Chronic diseases are a serious threat to Alaskans’ health. And while chiropractic care isn’t ideal for preventing all chronic diseases, studies show that it can help to prevent many chronic diseases. And if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that it’s more dangerous than ever to have a compromised immune system. So if you’re living in Juneau, you can take advantage of Better Health Chiropractic and Physical Rehab to help round out your health and prevent certain chronic diseases. Read on to find out how chiropractic care helps and what the science says about it.
Prevention is the Best Medicine
Before we dive into the specifics, let’s take a moment to talk about prevention. Studies show that preventative care is a much cheaper and more effective approach to preventing health problems than treating issues as they come. Some issues, of course, have no cure, so prevention is key.
It’s estimated that over 1 million American deaths each year have preventable causes. Unfortunately, there is a relatively low focus on preventing diseases in the American healthcare system.
But when you consider that the body is a system where one thing affects everything else, it becomes clear that prevention takes a different level of care than we often see in doctors’ offices. The revolving door that is modern medical care leaves little room for genuine discussions about preventing issues that kill thousands of Americans every year.
This is what we’re striving to do better at Better Health Chiropractic and Physical Rehab. We focus not only on pain relief, symptom relief, and treating the cause of the problem but also on preventing further problems through clear communication. We’re all one big family here in Alaska, and people are always telling us how they enjoy coming to Better Health because it’s like seeing old friends and family. And you can experience the full benefits and long-term prevention by clicking here and visiting our chiropractor at Better Health Juneau today.
So it’s important to realize as we discuss prevention that communication is key. Now let’s look at the benefits of chiropractic care and how it can help prevent disease and chronic health problems.
How Chiropractic Care Helps Prevent Chronic Diseases and Health Problems
Chiropractic care is unique in that it specializes in the musculoskeletal system, which is a system that runs throughout the entire body. It’s closely tied to the immune system and the nervous system, which gives chiropractors a kind of bird’s eye view of the human body.
Just like any other specialist, a chiropractor will defer to other medical professionals when he or she feels like another could help you better. But there is a lot that chiropractors can do — especially in terms of prevention and keeping your body healthy overall. They can help in more ways than people realize. Here’s how.
Caring for Your Immune System
There are many ways to care for your body’s immune system. Living a healthy lifestyle is by far the best way. But some research suggests that chiropractic adjustments may have a heretofore hidden benefit to the immune system.
A systematic review published in 2021 found 13 studies that showed some interesting information. Among these studies, the researchers found evidence of changes in immunological biomarkers following chiropractic adjustments. And while this evidence requires more rigorous research, it does seem to support the idea that the nervous system can have a direct and measurable effect on the immune system.
And this is just about chiropractic adjustments of the spine, which is only one service chiropractors provide that can help improve your health.
Less Stress and More Sleep
The combination of spinal adjustments and massage therapy can have unexpected benefits that can help keep you healthy and fight off disease. In particular, adjustments have been found to release stress-reducing hormones, such as oxytocin and neurotensin.
Massage therapy has been shown to improve sleep patterns among cancer patients. When you consider how damaging stress can be and how important sleep is to staying healthy, it’s no wonder that many chiropractors are combining these two therapies to help their patients stay healthy and pain-free.
More Informed Choices
If there’s one thing that chiropractors are consistently good at over physicians, it’s communicating with patients. This is key to keeping people healthy and helping them make informed choices. As stated in a UCLA back pain study, patients receiving chiropractic care are generally more satisfied than those seeing physicians for the same issue.
This difference in satisfaction comes down to communication. Those seeing chiropractors walk away feeling that they know more about what causes their issue and how to prevent it than those seeing physicians. This type of communication is important for helping people make informed decisions for their long-term health.
Healthy Habits
Informed choices and healthy habits go hand-in-hand. However, there’s something that many chiropractic offices offer that helps their patients form healthy habits. This is nutritional information. Many chiropractors have a nutritionist on staff, and some of them are even trained as nutritionists.
It’s no secret that food is incredibly important to a healthy life. What’s not always easy is knowing which foods are actually good for you and which ones are just marketed as healthy.
Preventing Arthritis
There are many types of arthritis, and not all of them are preventable. But there are plenty of things you can do to prevent certain types while lowering the chances of developing debilitating arthritis. This is one of the things that your Juneau Better Health Chiropractor excels at. Preventing arthritis takes many different forms. These are as follows:
- Controlling Your Weight
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- Keeping your weight in a healthy range can help prevent wear and tear on your joints, which can help keep them healthy and arthritis-free.
- Keeping Your Joints Healthy
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- Keeping a healthy weight is one way to protect your joints, while using proper techniques when sitting, lifting, and working is also key. Chiropractors can help with this, performing posture analysis and teaching you the best ways to care for your joints.
- Specific Exercises
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- Regular exercise is important, but some exercises are worse on the joints than others. And performing specific exercises to keep your joints healthy is a great way to help prevent certain types of arthritis.
Conclusion
Preventing chronic diseases is no easy task, which may be why it doesn’t seem to be a real priority in the healthcare world. But it’s a proven fact that prevention is cheaper and more effective than reactive care. And it takes a multifaceted approach for it to be effective. Taking care of your immune system, getting adequate sleep, lowering stress levels, making healthy choices, and caring for your joints are all things that we can help you with at Better Health Chiropractic in Juneau.
When combined, these factors do a lot to help you stay healthy and prevent chronic pain and illness. And through effective communication, tips for everyday life, nutrition guidance, and a focus on preventative care, we’ve helped thousands of Alaskans get healthy and stay that way over our 20+ years in business.
Resources:
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/acm.2021.0184
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/article-abstract/2778522
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.92.10.1628
