Why is a chiropractor talking about health and healing?
By: Dr. Lauren Millman
Great question. I get that a lot.
Few health professionals recognize or acknowledge the vital importance of spinal posture and alignment for overall health and performance. The human body craves proper alignment, and optimal body function depends on it. Without proper alignment, your body will always be working against itself in everyday tasks and eventually wear and break down much faster.
In order to be healthy, heal and function optimally, humans require clean, fresh water, proper nutrition, a positive mindset, adequate movement and exercise, proper rest and proper nervous system (nerve) flow. When any of these factors are lacking, particularly for any length of time, health — your body’s overall well-being and healing ability — will drastically decrease. In other words, improving spinal alignment and posture should be less about “standing up straight,” or minimizing back pain, and more about improving overall health and healing.
Poor alignment and balance are physical stressors to your body and your brain. It is an indicator of how unhealthy, sick or slow to heal you are, or likely to become. Proper spinal alignment affects how well you bounce back from injuries and directly relates to strength and resiliency of your immune system. There is undoubtedly a direct correlation between poor
health and poor spinal alignment, just as much as there is a correlation in proper alignment and maintaining good health.
When you are properly aligned and balanced, you feel healthier, have more energy and move gracefully, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Proper alignment allows for proper nerve and mental impulses to return back to the brain, resulting in optimal function. Feeling better, pain alleviation, and having more energy is only the byproduct of your body functioning better. Proper body alignment and balance ranks right at the top of the health priority list, just as important as eating right, exercising, getting proper rest and proper detoxification. Without proper alignment, you cannot be truly physically fit. In fact, you stress your spine (and your body) every time you exercise in an unbalanced frame. Physical activity in an unbalanced body will deteriorate your joints at a faster pace. Would your car’s tires wear down faster if it was driven with poor alignment? Of course they would.
Improving balance and alignment builds strength, both inside and out. Addressing the nervous system through structural alignment is oftentimes the one thing that initiates healing. This is because it is foundational. Anytime you improve body function on a foundational level, you will initiate healing on many levels.
It seems simple, right? That’s because it is. There isn’t some secret code you have to crack to get well. Just simple, basic concepts practiced consistently. Seek answers that initiate healing. There is hope for you to not just feel good sometimes but to feel better all the time.
Dr. Lauren Millman
Dr. Millman is the founder and upper cervical chiropractor of Suwanee Spine and Healing Center, author of The Ultimate Healing Handbook, and recently voted Best of Gwinnett 2019. For more information, visit DrLaurenMillman.com.
