What Happened to Your Spine?
By Sara Butler
It’s not unheard of for patients to drop into the chiropractor’s office with a complaint but have no idea how it happened. A common problem is that it probably wasn’t just one “thing” that caused whatever it was that sent you seeking professional help. Chances are that you’re experiencing something that’s been brewing under the surface for a while, for one or many different reasons. Here’s how spinal problems start and what you can do about it.
A Simple Formula
There’s a simple formula your chiropractor uses to understand what is going on with you and your back. When you multiply spinal trauma with spinal neglect, you get poor spinal health, causing discomfort and even pain. Here’s the breakdown:
- Spinal trauma – This is exactly what it sounds like - an injury to your spine. This isn’t always an obvious injury because spinal trauma can happen little by little every single day. Not one incident caused the spine to become misaligned, but when all these little things are added together, they create misalignments that eventually lead to other problems. It can be something as simple as poor posture that can cause issues down the road.
- Spinal neglect – If you have injuries you get them fixed, right? Well, if you’re experiencing little traumas every day that largely go unnoticed, and you don’t see a chiropractor regularly, then you are guilty of spinal neglect.
What You Can Do
The obvious answer is to see your chiropractor regularly to help you deal with the small spinal traumas you’re experiencing – but you can do more than that. You can also work with your chiropractor to understand the lifestyle choices you may be making that are causing you problems. If it’s poor posture, then you can work on understanding how to correct your posture throughout your everyday life in order to make a positive impact.
Another thing you can do is start out at the chiropractor young. Even if you’re older, it’s never too late to start going. The average first-time chiropractic patient, according to the American Chiropractic Association, is over 40. By this time many small spinal traumas have added up to create rather large problems – problems that may be associated with getting older. The key is to understand that while normal changes do happen as you age, pain and discomfort is not a normal state of being. That’s why starting with chiropractic early can make a big difference.