LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Aches and pains are a natural part of life, and chiropractic care is a great tool to help keep your health aligned.
Chiropractic care is an option within one’s wellness journey to keep the body moving correctly.
“If there is dysfunction in the spinal column, that will cause diss ease in the nervous system, which in turn, causes dysfunction in the body,” said Traci Kiernan, chiropractor and owner of Natural State Health Center and TruBalance.
Dysfunction in the body can look like anything from constant headaches to out-of-place spinal cord discs.
Chiropractors, like Dr. Kiernan, aim to get to the root of the issue.
“We look at family history, what medications are they're taking, what surgeries have they had, besides the primary complaint, what other things are going on, because oftentimes, things are connected,” Kiernan described.
All this happens before a patient even gets close to having an adjustment— which makes all the difference in overall chiropractic care. Once the pre-work and tests are done, then it's time to go in and adjust.
“One of the most common things that people say after an adjustment is well, I've slept better than I have in years, or I'm gliding,” Kiernan said.
Kiernan added that other benefits in some patients can look like better digestion, acid reflux going away, chronic colds and flu getting eliminated, and overall better bodily function.
“Predominantly, chiropractic is known for neck pain, back pain, and headaches,” Kiernan explained.
Adjustments aren't the only way to help with neck pain, back pain, and headaches— one of two other helpful options is decompression.
“Decompression is a service that we provide specifically for disc issues in the spine,” Kiernan explained. “The spine is made up of 24 movable bones with a cushion in between each one and it is very common to have an issue with a disc. So, decompression pulls the bones apart to allow space for that disc to go back to where it's supposed to be.”
The second option is an infrared sauna.
“The Infrared Sauna is a way to heat up the core temperature of the body and allow the body to detoxify at a very fast rate,” Kiernan said.
While the benefits sound like the perfect fix, there are risks to chiropractic care.
“There's risk with anything that we decide to do, and chiropractic is one of them,” Kiernan said. “The most important thing is choosing a good chiropractor, someone who's going to go through all of the steps to ensure that you are safe in getting chiropractic care.”
Kiernan had an additional tip for all knuckle crackers and neck poppers.
“Doing it once in a while is not a big deal, but when you're doing something over and over and over and over and over again, it can really lead to hypermobility in the joint, and it can break down,” Kiernan explained.
Dr. Kiernan relates needing chiropractic care to car maintenance. Waiting until the check engine light comes on in a car means more money will likely have to be forked up to fix the issue— the same works for fixing issues with your bones.
Dr. Kiernan said this is why using chiropractic care for maintenance and preventative measures can be beneficial.