Why Should I Return if I’m Feeling Fine?

June 8th, 2010

By the time you have disease symptoms, your body could have been in a state of disease for weeks, months, or even years. Some people think pain is the only reason to visit a chiropractor. That attitude is dangerous because vertebral subluxations are often painless-they may remain within you, interfering with your life and health expression for months or years before symptoms finally appear. Pain or obvious symptoms can often be the last stage of disease. Would you go to a dentist who would wait until you were in pain before he checked you for cavities? … to an internist who told you to wait until you had a stroke before addressing high blood pressure? … to an oncologist who said the only time to deal with cancer was when the tumors started making you feel sick? Of course not! In the same way, the best time to correct vertebral subluxations is now, before symptoms develop.

Should I Return?
Patients are often asked to return periodically for spinal checkups even if the presenting problem(s) that brought them to their doctor of chiropractic has cleared up. Why? Since vertebral subluxations are often painless, your body may have been fighting them for a long time by the time they are discovered. The “battle scene” may be littered with casualties such as weakened, unbalanced and unevenly worn joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons and discs. Fibrosis (scar tissue) forms to strengthen the unstable areas. This damage needs to be cleaned up and repaired if your spine is to heal properly. Fibrosis causes a particular problem since it builds up within a few days of subluxation damage. Further, the muscles begin to “learn” abnormal holding patterns that must be “unlearned” before you can hold your spinal adjustments. Can you imagine what your joints would look like after a few years? Since these tissues are involved in holding the vertebrae in proper alignment, this scar tissue must dissolve if your spine is to heal properly. Until the scar tissue dissolves and the tissues rebuild, your body will not hold its adjustments well and regular spinal corrections or adjustments are needed. Why wait until you have a health problem to see a chiropractor? Why not practice preventive health maintenance and have your and your loved ones’ spines checked for vertebral subluxations before health problems arise?

But I’m No Longer In Pain!
Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by thinking, “I’m no longer in pain, so I’m free of subluxations.” Although in many cases, one or a few spinal adjustments may make you pain-free, that may merely mean that your spinal damage is a little less severe than it was when you first entered the office, but not that you have healed completely.

Koren, Tedd. “Why Should I Return If I’m Feeling Fine?” Chiropractic – An Introduction 7 (2005). Print.

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