Chiropractic is similier to dentistry in that we want to correct problems not just relieve symptoms.  Many years ago, before the advent of orthodontics, crowded adult teeth causing pain and swelling were simply pulled out.  Now we have the ability to make room for crowded teeth by reshaping the mouth and straightening the teeth.  Of course it takes more time and money to save rather than pull but it is generally wiser to preserve than to waste.  This is especially true of joints and discs in the neck and back.  Since the spine is made of movable bones that house the central nervous system and allows freedom of movement, degeneration here leads to years of painful stiff misery and poor health.  If your spine has lost its normal shape and the joints in your neck or back are abnormally compressed, locked or misaligned, the discs between the bones may have already started to decay.  Where the spine is concerned we must save rather than waste. 

 

There are two types of Chiropractic care a person can receive when experiencing neck or back pain; relief care or corrective care.  With relief care, some joint compression, muscle tension and nerve pressure can be relieved by massage, physical therapy or chiropractic.  However the application of relief care is similar to inflating a tire with a leak.  The damaged tire may be useful temporarily but will always require re-inflation.  Further, the leak is a structural weakness, a warning that it may fail unexpectedly.  While relief care is an extremely valuable tool, it cannot reshape abnormal area of the spine that cause disc tissue to wear away and spinal joints to become stiff, painful and arthritic.

 

Corrective chiropractic care is a modern, advance form of treatment designed to realign twisted joints while simultaneously restoring the neck and back to their natural curved shapes.  Think of corrective care as orthodontics of the spine without the braces.  Unfortunately many patients have allowed their spines to deteriorate to the point that corrective care is not possible.  But for those patients where it is still an option, the extra time, money and effort they spend now may help them avoid an early road to aging, years of hunched, stiff, painful posture and potential spinal surgery.

 

Take this test to see if you are a candidate for corrective care for you spine.  Have a family member look at you from the side.  Stand in your normal comfortable stance and look straight ahead.  Your ear canal should line up with the center of the shoulder.  If it falls slightly in front, you are in phase one or two of spinal decay.  The farther forward the ear canal is the greater the decay and the more urgent it is to be thoroughly evaluated to see if you are a candidate for corrective care.  The easiest corrections are made with only slight forward head carriage.

 

Fixing a toothache may take a day and cost hundreds while having your teeth straightened takes years and costs thousands.  Is having your spine corrected and preserved worth as much as having your teeth straightened?  You better believe it.  Not hundreds but thousands of dollars alone in surgical prevention.  Furthermore, stiffness and hunched posture is what makes even young people look and feel old.  A premature aging of the neck and back will always occur when the spine buckles forward or is locked to one side.  People notice. My vote is for prevention and correction.  If that is your vote as well, call the office and we will be happy to help you determine if you need corrective care and even show you some examples of what happens when corrective care is not done.  So is now the time to correct your spine?  Contact us at www.southingtonchiropractor.com for more information.