When most people think of chiropractic, two thoughts initially come up:

  1. Neck pain, low back pain, muscle strains, maybe even headaches or sciatica.
  2. “Cracking” bones — pulling, pressing, popping — along the whole spine and the extremities.

While both of these are technically correct, they both come up way short in actually describing what chiropractic actually is and how chiropractic can help people.

Let’s tackle both of these individually:

1. According to the research, chiropractic IS the most effective and safest approach for treating neck pain, low back pain, headaches, sciatica, and a number of other ailments. 

However, chiropractic care has show to help with non musculoskeletal conditions as well. Such as: asthma, allergies, anxiety, depression, seizures/epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia, thyroid conditions, neurodevelopmental disorders (ADHD, Autsim, PANS/PANDAS) and more. 

Using chiropractic for only musculoskeletal issues is coming up significantly short.

2. If you search YouTube for chiropractic, you’ll see tons of videos completely based on “cracking” bones. This is nothing but a disservice to the profession because it sends an awful message:

Yet this is generally where MOST chiropractors operate. In fact, it is where I practiced for a substantial portion of my career.

Even though I knew the potential of chiropractic is substantial, I essentially utilized chiropractic as another passive treatment to help someone feel better from an ache or pain. 

I worked in offices where we’d see patients multiple times per week, coupling their adjustments with passive therapies such as massage, soft tissue work, electric stimulation, spinal decompression, acupuncture, etc. 

Sure, we got good results in the area of making people feel better, but in order to maintain those results we’d have to see that patient weekly or biweekly. 

I knew the patients weren’t getting the long term correction that they truly need.

They were dependent on us. That is not the true purpose of chiropractic.

Sure it’s a great business model, but that’s not why I am in the field of helping people.

So I’m going back to my roots, in a sense. In my first year of school I was introduced to a type of chiropractic that I had never heard of, but made complete sense.

I was introduced to “Upper Cervical” chiropractic. Admittedly, this route is NOT for everyone.  But, it is the better approach for many.  Those whom I feel I can help, the most. 

It’s all about a critical shift in mind-set or philosophy.  

Most people logically assume treatment consists of external things we can do “to” the body.  

But, “Upper Cervical” practitioners see it all differently. We know that the body has amazing power to heal itself.  We only apply just enough external pressures to alleviate mis-alignments.  Relieve constrictions of nerve signal flow. 

All nerves emanating from the brain pass down through the neck, before fanning out to cover the rest of the body.  The first two neck bones at the top of your spine are the “Upper Cervical” vertebrae. This is the critical focal point.

Spinal bones are a hard, protective tunnel.  But any tension in muscles, or mis-alignment of bones causes pressure on these nerves. That pressure impedes the nerve signals. Which then affects your entire body. 

Keep in mind these signals flow in BOTH directions  —  to and from the brain.  The brain issues orders and instructions.  Then the body sends back requests and feed-back.  

ANY disruption of this 2-way communication causes problems. 

Any pressure on your nerve cells impedes the flow of these signals.  Some signals are distorted, others simply don’t make it through.  Think of it as stepping on a garden hose.  The flow of water is reduced or even cut off. 

When chiropractic relieves these constrictions, natural communication is restored.  The body begins to heal itself  … naturally  …  returning to the way it was intended to be. 

Healthy.