HOW LONG COULD YOU DRIVE YOUR CAR OUT OF ALIGNMENT?
As a chiropractic physician, my job is to be a doctor for the whole body. I do not specialize in just one part of our system, but look at the relationships of all parts witin the whole. If you’ll indulge me, I have an analogy I’d like to share involving cars.
The concept of the car is rather simple: box with chairs, wheels that roll, engine that makes it move. But a modern automobile is a very sophisticated machine with computers, hundreds of moving pieces and parts machined to highly exacting measures. I’m going to presume that most of you would not feel comfortable tackling a front end alignment or doing a total rebuild of your car’s engine. When it comes to fixing a problem, or better yet, maintaining a vehicle so that it lasts longer before repairs are needed, you bring it to a qualified and trained mechanic.
Like it or not, we drive around in another highly sophisticated machine: the human body. A truly amazing work of biological engineering, the body is designed to heal damage, coordinate billions of functions each second, and communicate with or organize ten trillion cells to work as a single unit. In chiropractic, we honor that “innate intelligence” of the body.
What happens when a car hits the curb a few too many times? The alignment gets off, the tires start to wear unevenly, and the car starts to pull to one side. Now, you may be more prone to getting into an accident. The tires won’t last as long and may even overheat and explode! How is the body any different? It’s not!
Body structures can lose ideal alignment (subluxation) due to weakened or imbalanced ligaments or muscles resulting from injury or simply from the accumulation of stress over time. This will lead to joint cartilage wearing out faster than the body can repair it (osteoarthritis). Misalignment also effects nerve physiology. Altered information along the nerves leads to errors in communication of organ function, immune response, or hormone levels can result. Weakened or overactive muscles lead to more joint dysfunction.
The solution: bring your body in to your friendly neighborhood mechanic–the chiropractor. Many health issues can be improved by modifying lifestyle, incorporating changes when needed in diet an exercise, and any necessary body work aimed to address structural changes.
Often times, other disciplines like acupuncture and massage therapy will also be beneficial in addressing the need for optimal functioning of the whole body. (And if you have a highly complicated issue that falls outside the scope of the general practitioner–think transmission rebuild–an appropriate referral can be made.)
But please, don’t wait until you hear that strange sound they will want you to repeat on air for the Car Talk brothers!
Come in for a check up and get the tune up and maintenance that will keep your body running smooth for years to come.
-Dr Stefan M. Herold