Saturday 12th October
My introduction to chiropractic followed a rugby injury to my neck. My grandfather, a physiotherapist at the time, helped me back to health. He advised I study chiropractic as it was the area which interested me the most as part of the rehabilitative journey.
I have experienced a few injuries in my sporting time, but of those injuries I have been used to hands on work to get back to being active. Over time, I realised the benefit of having my body checked over more regularly. I would recover quicker from my training, be less sore and get injured less frequently. It seemed that only accidents would now get in the way instead of overuse (I won’t downplay the importance of listening to my body and becoming more structured with my training, this is also very important).
Perhaps the most profound areas of change in my body were aches and pains in my muscles and joints. I used to experience migraines regularly following the neck injury. After I started receiving regular chiropractic care, these started to reduce in both frequency and intensity. My intention was never to receive care to have a reduction in headaches. Though I am happy to report I haven’t had a headache for over 4 years now. It turns out it’s not normal to have headaches at least once a week with a migraine a month! Who knew?
Further to this, I also have experienced my fair share of digestive issues. From an intolerance to egg whites, to IBS, these are pains I don’t wish on anyone. It’s important to note – chiropractic does not treat digestive problems. So why do I experience less bouts of IBS now than a few years ago? Once again, there is a multi-factorial answer. Considerations must be placed on diet, lifestyle and stress. Dietary triggers for me include high salt content, too little fibre and too much coffee (though I don’t like to admit that last bit sometimes).
Beyond dietary triggers and stress management, chiropractic influences the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The two main areas in the ANS are the parasympathetic system (often referred to as the rest, digest and recover system) and the sympathetic system (often referred to as the fight, flight or freeze system). We need a balance between these internal states in our bodies. Often, we end up dominated trough sympathetic states, which has a negative impact on digestion. We can measure this through HRV (heart rate variability), as we do in our centre. Chiropractic care has the ability to help your body into a more balanced state between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. As a result, sometimes symptoms such as digestive distress, can improve.
Chiropractic has taught me the difference between common and normal. For example, headaches multiple times a week are common, though not normal. Also, that the healing capacity of the body is far greater than we realise.
