Feeling Pain? You May Be Worse Off Than You Think

By Dr. Molly Casey

Your level of health is not dictated by how you feel. I’ve found throughout my years in practice that people in today’s society believe that if they are not experiencing any pain that they are healthy. That is simply and profoundly not true. Why is that, and if how you feel doesn’t dictate your level of health, what does?

No Pain Doesn’t Mean Healthy

Have you ever heard a story that goes like this: “He (or she) was healthy. He ran six miles a day and ate well. He didn’t drink alcohol or smoke tobacco and was happy with a great family life. He was mid-30s and just didn’t wake up the other morning. Literally, he was healthy and now is dead.”

I’ve heard this numerous times as patients shed tears over the loss of a friend or relative. I bring this up because a lack of pain or symptoms -- and what appears to be a healthy lifestyle -- does not equal health. If the person these folks were telling me about were healthy, they wouldn’t be dead. Bottom line.

Appearance or the perception that one is healthy does not equal health, and playing that game is very dangerous. The remedy is education, effort and action, things that folks often aren’t willing to engage in and put forth. If how we feel isn’t the basis of health, what is?

What Dictates One’s Level Of Health

Although there are numerous ways to affect your health, the foundational piece is your nervous system. The brain transmits information down the spinal cord and through miles of nerves that go to every single cell, system, structure and organ in your body. These cells, systems, structures, and organs transmit information back to the brain through the nerves and up the spinal cord. This is your communication system, and this system dictates your level of health. Poor transmission equals inadequate communication and suboptimal function follows. Suboptimal function leads to “dis-ease” in the body. Less than optimal function and this uneasiness in the body, when left alone for long enough, results in more wide scale malfunctions and disease. Thus, foundationally, proper or maximum communication along the spinal cord and nervous system is the crux to your level of health. Another main piece to understand about this communication system is that 90 percent of it does not transmit pain. That is why using pain as the primary or sole indicator of health or malfunction is not a wise idea.

Primary Steps to Improve Health

Optimal communication is required for optimal health. Your nervous system is your communication system. Proper nervous system function is the foundation for your optimal level of health and functioning.

How do you best assure that your communication system is functioning as well as possible? By having regular chiropractic adjustments as part of your healthcare routine.

The spine houses and protects the nervous system. The better the spine is functioning and the better overall health of the bones and joints means you have the best possible communication opportunity. Chiropractic adjustments restore motion and improve function of the spine.

Your body is the machine through which you live your life. As you use your machine, there is daily wear and tear; add traumas to life’s stress and the wear and tear increases. Regular chiropractic adjustments provide a level of restoration and maintenance for your machine and, as a result, improves communication and the quality of your health.

Let the doctors at The Joint Chiropractic help you help yourself and your health. Come in and get your spine checked and adjusted. The Joint Chiropractic looks to improve the quality of your life and health through making affordable routine adjustments available to you.

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