Different people have very different health goals. Common health goals
we see at Total Chiropractic are people wanting to be pain-free, feel more energetic, function better physically, manage their emotional stress levels better, improve their immune function, get rid of their migraines, improve their digestion, reduce their menstrual cramps or balance their hormones, improve their athletic performance, have a natural birth and maximize their child’s health.
Chiropractic philosophy is based on the premis that the human body has an innate intelligence allowing it to be a self-regulating and a self-healing organism. It is knows how to grow and develop from a sperm and an egg into a fetus and then grow and develop into a child and then into an adult (arguably one of the biggest miracles of life), it’s immune system knows when something foreign is invading and attacks it to get back to homeostasis, it cough up food or liquid immediately if it goes down the wrong pipe just to name a couple of common things we all can relate to. All of these automatic regulatory functions require the
nervous system to be functioning at an optimal level. However, if there is interference to the nervous system causing the body to be under stress (physical stress (subluxation), emotional stress, or chemical stress), it is harder for it to get back to it’s optimal level of functioning. If this stress goes on over a period of time it causes ‘dis-ease’ in the organism which can lead to chronic problems or disease.
Stress to the nervous system is often asymptomatic at first (which is where chiropractors are effective at detecting and correcting). When the nervous system can no longer get back to its organized functioning it then causes symptoms. By far most symptoms that present have not just occurred when the symptom occurred. Rather the interference or stress to the nervous system or body had been cumulative over time, causing the body to reach a threshold resulting in the symptom. Pain is the one of the most common symptoms that causes us to change what we are doing or seek help or advice on.
The most common pain syndromes are: 
- back pain
- neck pain
- headaches & migraines
Other common symptoms are:
- weakness
- tingling
- headaches
- jaw clenching/grinding.
When the nervous system has been stressed over a period and there is more significant dis-ease in the body common symptoms are:
- menstrual irregularities or painful periods
- irritable bowel syndrome (constipation/diarrhea)
- chronic cough or sinusitis
- indigestion or reflux
- heart irregularities
- cramps or spasms
- eye strain
- fatigue
People under chiropractic care often report improvements in overall health and wellbeing as well as reduction or elimination of symptoms, which is why it is commonly said that chiropractic can improve health and wellness. There is now more and more evidence with scientific research to prove the mechanisms of how these claims are possible (see our links).
Written by Dr Sara Winchester (Chiropractor)