"I feel better. The pain is gone. Why do I need to continue with chiropractic care?"

This often heard question has a simple answer that I'll explain today. Let me begin by saying that only if you care about your health today and in your future do you need to make chiropractic care part of your health care package. Obviously, we all want to live the healthiest life imaginable; we know that in order to do that, we need to have an open mind and check into all the help that's out there and available for us. That includes chiropractic care.

You may first meet with a chiropractor because of a pain that won't go away, but there is more to taking care of yourself than to simply react to symptoms when they occur. Luckily in today's world we now know that we can prevent many pains and illnesses by taking care of our bodies before those nasty symptoms occur.

An analogy often heard to explain the importance of continued chiropractic care is that of going to the dentist for regular check ups and cleanings. Hopefully we're not shocked when the dentist asks us to come back in six months even if we have no cavities at our checkup. How about taking care of our vehicles with regular maintenance and oil changes? I'm sure our cars would cease to carry us about much sooner without the needed care we give them. The same is true for the care of our spine, our nervous system and our entire body! And that is what is taken care of by your chiropractic physician.

Symptoms usually appear in the last phase of a health problem and are the first to disappear when you begin chiropractic care. However, the spinal problem, called a subluxation, that caused the symptoms in the first place does not go away as quickly. The chiropractor is trained to treat the CAUSE of your problem, not just the symptoms. By using various diagnostic procedures, we detect the exact location of the source of your problem and treat that specific area. By adjusting the specific bones, your spine will regain its alignment thus allowing the nervous system to work as it was intended. If there is a subluxation present, the nerves exiting the spinal column are not able to perform their duties properly. It's then that the problems of pain and disease occur.

Before you received chiropractic care, your body had to compensate for poor spinal alignment. Your nervous system, which runs through your spine, could not function properly and this eventually contributed to your health problems. It's easy for the spine to fall back into old patterns of misalignment and malfunction. That's why, at regular intervals, the chiropractor will re-evaluate your progress and will suggest options for continuing care... even if your symptoms are gone. Like brushing your teeth, getting regular dental check ups or keeping oil in your car, your spine needs to be checked for misalignments on a regular basis as well.

Our bodies all have the innate capability to heal themselves. We in the chiropractic profession just help them along by taking care of the spine and keeping it free of subluxations. We help you return to optimum health by restoring and maintaining nerve and joint function and help you to continue to keep your body running smoothly as it was created to do.

If you'd like more information on how to live your life to the fullest, give us a call at (208) 667-7434 or look us up on the Web at www.CDAHealth.com. We at Spoelstra Family Chiropractic are here to help you become healthy and to stay healthy! Take care of your body now... you only get one!