"Most people don’t do their maintenance and they end up being controlled by their emergencies.”
This can probably relate to you in more than one way, but today I am using it with chiropractic care and treatment. Read it again. And one more time. Okay here we go. About 97% of my patients don’t come to me unless they have pain or a problem, or when they have an emergency. I always tell my patients this; Pain is always last to show up and first to go away. So even though your pain appeared overnight, the underlying issues did not. Why am I telling you this? I am sure you, like everyone else this time of year, will be doing all of your spring cleaning. Yard work, planting flowers, putting mulch down, ridding of all the pollen everywhere, and even the indoor deep cleaning. If you are like most people in the winter time, you slow down, watch more Netflix, and sit a lot more than you’re supposed to. It’s cold out, less sunshine, it’s dark early-so we’re not moving around nearly as much. As soon as we see 70s, we are outside for 8 straight hours cleaning everything in sight! The next day you may start to feel a ‘crick in your neck’, or ‘muscle pains’ in your lower back, or maybe even ‘a sharp stabbing pain below the shoulder blade’. Sound familiar? You take some Advil and keep moving because it’s nothing really and it will go away. One week later the pain is a little more intense so you just take more Advil because that solves everything-even though in reality you don’t feel much better after taking 4 at a time, but isn’t that how to fix it? Nope-not at all.
You see, that pain is your body’s check engine light informing you that something is not right. All the Advil is doing, if it does give you some relief, is masking the underlying issues. Maybe your body wasn’t ready for the 8 plus hours you spent pulling the weeds, washing your car, pressure washing the drive way, 3 rounds of golf, and then putting down 20lbs of mulch. Maybe your body is saying you over did it and it needs some assistance on getting back on track. This is typically when patients will get ahold of me- ‘when nothing else worked.’ That’s because you’re not addressing the reason you have pain! Yes, you have muscle pain and yes you have a ‘crick’ somewhere but did you ever think about all of those joints that the muscles are attached to that you used as well? How about that spine that protects your spinal cord and all the nerves that branch off it controlling everything throughout your body? Maybe, just maybe, they are the ones that need some proper movement, function, and attention to calm down the very tight muscles that won’t stop going into spasm. Maybe.
As a chiropractor, I see all of the benefits of getting regular adjustments or what we like to call maintenance care. I get adjusted once every 3-4 weeks because I don’t allow my check engine light to come on, and if it does come on, I know I waited too long or overdid it. But what if I don’t have any pain? Just because you do not have pain does not mean that your joints are moving how they should be. Athletes are a great example of maintenance care-numerous pro sports teams have chiropractors on staff and they are maintaining their adjustments so that they can stay out of pain and perform at their optimal level.
So what are you waiting on? The weather is improving by the day, I sure would hate for you to call me when you can’t get out of bed...
To your health,
Dr. Katie