.

So that’s why you should see a chiropractor even without pain. It is so when accidents do happen you recover and feel so much better so much faster. It is so that your body and nervous system can function more optimally. It is so you can sleep better. I want you to feel good physically without that subtle tightness and restrictions in your body. I want to encourage you to experience it for yourself.