This is crazy, but it wasn’t until chiropractic college that I started getting adjusted regularly. Up until that point, I had been to a chiropractor only a handful of times for various musculoskeletal complaints – a soccer injury, a fender-bender etc. I honestly didn’t view chiropractic care as a strategy for staying healthy, I saw it as a quick fix for musculoskeletal injury.
When I started getting adjusted regularly, I experienced both instant and gradual changes in my health. Instantly my shoulder achiness I had had throughout undergrad disappeared. It was amazing to sit and study late into the evening without the gnawing achiness-which-eventually-turned-to-numbness I thought was “normal”. My menstrual cycle started to regulate for the first time in my life – the severe pelvic cramping I was plagued with each month eased gradually over the course of about 2 years. The stabbing pain behind the eye migraines I experienced two times per year never came back. I thought all these little symptoms I had been dealing with my whole life were just a normal part of being human…but it turned out chiropractic was much more than the “quick fix for spinal trauma” I thought it was – it was a whole body approach at feeling…”well”…”at ease”…”balanced”…”healthy”.
Fast forward to today. I go get my spine checked for misalignment once per week. Sometimes I have symptoms. For example, I’m still breastfeeding my son so my neck tends to get sore from constantly looking down at him while he nurses. For the most part, though, I’m symptom free. I go to get my spine checked because I want to make sure my nervous system is unimpeded. I want to make sure the communication between my brain and body is functioning correctly. I want to support my immune system so I don’t get sick as often. I want to support my hormonal balance so that my thyroid works well, so I ovulate regularly, so I build strong bones. I want to make sure my body is aligned so that symptoms I used to have don’t come back and new ones don’t pop up. I want to make sure my body is in great shape so I can be there for my son when he needs me, for years to come.
Like a healthy diet, regular physical activity, regular dental cleanings/eye exams/etc. I encourage you to consider chiropractic care as part of your regular healthcare routine. If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll be so grateful you did.
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