As a chiropractor I actually focus on your nervous system to help your body heal. I know crazy right? The first thing people think about with chiropractic care is bones. Which isn’t too far off, we use the bones as a vector to get to the nerves. Sounds really cool, and it is! The bones of your spine, and extremities can become subluxated and put pressure on the nerves. This pressure causes pain and other symptoms. Whoa, other symptoms??!! Yep you read that right. A “pinched nerve” can cause other conditions like bowel and bladder issues, asthma, ear infections, gastrointestinal issues, etc.
When I was in school my peripheral nervous system teacher, Gilbert Schmiedel, would tell us everyday, “Your nervous system controls literally every cell in your body.” Here is a very quick breakdown of an extremely complex system. You have outgoing and incoming messages to your brain. When a mosquito lands on your arm you have nerve endings that signal a change. This message is send up your arm to your spinal cord in your cervical spine then on to your brain. The information is processed and your brain determines if the mosquito is a threat and action should be taken or if the incoming information can be ignored. When the brain determines the mosquito should be swatted away an outgoing signal is send back down your spinal cord through your cervical spine to brachial plexus to your arm to swat the mosquito away. As you know this all occurs in nanoseconds of time.
Now if your spine was subluxated putting pressure on the nerve roots exiting your spine you may have had a decreased sensation in your arm or a numbness or tingling. This would not have allowed you to “feel” the mosquito correctly. Or you may have had a slowed response time to swatting the little sucker away. This is what happens in your body when you are subluxated. It becomes more detrimental when it is a hot flame or a slowed immune system, bowel function etc.
Pain is a side effect of a swollen joint, “pinched nerve,” or spasming muscle. Of course chiropractic helps with the pain, but our ultimate goal is to return your body to proper function so it can heal itself and work properly. You would take your car in if it made a funny noise when you accelerated, right? Take your body to the equivalent body shop, go see your favorite chiropractor.