The Gift of Chiropractic
Photo by Lina Trochez on Unsplash
If any places are sticky and/or painful to move, ask your chiropractor to take a look at them. A chiropractor can identify where your spine and body is stuck and then deliver a series of specific adjustments to enhance motion. Chiropractors are excellent at identifying subluxations and other sources of rigidity and tension, and can be of tremendous aid in helping to rebalance the nervous system’s proprioceptive function. This way, your joints stop transmitting their alarm signals and become available for proprioceptive activity with the brain. When joints have been stuck in a distorted movement pattern for a long time, it may take some repetition to retrain those old patterns, so you’ll want to check with your chiropractor for specific recommendations tailored to your body and lifestyle. Regular chiropractic care is an essential part of establishing and maintaining healthy proprioception. Each adjustment not only works to restore normal movement patterns, but it also bombards the brain with lots of healthy proprioceptive input. It feels great in the moment, and over time can help rebuild resilience to all kinds of stressors, whether they be physical, chemical, or emotional.
Chiropractors are keen to remind us that what we eat and drink can also dramatically influence our internal movement patterns. When your system is dehydrated or inflamed, for example, your joints and connective tissue are more likely to get stuck and hold a bracing tension. And as already stated, these stuck patterns also result in sending further alarm signals to the brain, which drives up the fight-or-flight response, making it more difficult for the body to handle stressors in the moment and heal over time.
The most common food culprits are those with a high glycemic index: all grains, sweet fruits, sugar, juice, potatoes, refined carbohydrates, etc. When these foods are digested, they break down into glucose. Glucose and other sugars in the bloodstream form cross-links with proteins; this process is called glycation. Glycation increases the stickiness of soft tissue and interferes with normal gliding motion.
Other foods, including soy, corn, caffeine, and dairy, can also have a pro-inflammatory effect, which also increases the rate of glycation, resulting in “sticky” chemistry. So, the less of these foods we consume, the easier it becomes to maintain fluid motion.
It’s not all about avoidance, though. Omega-3 fats (found in small oily fish, flax, and avocado) are an essential building block for your body to produce its own anti-inflammatory chemicals. Whether it’s from food or supplement sources, getting your daily omega-3 is one of the most powerful ways to help fluid motion and to recover from stress efficiently.
Hydration is another essential key to improving fluid motion in our bodies. We need pure water to flush out inflammatory chemicals and to hydrate tissues so they can glide easily. A simple guideline to customize water intake is to drink half your body weight in ounces (so if you weigh 100 pounds, drink 50 ounces per day). Another factor in hydration is alcohol and caffeine consumption, because both of these are dehydrating. For every ounce of caffeine or alcohol, you’ll want to consume an extra 2 ounces of water. Of course, there are many factors that may modify these guidelines, so check with your doctor if you’re not quite sure.