Chiropractic Awareness Month is an opportunity for us to take a moment to reflect on our posture, our spine and its role as a conduit for all the wonderful functions of our nervous system.

Our nervous system controls the function of all organs and systems in our body as well as the function of our muscles and joints. Most of the time, we ignore our nervous system until we have a problem. But when the pain signal turns on, like the engine light in our car, we are forced to wake up and pay attention. Then we usually do whatever we can to turn off that irritating pain signal (engine light) with pain relievers, and when it’s really bad, we may go to get the pain (engine light) checked out.

Just like with your car, it is important to do the proper preventive care and maintenance to prevent the engine light (pain) from coming on in the first place, but sometimes even with proper maintenance, accidents happen and it becomes necessary to find out what caused the problem and to address it—not just turn off the engine light (pain).

Chiropractic is an amazing tool that can often address and alleviate the cause of the pain and return the nervous system to function properly. This ultimately allows your body to heal itself and you may also find you reap the benefits in many other ways, such as improved sleep, better performance at work and play, more energy, better digestion… and the list goes on as to the many side benefits of a healthy spine and nervous system.

This month is a great time to pay attention to your posture. Maintaining good posture is something that you can do to help prevent misalignment in your spine. This ultimately can improve the function of your nervous system. Some tips:

 

• Use proper ergonomics at your desk at work.
• Avoid slouching on the couch by putting a small cushion or lumbar pillow under your lower back.
• Sleep on your back or side with a pillow that supports the curve in your neck and does not cause compression of those nerves if you sleep on your side.
• Do a self-check. Look in a mirror and see if your neck or head is tilted to one side. Is one hip or shoulder higher?
• Consider maintenance or preventive chiropractic care. Maintain the health of your spine with periodic chiropractic adjustments to alleviate spinal misalignments before they affect the function of your nervous system and the health of your body.

Mobility and spinal disorders are the number one health complaint of people over 50 years of age. Let’s see if we can change that by taking care of our spinal health like we take care of our teeth, our eyes, our homes, our cars or anything else that we care about.

Dr. Una Forde is known as the Gentle Chiropractor and is the owner of Golden Sun Chiropractic Wellness Center, 220 W. 98th St., Ste. 7, Bloomington. During October, Golden Sun donates the $20 cost for initial consultation, exam and follow-up report to charity. The follow-up report reviews the exam findings and includes a customized treatment plan. Take advantage of this opportunity to find out more about the health of your spine and nervous system and what you can do to improve it. For more information and appointments, call 952-922-1478 or visit GoldenSunChiro.com.

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