Anyone who has had good experiences with their chiropractic adjustments knows this; getting adjusted is one of the easiest and most time efficient things you can do to move about easier with less pain and tightness.
“I can turn my neck now”
“I can sit and put my socks on without pain”
“I can pick up my kids without back pain”
“I can sit at my desk much easier”
People exercise, take vitamins or herbal supplements, even prescription drugs, and go to great lengths to modify their diet, ALL in the hope of improving their overall health and simply feeling better. What they (and maybe you) need to know is that getting adjusting can improve your overall health just as much if not more as any of these things.
While there has been a lack of scientific data to explain why people who receive regular adjustments tend to simply be ‘in better health’, any Doctor of Chiropractic can tell you the patients that do this tend to simply be in better overall health than the rest of their patients in their practice that don’t.
Recent studies have begun to shed light on this. One such study involved adjusting patients and measuring certain brain functions using advanced imaging (PET scans) and also measuring certain body functions. The researches saw on the PET scans that specific areas of the brain were stimulated while a specific area of the brain was deactivated with the adjustment. Without getting crazy with medical jargon about these areas of the brain and what they do, I’ll just tell you the researchers think this better explains how adjusting the spine reduces pain in the body and furthermore, how it can influence the central nervous system to improve the entire body’s functions;
- Breathing – improved air flow
- Immune function – increased
- Blood pressure - reduced
- Digestion - improved
- Pain - reduced
- Hormone regulation (mood /metabolism/sleep patterns/blood sugar/etc)
So, while you probably knew getting adjusted helps with pain, now you have a bit deeper understanding of how it also helps improve your entire health and thus live a more vibrant life.
Time for a tune up yet?
Studin M., Owens W., (2016) Chiropractic Spinal Adjustments and the Effects on the Neuroendocrine System and the Central Nervous System Connection, The American Chiropractor, 38(1) 46-51