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Corrective chiropractic goes one step beyond traditional chiropractic, which focuses primarily on pain-relief, to rehabilitate and correct the curves and alignment of the spine to provide long-lasting results. Without making structural changes to the spine, symptoms may return just hours or days later, and the abnormal stresses to the joints will remain. Compare traditional chiropractic to seeing a dentist and corrective chiropractic to seeing an orthodontist. The reason corrective chiropractic is important is because Wolff’s Law, which explains the mechanism with which joint degeneration occurs. When we have improper spinal alignment, we stress the joints improperly and this added stress causes additional bone to grow, or degenerative joint disease to occur or accelerate. Seeing a corrective chiropractor and correcting your posture allows you to see not only pain relief, but achieve long-term spine health, and therefore long-term overall health due to the relationship between the spine and the nervous system.
“Posture affects and moderates every physiological function from breathing to hormonal production” -American Journal Of Pain Management
Posture refers to the alignment of your spine, not the utilization of muscles to “stand up straight.” Think of spinal alignment like the alignment of your teeth. You can’t change the alignment of your teeth, you need braces to do that. Corrective chiropractic changes the shape of your spine, allowing you to “stand up straight” naturally.
For every inch your head shifts forward, your head “gains” roughly 10 pounds, this is called effective head weight. This added weight adds a great deal of stress to your spine. When the spine is properly aligned, the muscles and ligaments are balanced and free of added tension. When our spine is in abnormal alignment, muscles must contract to stabilize the spine to prevent further injury, leading to limited mobility and low energy levels. Over time, the discs and spinal joints will degenerate due to the added mechanical stresses. Individuals with an improper cervical (neck) curve are 18 times more likely to experience chronic neck pain.
Correction of the cervical sagittal curve and head posture was found to statistically correlate to improvement of central conduction time (spinal cord velocity) as measured with N13-N20 potential. What does this mean? This means correcting the curve in your neck and posture speeds the conduction of signals being sent from your brain to your body, thus improving nervous system function, overall health and the body’s natural ability to heal itself.
Moustafa IM, Diab AA, Hegazy F, Harrison DE. Demonstration of central conduction time and neuroplastic changes after cervical lordosis rehabilitation in asymptomatic subjects: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 28;11(1):15379. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-94548-z. PMID: 34321539; PMCID: PMC8319301.
