People often ask us what they can do to hold their adjustments better. That’s an important question that involves many facets of a person’s lifestyle.
Based on other health care experiences, people are often expecting a singular answer, to this multi-faceted question. For example, a person in pain is given a pain drug, stretching exercises are recommended for someone who is stiff, and a deep cut gets stitched up. While each of those might be the correct therapy, in actuality, people’s lives are far more complex than that.
When a person with an upper neck subluxation asks what they can do help reconstruct the damage done by long term subluxation, they’re expecting that perhaps a particular chemical, exercise, or nutrient can be applied to change something in their upper neck. In our culture we’ve come to think 
that way, relying on a quick-fix mentality, which can itself be a part of the problem. So often we find that people seek our care after having carried years of nerve interference without symptoms. Then when symptoms suddenly appear, they’ll tend to look for a remedy to address what is perceived to be a short-term problem. Now I can just about feel some readers frustration when they sense that this discussion isn’t about another quick-fix. But here’s the thing, few people ever come to us first. Usually they’ve tried a few things on their own first. Then when that fails to resolve the issue they’ll go where they have the most faith, their family doctor. Having been to their physician, having rode the frustrating merry-go-round of referrals for this and that, and all to no avail, that’s when someone says “you should try my chiropractor.”
Since our work is directed at improving function, rather than just changing symptoms, 
it addresses underlying issues, which have often been there for years. In the example of the person with a problem in the upper neck, we know that the person’s entire body is affected by that subluxation. Of course the most important step is to clear the nerve interference with a precise adjustment, but undoing years of damage involves complex changes within the body that are necessary for reconstruction to happen.
Thankfully the wisdom within the body is able to do a lot once the interference is out of the way. So the first step is to eliminate the interference and the next step is to keep it clear. That’s why we monitor a person’s spine. After that everything else matters. 
The food we eat, the nutrition we supplement, the amount of rest our body gets, the exercise we give it, our hygiene, pure water, clean air, a positive attitude, reducing stress, giving our body time to heal and keeping our chiropractic appointments, adopting healthy habits, attention to spiritual matters, less chemical exposure, and so on. Yes it all matters, so to get optimum results we need to take care of our whole body, not just the ailing part. By committing to improving the whole body, we set the stage for problem areas to heal. The whole body needs good fuel, the entire body needs exercise, not just the place that hurts.
One of the most important parts of answering this question involves a focus on the future. While working to undo the damage of prolonged vertebral subluxations in adults, we shouldn’t overlook the importance of teaching our children to get their spines checked regularly. 
It gives them a step up on life, better performance in their school work, play and activities, as well as a lasting legacy of good healthful living to pass on to the next generation.
call the heating and air specialist. I can repair a leaky faucet, but when the hot water heater leaks, I call a plumber. After all, none of us knows everything. It reminds me of what Will Rogers, the famous satirist wrote “We’re all ignorant, just on different subjects.”
Dr. Brown originally practiced in West Liberty, Iowa prior to arriving in South Carolina to oversee the academic program in a chiropractic college. As Executive Vice President/Provost he served as second-in-command of the college for more than five years, then resigned from academia and came to Rock Hill, SC to return to private practice in 2008.
column, and whether major or minor, those forces can leave us with a subluxated vertebra. What’s that mean? Simple, those bumps we can feel along the center of our back are bones, called vertebrae. They provide mobility, while doing their most important job, to protect the central nerves system. If one of them gets out of its proper position it’s called a subluxation. But since those spinal bones protect the body’s nerve system, an out of place vertebra can insult vital communication within the body. When that happens the body’s ability to get impulses from the brain out to all our organs, glands and tissues is distorted. The result is a body that is not functioning at its best. We may not even feel anything at first, but interference in the nerve system always causes harm.
all of this, the vital communication network of nerves works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to keep the brain in touch and in charge.
more and more difficult to be a parent. Kids may think that their parents have it easy because they wield all the power, but if they only knew the reality. The stakes are high, and parents often feel a bit helpless when trying to make the right decisions to give our children the opportunities they need to flourish.
But the information is out there for parents seeking it. I wrote an entry in this blog about the subject a couple of years ago called When the experts disagree… At that time I was concerned about how controversial this subject is. Unfortunately the problem is getting worse and it’s still shrouded in big money for big pharma. See the article: 
This is powerful because we vote with our feet, and if we stop buying things that are full of artificial chemicals, then manufacturers will eventually learn what we want, and what we don’t want. If a physician offers a treatment we should know why he or she recommends it, what the potential benefit might be, and the risks of being harmed by it. Whether shopping for physicians, dentists, groceries or auto mechanics, we need to be discerning, willing to ask the hard questions, and demand sensible answers.
Children receiving this care have the opportunity grow up with a good nerve supply, and that makes all the difference. As we go through the holiday season with gift giving on our minds, let’s not fail to think about good health, the essential gift that chiropractic offers to improve one’s life.
reminded me of something that someone said just before getting an adjustment yesterday.
most important journeys, education, preparing them for their futures.