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Why chiropractic care

Written By Vitality Chiropractic of the Upstate on September 30, 2024

This is a question I hear often, and I understand why. Before becoming a chiropractor, I worked as an emergency room nurse. In the hospitals where I worked, chronic pain was one of the main reasons people sought medical attention.

Interestingly, pain is also one of the top reasons people visit chiropractors, and it played a significant role in my career change (but more on that later). In the medical field, pain management often followed a familiar path: after an x-ray to rule out any major concerns, patients were typically given muscle relaxers and pain medications. While these treatments provided quick relief, it was often short-lived, lasting only until the medication wore off.

The issue with this approach is that it doesn't address the root cause of the pain. It’s like “fixing” a car by covering the check engine light with tape. Medication may mask the symptoms temporarily, but it doesn’t resolve the underlying problem. I often explain to patients that pain is rarely the actual problem—it’s a signal, the end result of the body struggling to adapt to stress or dysfunction. Just like heart disease develops long before a heart attack, pain is often the culmination of the body no longer being able to handle the physical stresses of life.

A more concerning downside, and the reason I transitioned careers, is the long-term harm caused by narcotic pain medications. During my time in the ER, it felt like everyone who mentioned pain—whether from a sunburn or a broken leg—was prescribed narcotics and muscle relaxers. When I once asked a doctor why this was so common, his response was, “We get bonuses based on patient satisfaction; it’s an easy way to make people happy.” While some patients were satisfied with the quick fix, others became dependent, returning to the ER seeking detox or rehabilitation after developing an addiction, or worse, overdosing.

This brings me back to the question: “Why chiropractic care?” My motivation to become a chiropractor started with the desire to help people manage pain in a more natural, holistic way. But along the way, I discovered that chiropractic care offers so much more than pain relief.

The goal of chiropractic care is to optimize the function of the nervous system, which controls and coordinates all other systems in the body. When your nervous system is balanced and functioning properly, your body can adapt and perform at its best.

So, whether you’re seeking relief from pain or simply looking to improve your overall health, chiropractic care provides a natural and holistic approach to achieving those goals.


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