I just finished as a keynote speaker event at the Surrey Parkinson’s Group AGM and we got talking about Chiropractic and what does Chiropractic help with. My automatic answer is always we treat back pain, neck pain, sciatica and headaches. I think I’ve been conditioned to this over the years and that’s generally what we tend to see most of the time and what we are really good at helping with.
It doesn’t mean to say that people don’t come in with tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, hip issues, rotator cuff injuries and knee problems because we also treat those as we have a wide variety of treatment methods at the clinics. But it got me thinking about actually what are we actually treating and had a great discussion with this Parkinson’s group and their carers. The carers tended to be the spouses and we talked about what the carers could do to get their bodies in the best position in order to look after the person better and able to look after their posture whilst caring for their partner.
But also importantly, it got me thinking what are we treating? Chiropractic is designed to optimise the nervous system and allow the brain to communicate with the rest of the body.
We remove stress from the spine by using adjustments and many other tools that we have in the clinic in order to allow the body to live in its most optimal state and to get as healthy as possible long term.
How Does Chiropractic Work?
I know that there is no evidence to suggest that Chiropractic can help with Parkinson’s. There is no evidence for this and I can’t tell these people that I can help them with their condition. But on the same point, who am I to say they can’t come see me with the basic principles of Chiropractic in order to get the body as healthy, as mobile, as aligned as possible? And as a by-product, if they feel better, if they can move better, that is a great side effect of what we do.
What I’m trying to say is that people with Parkinson’s may have other issues like back and neck pain which I could help with and we tend to tell these people we cannot help with their Parkinson’s so automatically screen them out of Chiropractic care.
Often when we see people with lower backpain, other things start to improve such as their gait cycle, their balance, their posture and flexibility, all as side effects. It doesn’t happen every time and it doesn’t happen to everyone. I can’t say to you that we’re going to improve that for you. But when it does happen, it is a positive side effect. When all things line up and the body gets healthier, it does make this an amazing profession to be in where we are getting the body as healthy as possible without using drugs, without having to go through risky surgery.
With that being said, we need to ensure that we are doing the best for all of our clients by giving them the best possible chance of getting healthy long term. I told them a story tonight about my father who is an MS sufferer. He has secondary progressive and was diagnosed 10 years ago.
I have adjusted him since day one and he has had chiropractic care not for his MS but just to keep him in the best position, keep him aligned and help with any spine alignment. I can’t tell you if Chiropractic is helping with his MS but he will keep getting adjusted as he knows the importance for his body, not for his MS.
But all I know is that I’m giving him the best possible chance to stay healthy as an individual, as a man that’s ageing and keep him independent, mobile and as pain-free as possible long term. He loves playing tennis, squash, golf. If I can keep him playing these sports and keep him aligned, then surely we are all winning.
Offer: Book a free consultation with West Chiropractic >
