Chiropractic Care: A Benefit to the Well Individual?

We don’t often think of the chiropractor until some part of our body isn’t functioning as it should, most often our back.  But what about chiropractic care for the well individual?  Is it a benefit to the well person, to visit a chiropractor when really nothing is wrong? You bet it’s a benefit and here’s why.

                The very nature of chiropractic care is the belief in the body’s own healing properties.  Quite often, we can have small problems in one area of our body, and not even realize it until the effect is felt in a much larger way, somewhere else.

                The practice of chiropractic care focuses on the relationship between your spine and your nervous system.  The spine is the structure, and the nervous system is the function.  Chiropractic believes these two systems work in unison to keep and then restore your body’s health.  The word “chiropractic” is taken from Greek, and means “done by hand”.  This is exactly how chiropractic care works.

  The chiropractor uses his or her hands to manipulate your body, and help it to heal itself.  It is the branch of the health sciences which focuses on the neuromusculoskeletal system.  That’s a very big word to simply say how your spine and nervous system work together.  The spine is the highway for your central nervous system; if the highway is blocked or traffic is jammed, they are usually able healers. Many cultures, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Chinese, and even the Africans have used some form of chiropractic care for hundreds of years.

                Why has it taken so long for chiropractic care to receive its proper recognition in western medicine?  Because by its very nature, it creates a divide between traditional, western philosophies and practices and what the chiropractor practices.  In modern, western medicine, prescription drugs play a huge role in our healing process.  To circumvent all those years of development, and investment on the part of the drug companies, is like climbing a rock cliff.  It has taken many years, much evidence, and the demand of the general public to finally make progress towards the implementation chiropractic medicine as a realistic form of healing.

                Chiropractic care in the western civilizations however has experienced many hurdles on its way to becoming one of best forms of back care and preventive medicine available today.  To date, much research has been done and much material published on the benefits and cost-effective nature of chiropractic treatment.  The number of Americans who seek chiropractic care has more than tripled in the last ten years, and continues to grow each year.  It is a known fact, if you’ve ever visited the chiropractor, the philosophy works, your body feels better, it heals better, and you aren’t cut, drugged, and off from work for 6 weeks to recuperate.  It is interesting to note here, that chiropractors are still classified as holistic healers.  In other words, they believe in the whole body approach to healing.  So do the acupuncturists, and the herbal healers. It would seem to me, that traditional medicine as had a lot of catching up to do, and they thought they were in the lead!