It was Hippocrates who said, “all disease begins in the gut,” and chiropractors are the first to agree. Are you surprised to know that nutrition plays an important role in your chiropractic care? It’s true. And your ongoing neck pain and nagging abdominal ache may be more related than you thought. Here’s how.
Chiropractic Nutrition
Chiropractic nutrition is the use of diet and whole food supplements, both as a complement to adjustments and to address primary and recurrent subluxations.
Subla-what?
Let’s get a little metaphorical for a second, and imagine that a subluxation is actually a language in which the patient’s body speaks to its caregivers about its needs. For some patients, pain has less to do with subluxations and more to do with a specific nutrient deficiency. Through testing and adjustments, your chiropractor can reset the mechanism before sending the patient back into activity. The next office visit lets the doctor know if their correction has met the challenge posed by their patients’ activities.
The primary subluxation invites the use of chiropractic nutrition as a foundational support. The recurring subluxation alerts us to the need for chiropractic nutrition and is actually one of the best ways of determining a patient’s nutritional needs. Here are a few examples:
- L1- Nerve: We see people with ileocecal valve issues, which are commonly mistaken for disc issues, often leading to unnecessary surgery. Symptoms may include low back pain, sciatica, dark circles under eyes, headaches, and pain in the lower right abdominal. Effective treatment can be found with changes to the diet and soft tissue adjustment of the ileocecal valve.
- T11-12 Nerve: Kidneys The kidneys bear up bravely. Like dogs, they don’t tend to show pain symptoms, either structural or functional, until things get serious. For early assessment, chiropractors look to testing, spinal alignment, and urinalysis. Symptoms include low back pain and at times decreased urination and swollen ankles. These symptoms are exacerbated by coffee, alcohol, carbonated drinks, excessive use of salt, and cinnamon.
The Spine and Nutrition
It’s almost unfair, really. Relying on the perfect testimony of the subluxation in assessing nutritional needs gives the chiropractor an enormous advantage. And that’s why chiropractic nutrition is key to significant changes in their patients’ health.
If you’ve been experiencing chronic pain, a chiropractic visit could be the key to getting out of that pain. Learn more about what you can expect at your first visit with Dr. McSweeney now.