I have been a Chiropractor for almost 20 years and I still love, and have a great passion for what I do. That is because, when it comes to pain and muscle tightness, I truly believe Chiropractic is the obvious place to start. It addresses the basic building blocks and allows amazing improvements to occur from that. I like to use the analogy of building a house to showcase the importance and benefits of Chiropractic care.

When you build a house, it’s very important to start with a good foundation. The foundation needs to be strong, level and stable. If it’s not level then as you build on it, the whole house will not be straight, and in fact the higher you build the more crooked it will be. If your foundations aren’t solid and stable, then as you build up, the weight of the house might create a shift in the foundations. Or external forces like wind and storms might move the building. If things shift even just a few degrees, resultant changes and issues will occur in the rest of the house. Doors and windows won’t be square, and so may not open and close smoothly or completely. Gaps might appear around door or window frames, allowing wind and rain to come in, or cracks might even occur. These are all issues that make for a less than comfortable house, and one that is not particularly energy efficient.

You could try to fix these problems, by filling in the gaps that occur, or sealing the cracks. You may even be able to put something under the building or in the walls to try to straighten it again. These measures might help, but really it’s just a band aid. It might look like it fixes the problem, but it won’t be long until there’s another crack or gap elsewhere. You will most likely spend a huge amount of time and money to fix these holes and cracks, but it won’t fix the underlying problem. On top of that you will be spending more money on heating, trying to keep the house warm. If only you had started with a good solid foundation to build on top of, then the house would warm and weatherproof, it will be straight and stay straight, no matter how long it stands. It could fulfil its ultimate function as a house.

That is just the same for our bodies. Our spine, and more specifically our pelvis and lower back are the foundations of our upright skeleton. Our pelvis is the connection of our legs to the rest of our skeleton. It allows us the power to move ourselves forward, and it is the base of our skeleton allowing us to stand up and be upright. There are large, strong, important muscles that attach from our pelvis to our legs, and to our torso. If the pelvis is not even, then the spine and skeleton will most likely not be straight and balanced. This will result in changes and issues in how the spine moves and functions, often leading to pain. The muscles are also not able to function to their optimum and produce their full power and this can lead to changes in mobility and often pain and discomfort. Overall these changes will likely result in us needing to work harder to function normally, ie it will be working inefficiently.

If you have pain, or muscle tightness, changes in joint mobility or how well you move and walk, you could take pain killers, or muscle relaxants. Sure, that would help reduce your symptoms. Eventually you might have a knee or hip replacement or a spinal fusion to help with the pain. That would fix the pain and symptoms. But it’s all just a band aid. It would not fix the problem! As well as that you would continue to have to deal with these symptoms, when they return, wither when you stop the medication, or when other joints wear out and you need more surgery.

Before you get to that point, wouldn’t it make sense to try to correct the underlying cause? Chiropractic is a treatment that primarily looks at the balance of the whole skeleton and aims to create a strong foundation by starting with the pelvis and lower spine, and building up from there. If you have any problems with pain and/or mobility, in your body, back, neck, jaw, knees or feet it just makes complete sense to start with making sure your structural foundations are balanced. That’s why Chiropractic makes so much sense. It’s always better to address the cause rather than the symptoms!

If you would like to find out if your pains are due to some underlying musculoskeletal cause, come try Chiropractic with Martina. Or if you’d like a chat first, book in for a free Discovery session.