Harmon Family Chiropractic
2602 Newton St., Jasper, IN 47546
812-634-6363
Benefits of Chiropractic When I am "Feeling Fine"
When many of our patients enter our office for their initial evaluation and appointment they are feeling some sort of stress or pain or maybe even had an injury or were involved in an accident. Under this method of thought we are using PAIN as our indicator or gauge for monitoring and determining our health status. Most people in America assume that if they have no pain, they have no problems in regards to their health. One patient noted that "I never take care of my body until it tells me I need to." This is undoubtedly one of the worst assumptions any of us could make regarding our health status. Our method of dealing with our body and health has to be proactive and health promoting, rather than just reactive and symptom controlling.
When we honestly evaluate our health status, we then realize that how we "feel" is a poor method of judging current or future health. Many, if not all, of our serious health conditions are not painful until they are exacerbated by a strain, repetitive motion, fall etc¡ or simply when the body can no longer compensate for the imbalances in the body. Undetected subluxations of the spine, tooth decay, high blood pressure, bad cholesterol, heart disease and even cancers exist in many of us without obvious or painful symptoms.
When we are feeling "good", is the time when it is of the utmost importance to continue to take the best care of ourselves in terms of diet, exercise, spinal health, etc..., and not to stop doing what got us there in the first place. When we stop taking care of the body, it will stop us cold in our tracks. Maybe it is something as simple as a sinus or ear infection, or a case of the flu, a gallbladder attack, a stiff neck and cannot move, or you bent over to tie your shoes and could not get back up. Sound familiar to anyone? YES. We do not get sick or injured because the body decided to give you a little bit of extra stress in just that week, these things occurred by using pain as an indicator of health and only treating and nurturing the body when symptoms are/were present. As a result, we create a state of neglect and compromise and the body slowly becomes ill or closer to the threshold of disease. This compromise in the immune system allows us to get sick, the digestive system stops processing foods, the cardiovascular system clogs up, the muscle stress causes the body to lock up, and of course the nervous system housed inside your spine does not function properly which affects all the other systems in the body.
A number of times when we or the staff have greeted patients in the lobby and said, "How are you today" the reply has been "Not good or I wouldn't be here, right?" Our answer of course is "No, there are many people would come in to continue to improve their health." Regular chiropractic care is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle along with diet, exercise and stress management that help to promote vitality in the body. It is essential that we all get out of our pain based mindset for our bodies. The reason for all this is very simple: our mindset about our health determines how we proceed in taking care of our body and what we teach our children as well. We can either treat our body only in a crisis or we can make the decision to give the body the proper care, maintenance, exercise and nourishment it needs on a regular, daily basis.
Having your spine and nervous system functioning at its optimum levels improves energy, decreases stress, promotes vitality and is essential for good health now and in the future. For this same reason, we continue to get our adjustments on a regular basis to promote proper joint motion, decrease muscle and joint stress, and to reduce/correct the misalignments of our spine that interfere with the ability of the body and brain to communicate at their optimal levels. We know that we base our need for chiropractic care on the amount of stress we put on our bodies, and not just if we have pain. The more involved we are with our own personal health choices the better the chance we will live a longer and healthier life.
In addition to adults taking care of their spinal health and needs of the nervous system, it is absolutely essential that we teach our children to base their health on function and stress rather pain and illness. As a result, you see children in the office when you are here, we treat a large number of children, teens and young adults to help their bodies function better now and to avoid problems in the future.
Today we find that millions of parents bring their children to Doctors of Chiropractic every year. This is because many of the parents already receive and understand the benefits of being adjusted and see chiropractic care as essential to good health as is proper nutrition. In this way, the chiropractic adjustment "feeds" the spine and nervous system by removing interferences to the natural healing power of the body. Chiropractic is not a treatment for disease. Its purpose is to reduce nervous system stress caused by subluxations, which results in a lack of communication and balance in the body, which can weaken internal organs, and organ systems, lower resistance, reduce healing potential and set the stage for sickness and disease.
When a chiropractor delivers an adjustment and reduces subluxations, the healing pathway of the body is uninhibited: the immune system works more efficiently, resistance to disease increases, and your body functions more efficiently. Your body can then respond to internal and external environmental stresses such as germs, changes in temperature, humidity, toxins, pollen and all the other stresses he /she comes in contact with. Keeping your body and your children's body free from stress caused by vertebral subluxations will help your body function at more optimal levels and fight off stress and disease. With a healthy nervous system in a child the body can better deal with an ear infection, a sore throat, fever and the many other problems in young life. Monitoring a child's spinal and postural health and detect and prevent problems in the joints and spine that will lead to more serious problems as adults. Young athletes who receive regular chiropractic care not only perform at higher levels due to better joint and muscle balance and coordination, but also recover and return to their sport faster when injured.
In the end the decision is not "Should I and my family benefit from regular chiropractic care?", It is essential that we ALL benefit from regular chiropractic care! Unlike the assumptions we made in the beginning of this handout, we do not have time or the luxury of ignoring our current health as it is directly related to our future. We must take charge and set the proper example for our family and friends in our lifestyle choices to promote health and wellness, not pain and illness. There is no time like the present to take charge of the physical, chemical and emotional stresses in our lives that cause and lead to disease. Many of us say we do not have time to exercise, go to the store to buy healthy foods, take time to meet our spiritual needs etc¡, but these are the important things allow us to keep on path and set the example for those we love.
Ultimately we all get to choose our health journey, and we as doctors and staff will always be here to help you along that path no matter where you are on your health journey. It is our privilege to serve you and answer questions about all of your healthcare needs. We hope that as a collective we all learn from each other, and can promote health and vitality to as many people as possible. We all will stumble and fall in our health journey, the key is that we get back up, dust ourselves off and take the hand of the person or persons next to you that are all on the same journey towards health. As we have said before, health is a process, not an event. No different than any other part of our life that is successful, we need to set goals and objectives for our health and remember that our health status is important to all of those around us.
After all: "If you don't take care of you body, where will you live?"
--Kobi Yamada
NOTE: Not intended as medical advice. This is for information purposes only. Should any person wish to make nutritional, exercise or other health-related changes they should consult their doctor before making these changes.