Finding The Missing Piece Of Your Health Puzzle

7 May 2014

Tags: injury prevention, health,

Most of you reading this post are currently making changes and forming habits in your life in the attempt to be healthier, happier, have more energy and an improved sense of wellbeing and vitality.

Whether it be forming new habits around exercise (go team Evolution!), eating more fruit and veg, cutting out sugar, dairy, gluten, taking time for yoga, meditation or daily mindfulness we can still feel as if there is some piece of the puzzle missing. That one key change or habit that will help to link all of the others together and take us to the next level of being, and not just being, but well-being! Well I have some good news… I may just have the answer to that missing piece for you. It is an extremely simple but absolutely essential piece to any health puzzle….... it is the health of your spine! You know, that long series of bones that run through the centre of our body and not only allows you to stand upright, move and be flexible, but also has the extremely important job of housing your central nervous system; the master control system of our body. The health of your spine is such an integral part of everything you do everyday that it can easily be taken for granted and overlooked.

With our daily activities of living, small imbalances and blockages can occur in your spine. Whether it be sitting at the computer all day, lifting a weight that is a little too heavy or with slightly off-form, small accidents or injuries that we hope will fix themselves, stress, or an overload of pollution or toxins in our air, food and everyday environment. What most people don’t know is that most of these small imbalances don’t fix themselves, rather our body learns to compensate for them by altering our movement patterns, tightening muscles or ligaments, changing our posture etc and our body will keep compensating until it can’t anymore! The sad part of this is that it often isn’t until our body sends us large pain signals that we are forced to do something about it. By this stage it is highly likely that these imbalances and blockages in your spine are beginning to affect the long term health of your spine and the ability of the central nervous system (that lives inside it) to relay the messages between your brain and body. When these messages that tell your body how to adapt, regenerate, heal and function are compromised your body simply does not receive the instruction required to get to that next level of health. Your spinal health is absolutely integral to not only the health of your posture and movement, and in reducing back-pain, neck-pain and headaches, but also in optimising your bodies own inbuilt ability to heal and be healthy, and thus allowing you to live the life you want to live with vitality and energy!

The week of May 19-24 is National Spinal Health Week, an initiative of the Chiropractors Association of Australia. I would like to encourage all of you to use this initiative and make an appointment to have your spine assessed with your local Chiropractor and see if they can help you find that missing piece of your health jigsaw. Chiropractors are the spinal health experts and are waiting to help you be the best version of yourself possible!

This article was written by Dr. Erin Hawken. Dr. Hawken is a Chiropractor and practices at Chirosports in Coogee, NSW.