Why do we chiropractors talk about ‘Wellness’ all the time? What does it even mean and why should it be central to your future life?
'Wellness’ is the practising of healthy habits as a daily lifestyle, with the intention of achieving better health outcomes, both physically and mentally.
'Wellness Lifestyle' could read 'Chiropractic Lifestyle'.
Instead of just hoping for the best, we adopt a more proactive approach, with the hope that rather than just ‘getting by’, or ‘surviving’ we actually ‘thrive’. A life of longevity with vitality, free of all the degenerative diseases of modern life, IS attainable for the vast majority of us, and by adopting a wellness lifestyle, this is how we achieve it. The aim of chiropractic is lifelong optimum health and we achieve that through living a wellness lifestyle. If you are actually working towards creating a healthy future you will be creating your own wellness lifestyle and that will be different for each person.
When we look at our own ‘Wellness Lifestyle’, several key areas should be considered, and these include exercise and nutrition (obvious), quality sleep, reducing stress, our social connectedness (less obvious) and of course, our structural and neurological integrity, the main focus of chiropractic.
Structural and neurological integrity – Actually this should read ‘Neuro-Muscular–Skeletal’ integrity because this is our actual focus as chiropractors. This is pretty fundamental so we’ll take a closer look, but you should gain an understanding as to why chiropractic should be a vital component in YOUR wellness lifestyle.
Simplistically, chiropractic is primarily concerned with the relationship between these three things, the bones, the nerves and the muscles.
Muscles - hold our bones in place and allow us to move and maintain an upright posture. Muscular contraction also allows the heart to beat, our breath to flow, and food to move through our digestive tract. They are controlled by our nervous system both consciously and subconsciously.
Many of our clients come to us thinking they have a muscle problem (that’s where they feel their pain), however it turns out to be muscle pain due to poor structural alignment (posture). Such symptoms need no introduction.
Skeletal Frame - providing us with strength, protection and the ability to move. This is the configuration of how our bones are held together and form our posture or structural alignment.
Nervous System – Controls all our bodily functions. Encased within the spine, the nerves conduct our ‘life force’ around the body, communicating between the brain and all the cells, tissues and organs (and vice-versa), both consciously and subconsciously.
“What about pain? That's why I went to the chiropractor in the first place?”
Well, pain is just that part of the nervous system that tells us something is wrong – there is dysfunction or loss of balance in the Muscular-Skeletal-Neurological system. Pain is your body's way of saying "pay attention inside now!"
That’s what Chiropractic addresses, and as we go through life, we need to maintain this delicate balance proactively. This is why our focus with all clients is to make any correction that is contributing to pain and loss of health, and then maintain the correction whilst adopting a sensible, proactive strategy for optimising health. This is your ‘Wellness Lifestyle’.
Chiropractic is a vital part of your Wellness Lifestyle because it is focused on optimising function, especially with regard to the intimate relationship between the bones, the nerves and the muscles. What’s more, chiropractic keeps you in the game, maintains movement and alignment and reduces degenerative changes as you age, making you able to exercise pain-free late into life.
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