Brush, floss, rinse and repeat. Hopefully, you have heard this since you were a child. But, why do we do it?
I assume it is because a dentist told our parents that, as children, we should brush our teeth to teach us good habits and routines from an early age. Even though those little teeth will one day drop out, and much larger ones will replace them, it is ideal to teach and implement healthy practices at an early age.
Healthy children grow up to become healthy adults. This is the same reason we focus so heavily on initiatives to get children to exercise 30 minutes a day, read every night before bed, and we teach our children about routines.
So, early on, we focus on our teeth, our waistlines and education. But, what about our spines?
Sure, we all had that nurse come into our school and quickly check if we had scoliosis — but, is that really enough? Unlike our teeth, which fall out in childhood, our spine is there our entire life. The spine has more flexibility, and can heal much quicker, while we are young, but taking care of it early and identifying possible issues is important to living a long and fruitful life.
Having your spine checked for misalignments once a month by your chiropractor can help stop, reduce or slow down the chances of conditions such as degenerative disc disease, degenerative joint disease, arthritis, and neck and back pain, just to name a few. We commonly forget that, without a spine, we would not function.
Our brain communicates to the rest of our body via the spine. And, it is the job of a chiropractor to align the bones correctly to allow the spine to transmit the information as intended. When bones move out of alignment, the body does not move as intended, and this can cause pain in your neck, back, arms or legs.
Even though pain is a good way to identify when something is wrong, a chiropractor can identify issues and areas that need correction prior to the start of pain, just like a dentist can find a cavity, even though you had no idea it was there.
And, just like a cavity, if not addressed early, the issue can become more severe, more deteriorated, and eventually require surgical intervention.
So, let’s brush, floss, rinse and repeat with our teeth, and check with your chiropractor to align your spine. Remember, you have one spine. Take care of it.
By Dr. Andrew Payne, contributing writer and owner-chiropractor at Lake City Chiropractic in downtown Acworth. He is an active member of the Acworth Business Association.
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