But it hurts here not there!

Imagine that you’ve just made an appointment with a chiropractor. Perhaps it’s your neck that’s hurting and you’re looking to get out of pain as quickly as possible. After a case history and examination, the chiropractor starts taking care of your body. But, wait a minute, instead of working on your neck, the chiropractor starts balancing out your pelvis, adjusting your feet and releasing tension around your abdomen! Hang on you think. Didn’t the chiropractor hear me correctly – it’s my neck that’s hurting! The truth is, the chiropractor absolutely heard you correctly. So why haven’t they touched your neck yet?

We are all used to the traditional medical model of healthcare. When something hurts, we rush to alleviate the pain as quickly as possible. The focus is generally on the site of pain itself, and while this can sometimes be effective, it rarely offers up a long-term solution and, even more, can actually be detrimental to other systems in your body. Painkillers for headaches, antacids for heartburn, paracetamol for a fever…while all these magic tablets can take away your symptoms for a little while, they do little to combat the actual problem.

Medical investigations are often also very pain-based. Pain in your shoulder would likely lead to an ultrasound or an x-ray of your shoulder. But what if the pain is actually originating from your neck, from a rib issue or referred pain from your gall bladder? That pain in your foot could be due to a pelvic imbalance, a herniated disc in your low back or diabetes. So how much good would a foot x-ray actually do? When your baby is crying with intense gas buildup, how much good will formula or medication do if the problem is due to residual tension in their neck from the birth?

As chiropractors, we have spent many years learning to decipher the mysteries of the body and decode its sometimes-confusing messages. Our approach is very much about the whole body and the whole person. We understand that everything in the body is connected, and that the body is also closely connected with your emotions, your personality and your stress level. We also know that pain is simply a message from the body that something is going on, and it’s our job to find out what that is. So the next time you see your chiropractor when you’re in pain, feel free to ask them why they are working on an area of your body so far away from where it hurts. You’ll often be surprised at how much the answer they give actually makes sense.