Chiropractic: Preventing the Fires of Ill Health
By Dr. Molly Casey
Do you think about your health only when you are sick or have a problem you want to solve, like losing weight? If you do, you’re not alone. Most of the patients I see do exactly that, at least initially, before really engaging with chiropractic. Have you ever taken a step back and looked at what health actually means to you and why it’s valuable -- I don’t mean in conversation where you throw in the cliché phrase, “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything” (even though it’s true); I mean taking time to reflect on what good health can actually provide you in life and what you value with regard to it. Do you value a healthy immune system because it keeps you feeling good? Do you value proper sleep so you have the energy to meet your demanding schedule and make good money? Do you value a fit body because it allows you to keep roughhousing with the kiddos? Or do you value a ripped body because you feel it allows you to perform better when you participate in your passion of competing, or because you just feel better in it?
Health Care
Whether you realize it or not, in every moment you’re rendering care for yourself. The quality or level of health care you render your body and yourself is dependent upon your choices -- momentary choices. And with each choice you make, you’re either strengthening the host (your body) or you’re playing against it and weakening it. That may sound a bit dramatic but those choices create your state of health or sickness. Ultimately those choices -- even the spur-of-the-moment ones -- dictate the picture of what your day-to-day health experience is. Think about it, someone who is consistently dealing with the flu due to a rundown immune system didn’t wake up one day to a poorly functioning immune system -- there have been choices made that compiled one upon the other to weaken the system. Maybe it was years of poor sleep, improper nutrients, high levels of toxins in food, water and/or the environment -- whatever it was, choices were made and while one was not detrimental, the accumulation of those unhelpful choices were.
Sickness Care
Sickness care is care focused on action only when symptoms or illness appear. That means putting out fire after fire after fire but never engaging in the practice of trying to prevent the fire and negate the chances of it occurring again All of us at some point and level, have played like this in life. Hey, I’m not throwing stones -- I’ve been guilty, too. However, it’s no way to experience optimal wellness in our lives and it can be a very difficult mindset to exit.
Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic is health care in its truest form. It’s about prevention and not allowing the fires to begin in the first place. The chiropractic adjustment can improve joint function, correct nerve interference and restore proper brain/body communication. An optimally functioning central nervous system is the foundation of health. By removing nerve interference at this “ground level” it sets the stage for health to grow from the ground up and blossom, if you will. Your momentary health choices -- I’m talking about the good ones -- only go so far if the communication system is running less than optimally. When nerve interference is removed, wellness is possible. Getting your spine regularly checked and adjusted for subluxations, or misalignments is certainly one of the simplest and most profound ways to start engaging in real health care and real prevention. The wonderful part is licensed doctors of chiropractic, like those at The Joint focus specifically on the chiropractic adjustment as an integral part of improving your quality of life. Your health is a “joint” effort and your chiropractor can be a wealth of information on other ways for you to become truly engaged and make positive changes resulting in a healthier, more active lifestyle -- one that truly engages with health care!
About the Author: Dr. Molly Casey is a Doctor of Chiropractic who practices in the Los Angeles area. She works twice a week at The Joint’s Glendale, CA clinic.