Over 90% of my patients chose to start chiropractic care because they were looking for pain relief.
What's interesting is that Chiropractic care was never only about treating pain. In fact, the very first chiropractic adjustment was delivered in an effort to restore hearing loss in a patient with zero pain.
And It was this first chiropractic adjustment in 1895 that led to hundreds of millions of people wanting to receive the benefits of chiropractic care that were seemingly unrelated to back pain or neck pain.
The fact of the matter is that research is unquestionably important; but more important than that is results.
People all over the world have experienced improvements in various conditions including:
Colic, Acid Reflux and Ear Infections
A 2011 systematic review published in the journal Explore— which included a review of 26 articles in total, including three clinical trials and four cohort studies—found that chiropractic adjustments helped greatly reduce colic symptoms. According to the authors of the review, “Our review revealed that chiropractic care is a viable alternative to the care of infantile colic and congruent with evidence-based practice, particularly when one considers that medical care options are no better than placebo or have been associated with adverse events.”
Neurological Conditions Including Multiple Sclerosis and Seizures
Exciting research is currently being conducted via upright MRI scans showing how neck adjustments affect various brain-based conditions. Not only are MRI scans revealing that cerebral spinal fluid and blood flow are markedly increased after a chiropractic adjustment, researchers are observing that certain parts of the brain are lighting up or “powering on” by as much as 20% from just 1 adjustment!
Heart Conditions Including Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Variability
In 2007, George Bakris, the world expert on hypertension, published a study with a team of researchers in the Human Journal of Hypertension showing that one upper cervical chiropractic adjustment had the same effect as two blood pressure-lowering drugs. Even more fascinating, the effects of just one adjustment lasted more than six months!
Heart Rate Variability, or “HRV” is the measurement of intervals between each heartbeat. When a person is in good health, there is normally a very small but detectable variability of time between each heartbeat. When we stop functioning optimally, this variability narrows and gradually becomes rigid. So Heart Rate Variability testing is a proven measure of cardiovascular risk as well as predictor for a number of chronic degenerative disorders including hypertension and immune disease.
In 2006, a group of researchers set out to observed the effects of chiropractic care on heart rate variability. What did they find? Regardless of change in pain status from patients over a 4 week period, Heart Rate Variability changed positively reflecting improvements in the cardiovascular system!
Chiropractic Adjustments May Contribute to Telomere Length
A case study published in June of 2017 in the Journal of Molecular and Genetic Medicine found that Corrective Chiropractic techniques resulted in decreased neck and back pain, but also increased telomere length.
What in the world are Telomeres?
Telomeres are the tails at the end of our DNA strands and can be used as a biomarker of the health and aging of the cell, and its ability to reproduce.
This case study suggests that Chiropractic can have an effect in improving DNA telomere length, which is improving health and aging at a cellular level. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR DR. DANIEL!!!
Look, It is important to remember that this is a case study (1 person) and needs to be conducted now on a larger group of people. It is also important to note that how long this benefit lasts has not been measured. It may be temporary, or it may be permanent.
My point in writing this article is that chiropractic has never been only about treating pain. This study has opened the floodgates for a new perspective on how and why chiropractic achieves positive outcomes for patients suffering from a plethora of symptoms and conditions.
People spend billions of dollars every year in attempts to slow the aging process. Millions of people spend hard earned money on wrinkle cream, hormone replacements, and medications in pursuit of a fountain of youth.
Many known factors accelerate aging. Poor diet, lack of exercise & movement, smoking, and negative emotional stress make up a few of the major contributors to accelerated aging. Another significant factor that increases cellular aging comes from poor spinal and postural health.
An intimate connection exists between spinal health and the function of the central nervous system. Normal posture and spinal health allow proper brain to body communication. However, virtually all aspects of human health and performance undergo negative influence when abnormal spinal health begins affecting function.
The spine must be aligned and moving appropriately to allow proper communication within the nervous system.
Halting acceleration of the aging process serves as one of the many benefits achieved through better
spinal alignment and movement.
These benefits originate through Chiropractic care.
