Asking Me to Stop Chiropractic Care Is Like Asking Me to Stop Breathing
Why the Health of Your Spine and Nervous System Matters More Than You Think
By Dr. Wendy Coburn, One Village Family Chiropractic Community, Edmonton, Alberta
People often ask me a question that I find fascinating.
“Dr. Wendy, when are you going to stop getting adjusted?”
My answer is always the same.
Probably never.
In fact, asking me to stop chiropractic care is a little like asking me to stop breathing.
Not because I am dependent on chiropractic care.
Not because my body cannot function without it.
But because I understand what chiropractic is actually for.
I know what it protects.
I know what it supports.
And I know what happens when people wait until they are suffering before they pay attention to their health.
The reality is that most people think about their health only when something hurts.
Pain gets attention.
Symptoms get attention.
Disease gets attention.
Yet the body is communicating with us every second of every day long before symptoms appear.
The body is always adapting.
Always responding.
Always healing.
Always regulating.
And the system coordinating all of that is your nervous system.
The nervous system is the master system of the body.
It controls and coordinates every organ, every tissue, every gland, every muscle, every movement, every thought, every emotion, every hormone, every healing response, and every adaptation you will ever make throughout your life.
And the spine exists to protect it.
Your Spine Is Not Just a Stack of Bones
Many people think the spine exists simply to hold us upright.
While that is certainly one of its jobs, it is far from its most important role.
Your spine is the protective housing for your spinal cord and nervous system.
The brain sends information down the spinal cord and through the nerves to every part of the body.
Those same nerves send information back to the brain.
Every heartbeat.
Every breath.
Every digestive process.
Every hormonal response.
Every muscle contraction.
Every immune response.
Every movement.
Every sensation.
Every one of these functions depends upon communication.
Life depends on communication.
And communication depends on the nervous system.
When communication is clear, the body can adapt efficiently.
When communication becomes distorted, adaptation becomes more difficult.
From a chiropractic perspective, we refer to these distortions as subluxations or nerve interference.
A subluxation is not simply a bone out of place.
It is a loss of proper movement, function, and neurological communication within the body.
When this occurs, the brain receives altered information from the body and sends altered information back.
The body still functions.
But it functions with more effort.
More compensation.
More stress.
Less efficiency.
Less adaptability.
Less resilience.
Health Is Not the Absence of Symptoms
One of the greatest misconceptions in healthcare is that feeling good equals being healthy.
The two are not the same.
Many people with high blood pressure feel perfectly fine.
Many people with diabetes feel fine.
Many people with degeneration in their spine feel fine.
Many people developing chronic disease feel fine.
Symptoms are often the last thing to appear and the first thing to disappear.
The nervous system can lose adaptability long before symptoms arrive.
The body can compensate for years before pain shows up.
The question is not:
“Do I hurt?”
The question is:
“How well am I functioning?”
These are very different questions.
At One Village Family Chiropractic Community, our focus is not simply symptoms.
Our focus is function.
We want to know:
How well are you adapting?
How well are you regulating?
How well are you sleeping?
How well are you recovering?
How well are you moving?
How well are you handling stress?
How resilient is your nervous system?
How much reserve capacity do you have available?
Because those answers tell us far more about your future health than whether your back hurts today.
The Modern World Creates Nerve System Stress
We live in a world our nervous systems were never designed for.
We sit more than any generation in history.
We move less than any generation in history.
We consume more information than any generation in history.
We sleep less.
We stare at screens more.
We experience more chronic stress.
We rush.
We multitask.
We overload ourselves mentally and emotionally.
Many people wake up exhausted.
Drive while sitting.
Work while sitting.
Eat while sitting.
Watch television while sitting.
Then wonder why their body feels stiff, tired, overwhelmed, and unhealthy.
The body was designed for movement.
Movement is one of the primary ways the brain receives information from the body.
Motion feeds the nervous system.
Movement builds adaptability.
Movement creates resilience.
Lack of movement does the opposite.
This is why so many people today are struggling with posture, balance, mobility, energy, sleep, focus, digestion, and recovery.
The nervous system is overwhelmed.
The body is adapting the best it can.
But eventually the compensations begin to show.
Why I Get My Spine Checked Regularly
I get my teeth checked.
I get my eyes checked.
I maintain my vehicle.
I service equipment before it breaks.
Yet somehow many people think they should only have their spine checked when they are already suffering.
That makes little sense to me.
The spine protects the most important system in the body.
Why would we wait for a crisis before paying attention to it?
I receive chiropractic care because I value my health.
I value my energy.
I value my ability to adapt.
I value my ability to serve my family, my community, and my patients.
I value being able to hike, travel, move, exercise, work, and enjoy life.
I do not wait until I am broken.
I choose to maintain what matters.
Measuring What Matters
One of the reasons I love technologies such as neurological scans is because they allow us to measure function.
We can look beyond symptoms.
We can assess stress patterns.
We can evaluate adaptability.
We can monitor changes in regulation and resilience.
Just as you would monitor blood pressure, cholesterol, body composition, or fitness markers, we can monitor nervous system function.
When people see changes in their scans over time, they begin to understand something powerful.
Healing is happening even before symptoms change.
Adaptation is occurring.
The body is becoming more efficient.
The nervous system is becoming more resilient.
And that is where long-term health is built.
Why People Stop Too Early
One of the biggest challenges in healthcare is that people often stop when they feel better.
The problem is that feeling better and being stable are not the same thing.
The body can feel better long before it has fully adapted.
The nervous system can be improving long before it has stabilized.
Think about building strength in the gym.
You do not stop exercising after one good workout.
You continue because adaptation takes repetition.
The same is true for the nervous system.
Healing takes time.
Adaptation takes time.
Stability takes time.
Health is not an event.
Health is a process.
Health is built through repetition, consistency, and commitment.
The Goal Is Not More Chiropractic
The goal has never been more chiropractic.
The goal is more life.
More energy.
More adaptability.
More resilience.
More connection between brain and body.
More capacity to do what you love.
More years enjoying the people you love.
More ability to recover from life’s challenges.
More freedom.
Chiropractic simply helps remove interference so the body can do what it was designed to do.
Heal.
Adapt.
Grow.
Recover.
Regulate.
Thrive.
A Final Thought
If I stop brushing my teeth, something happens.
If I stop exercising, something happens.
If I stop eating well, something happens.
If I stop sleeping, something happens.
And if I stop caring for my nervous system, something happens too.
The difference is that the consequences may take longer to notice.
Your spine protects the master control system of your body.
Your nervous system coordinates every aspect of your health.
That system deserves attention.
It deserves care.
It deserves to be measured.
It deserves to be supported.
So when people ask me if I will ever stop chiropractic care, my answer remains the same.
Probably not.
Because health is not something I chase when I lose it.
Health is something I choose to build every single day.
And for me, caring for my spine and nervous system will always be part of that journey.
Dr. Wendy Coburn
One Village Family Chiropractic Community
Serving families, babies, children, athletes, entrepreneurs, parents, and seniors throughout Edmonton, Alberta.
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