What You Need to Know About Chiropractic Care and Subluxation Before Your First Visit



What You Need to Know About Chiropractic Care and Subluxation Before Your First Visit.

Congratulations on booking your first visit to Naturally Well Chiropractic! You might have some questions about what chiropractic care involves and what a thing called subluxation is. Understanding these concepts can help you feel more informed and confident as you begin your journey to better health.

What Brought You to Naturally Well Chiropractic?

Many of you might be here because someone referred you, perhaps mentioning how they “got cracked and felt better.” While they might have experienced relief from pain or discomfort, it’s important to clarify that our focus isn’t just on curing pain or disease. Our ultimate goal is to help you become as vital and alive as possible. While this might not be what brought you here today, it’s the path we’re here to guide you on.

Why Do You Brush Your Teeth?

Do you brush your teeth regularly? Imagine only brushing them when they hurt. Did your great-grandparents brush theirs? Back in the early 1900s, Dr. Alfred Fones, a dentist, was alarmed by the number of people losing teeth to cavities, leading him to found the field of dental hygiene. It wasn’t until the 1950s that regular brushing became widespread. Before that, people didn’t know they had a problem until it hurt, leading to painful extractions and a lifetime of dietary limitations.

Today, you brush your teeth regularly because over 120 years ago, dentists began teaching the importance of daily care to ensure your teeth last longer, allowing you to enjoy all the foods you love.

Let’s Talk About Spines and Health

In today’s society, we’re at a similar crossroads with spinal health as our great-grandparents were with dental care. Just like how they only addressed their teeth when there was a problem, many of us don’t think about our spines until something goes wrong.

Imagine this common scenario: No pain, no problem—until one day, you bend down to pick up a piece of paper, and suddenly, your back goes out. You end up in the emergency room, get some painkillers, and feel better—until it happens again, and again, each time more frequently, until a CT scan reveals a disc protrusion. That’s when reality hits: you’re facing a lifetime of limitations.

At Naturally Well Chiropractic, we understand how scary this can be. We specialize in helping people with herniated discs because, by the time they reach us, they’re desperate for a solution. But wouldn’t it be better to address the issue before it reaches this stage? Just like it’s easier to care for your heart before a heart attack or your teeth before cavities, it’s crucial to care for your spine before a herniated disc limits your life. Let’s work together to keep your spine healthy for the long term.

The Spine: More Than Just Structure

Your spine has two vital functions. First, it serves as the main structure that supports the weight of your body, allowing you to move with ease and stability. But the spine does much more than just hold you up. It also protects your nervous system, which controls every function in your body. This connection between your spine and overall health is often overlooked, yet it’s crucial to your well-being.

Health isn’t just about avoiding problems or stress; it’s about your body’s ability to adapt to life’s constant stresses—physical, chemical, and emotional. Your nervous system plays a central role in this adaptation, allowing you to express health and maintain balance. True health and vitality come from having the strength and resilience to adapt to stress effectively.

It’s not just about diet, exercise, mental attitude, and sleep. While these are essential, the health of your spine and nervous system is a key factor that’s often ignored. Let’s explore how your spine plays a critical role in your overall health and what you can do to support it.

What Controls How Your Body Functions and Overall Health?

Your brain does. Weighing just about a kilo and a half, composed mainly of fat and water, your brain is the command center for your entire body. It controls 7 quadrillion cells, organizing them by sending electrical signals through your nerves. This electrical circuit is what keeps you alive; without it, organs are just lifeless.

The nervous system, protected by your skull and spinal bones, is responsible for transmitting these vital signals throughout your body. Every action, sensation, and function is controlled by these signals, but most of the time, we only notice our nervous system when something goes wrong.

Understanding the connection between your spine, nervous system, and overall health is essential because problems often develop silently, without symptoms, until they reach a critical stage. This is why chiropractic care focuses on maintaining the health of your spine and nervous system, ensuring that your body functions at its best.

What Is Subluxation and Why Should You Care?

A subluxation occurs when a joint in the body fails to move within its normal functional range, sending abnormal signals to your nervous system. Without proper movement, the nervous system receives inadequate information about that joint, affecting how muscles and surrounding tissues should function. This loss of function can weaken the tissues in the area. As the saying goes, ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it.’ If left untreated, or if your body cannot restore normal function, this imbalance can affect the integrity and resilience of the surrounding tissue. Micro-injuries, adhesions, and tissue degeneration begin to occur.

Symptoms of Spinal Subluxation

It’s important to recognize the signs of a spinal subluxation so you can seek treatment promptly. Common symptoms include:

• Headaches: A buildup of pressure due to a subluxation can lead to tension headaches, often appearing without warning.
• Inability to Move: Muscle stiffness or inflexibility can make everyday tasks difficult, as the subluxation limits your ability to move freely.
• Pain in the Back or Neck: The most obvious sign of a subluxation, this pain can range from mild discomfort to sharp, debilitating pain.
• Postural Changes: Subluxations can lead to postural changes over time by causing misalignments in the spine that disrupt the body's natural balance and alignment.

Chiropractic care focuses on identifying and correcting subluxations to restore proper movement and neurological information, creating a better environment for the body to heal and promoting optimal joint and spinal function.

Only 10% of your nervous system perceives pain, so you may not experience noticeable symptoms. Often, subluxations occur without any obvious cause—sometimes it’s a simple movement, like bending over to pick up a piece of paper, that triggers it. You might feel fine one moment and then suddenly experience discomfort. Understanding what happened and addressing it early on is crucial to maintaining your overall health.

What Causes Subluxations?

• Physical Causes: From birth, our bodies endure trauma—twists and pulls during delivery, childhood falls, and everyday injuries. These events accumulate, subtly misaligning the spine over time.
• Emotional Causes: Stress, anxiety, and emotional trauma don’t just affect your mind—they also manifest in your body, leading to tension and shifts in your spinal alignment.
• Chemical Causes: Poor nutrition, pollution, and toxins weaken your body’s structure, contributing to subluxations. Over time, these stressors can lead to chronic pain and other health issues.

Final Thoughts

Understanding chiropractic care and subluxations can help you feel more prepared and confident as you begin your treatment. Chiropractic care is a safe, natural, and effective way to address various health concerns, from pain relief to improved mobility and overall wellness.

If you’re ready to take the first step toward better health, your chiropractor is here to guide you through the process, answer any questions you may have, and create a personalized plan to help you achieve your health goals.

What to Expect During Your First Visit to Naturally Well Chiropractic

Our primary goal is to make sure you’re in the right place and that we can help you. Here’s what you can expect during your first visit:

                 1.            Fill in New Patient Forms: We ask that you arrive 10 minutes earlier than your appointment so you can fill in the new patient forms.

                 2.            Comprehensive Health Assessment: Your first consultation includes a thorough health history and examination. We’ll discuss your symptoms, concerns, and goals to understand your unique needs.

                 3.            Personalized Treatment Plan: Based on the assessment, we will tell you if we can help and how we can achieve your goals. We’ll explain each step of the process so you know exactly how we plan to help you.

                 4.            Treatment: Depending on your condition, we may start your treatment on the first visit, or we may need to send you for some x-rays before proceeding.

We look forward to helping you on your journey to better health!