Why Should I see a Chiropractor?
According to a recent Gallup poll that was surveyed in 2015, about 14% of the U.S. adult population saw a chiropractor that year while roughly 49% of the U.S. population had never seen a chiropractor in their lifetime. In the same survey, performed in 2013, it was estimated 65% percent of the U.S. population used a dentist over the course of the year, and in another Gallup poll performed in 2004, an estimated 90% of Americans visited a doctor annually.
Granted the years surveyed were slightly spread out, however the percentages of people visiting different practitioners have stayed roughly the same for the past few decades. So why the big difference in people utilizing professions?
The more than likely cause is rooted in one thing – public education, or lack there of.
Most people understand that to maintain health and get symptoms checked out, they need to have regular visits to a medical doctor. It is also seen as general knowledge that to maintain oral health and address cavities and other teeth and mouth issues that we need to see a dentist regularly too. However, when it comes to seeing chiropractors, with just ~14% of the population seeing them on an annual basis, there is obviously a big disconnect.
The reasoning behind most people visiting these practitioners is very logical – we all have a body so we need to make sure its working in general. We all have teeth so most of us agree that we need to maintain them. Where the disconnect comes with chiropractors is that we all have spines – but not everyone understands that we need to maintain them, or how to maintain them.
So why is this connection important to recognize?
One of the most important neglected forms of health is spinal hygiene. How do we know it’s neglected? It is estimated that roughly 80% of the adult population will suffer from severe, debilitating lower back pain at some point in their lifetime. Not just your average ache or pain, but to the point that it alters your life. So this is obviously an important aspect of our health that requires our attention – and this is where chiropractors are crucially needed.
Chiropractors are specialists in segmental motion of the spine. The spine is made up of 26 different individual bones that are designed to move in unison with normal movement. When we experience stress to our spine (trauma, repetitive, over-use, bad posture), it affects how these bones are able to move in unison and can predispose us towards further injury or cause compensation patterns. These would be the “cavities” that our profession is designed to help with in a way that is unique to health professions in general.
A chiropractor’s job is to restore this segmental motion to the different bones (segments) of the spine in order to reduce injury and enhance function. However, even more importantly, because of the relation of the spine to our nervous system structures, having our bones maintain proper alignment and symmetry can allow our nervous system to function more efficiently as a direct side effect.
Getting back to the original question of the title of the article – Yes, we should all be seeing a chiropractor – regularly. In today’s world, stress to our spine is a consequence of everyday life – from sitting all day, to looking down at our phones, to care accidents. We all have spines, we all have a nervous system, and it’s important to make sure that these things are functioning properly together to benefit the health of our entire body.
If we address this critically important aspect of our health earlier on in our lives, the possible need for invasive surgeries, pain medication for arthritis and such, along with debilitation from pain would be greatly reduced in our overall population.
It is our goal at Columbia River Chiropractic to be the bridge to educate those towards better health. If you have further questions about anything we may be able to help with, check out our website at
www.columbiariverchiropractic.com/contact
Your’s in health,
Dr. Kyle
