When people are trying to turn their health around, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that wellness is an “either-or” arrangement: for example, you either join a yoga studio or start lifting heavy weights, and you revamp your diet instead of going for an adjustment.
However, just like healthy lifestyles are meant to be holistic, their effects are more impactful when they target several corners at once. Today, we will examine why this happens, specifically when combining functional nutrition and chiropractic.
What Is Chiropractic?
Chiropractic is a form of complementary medicine that is based on manipulating the bones and muscles around the body – and especially, those of the spine –to allow the body to restore itself. It was originally founded based on the teachings of B.J. Palmer in the 1890s, but it has since grown to incorporate teachings from many other allied health sciences.
According to chiropractic, small are imperceptible subluxations or misalignments in the spine that press or pull on nerves at different points. As the main organs tasked with transmitting information and sensation to every inch of the body, subluxations can cause a plethora of seemingly unrelated symptoms: from chronic pain or soreness to fatigue, mental health problems, or chronic digestive conditions.
Through very precise spine manipulations, massage, and other manual interventions, chiropractic aims to put your spine back into alignment. As this imbalance is restored, the different functions in your body will be able to return to normal, healing all subluxation symptoms along the way.
Chiropractic and Holistic Wellness
Commonly, chiropractic is associated with treating back or posture problems. While a single adjustment session can have a noticeable and immediate effect on back pain, this is not all that chiropractic has to offer. Conversely, trauma, stress, and lifestyle choices can all take a toll on our back support.
From the very beginning, chiropractic practitioners saw living beings as innately intelligent, self-healing, and self-regulating entities. Because of this, it embraces a philosophy that promotes vitality and balance.
Chiropractic treats each patient as a whole person, and often combines orthopaedic treatments or focalized massages with counselling and teaching activities: according to a recent survey, 80% of chiropractors stated they routinely incorporate nutrition and lifestyle into their teachings. A central tenet of chiropractic is to help patients follow an “innate lifestyle”.
The Innate Lifestyle provides the conditions for your body to tap into its innate intelligence so that it can repair itself, maintain health, and even flourish. But what does your body need to protect its nervous system?
The answer starts with having the right building blocks available – that is, proper nourishment.
Healthy Nutrition and Chiropractic: Always Hand in Hand
It’s clear then that you should never have to choose between nutritional therapy or chiropractic treatment. On the contrary, dietary changes and chiropractic should pursue the same goal and boost each other’s effects.
Here are three reasons why they are better together.
1. Good Nutrition = Good Skeleton
Calcium and proteins are the building blocks of your skeleton and muscles, and they come primarily from your diet. A resilient skeleton, made up of highly dense bones, will be able to resist the wear and tear of daily life better.
2. Food awareness will help you get the right assessment
When we think about nutrition, we commonly think just about the things we eat. However, all our dietary choices are guided by other factors. This can be mere convenience, budget constraints, or a specific health purpose.
This is where “nutritional awareness” comes to play. By understanding the effects of each nutrient around the body, you will be able to see the connections they have with your overall health. When you come to your chiropractor for a spinal assessment, you can tap into this understanding to find the location of a subluxation. An honest discussion about your diet will also help your treating chiropractor understand the extent of the damage. In turn, this will help you create a roadmap towards recovery.
3. Nutrition will make your adjustments more efficient
Everywhere you turn today there are different opinions about what constitutes a healthy diet. For the sake of this article, assume a healthy diet means eating food that has provided the body with nutrients for thousands of years. Not chemical, highly processed, plastic-wrapped, genetically modified, food-like products.
After you eat, the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that you eat will be transformed and used by your body to repair itself and to extract energy for its daily operations. If your body has everything at hand to create and maintain healthy tissues, then these tissues will respond to chiropractic adjustments better.
Your Body Knows What It Needs
During your first few visits to the chiropractor, you may not be aware of the full philosophy that will guide your treatment. By adjusting your spine, the goal goes beyond simply pulling a muscle or soothing an off-kilter disc. The idea is to help you regain complete and total balance, so you can access the full healing potential for your body.
In many ways, your body already knows what kind of nutrition it needs. As dimmed as its voice may become, confused by artificial flavorings and city noise, it is time to begin to listen to it better. This will put you on the path towards an innate lifestyle – and will help your next adjustment take full effect!
