The biggest problem we come into contact with here at our office is the misconception that symptoms 

should drive your care. This could not be further from the truth. If you wait until you are experiencing severe or multiple symptoms, your body has already been sick for a long time. The symptom is the last thing to appear and the first thing to disappear, which is why chiropractic care is not just for people in pain, but for those who wish to stay healthy and out of pain.

When a nerve is compressed, pain is not always the first symptom the body experiences. It can take time for the body to react to a pinched nerve—like a pebble in your shoe, at first it is only mildly uncomfortable, but the longer you leave it there, the more it can irritate and hurt you. Once your body discovers a problem, your body reacts with symptoms to tell you something is wrong. They may be mild at first and then more severe the longer you let the problem sit.

Let’s use the example of a compressed nerve in the lower back. These nerves flow to your hips, legs, feet, intestines, digestive organs, reproductive organs. If a nerve were lightly compressed, the signals to these regions would slowly be blocked. Over time you might experience slower healing times and, for example, pain in your ankles. Now if you did not listen to these early symptoms, your body would come up with new ways to communicate that there is an issue so you would then experience new symptoms—like knee pain for example. This does not mean the problem originated in your ankles and then suddenly moved to your knees, these are symptoms of the larger underlying problem, which is the compressed nerve in the lower back. After time you may experience other symptoms in the organs such as constipation or severe cramps.

You may or may not feel the muscle spasm in your lower back from the compressed nerve, but once the alignment in your spine is corrected and those signals open back up, the body’s symptoms disappear and the damaged tissues can repair themselves. When people come in for corrective care like this, their symptoms are the first thing to go since they were the first to appear, but remember it took months to years for your body to get into this condition and it will take more than a few adjustments to correct your alignment.

We always recommend regular chiropractic for those who wish to prevent problems and to maintain their spine health after corrective chiropractic care. Regular care can keep your body from suffering untreated subluxation—or compression on the nerves from a spine bone out of place—and keep you healthy. Come in to Bell Family Chiropractic today to have your wellness checkup and keep your spine aligned!

Author: Kaleigh Woods 2015