Every week one of my patients (usually a recent new patient) will express surprise at the fact that I have chiropractic care. Now… I blame myself. If I don’t TELL them then how would they be expected to know. However ,there’s a big ’BUT…’ that follows on from that.

You see, I tell everyone about how chiropractic helps their health overall. There’s evidence which reports that it can boost your immune system, that it keeps your nervous system free of interference (which has to be a good thing) and helps to keep you functioning physically at your best (to name but a few). I explain all this to our people at their report and at our health talk (every Tuesday evening at 7:15pm). So why on earth would I not want it?!

I’ve been under chiropractic care for 30 years now and I could probably count the number of days I’ve taken off ill in the last 25 years on the fingers of one hand. At 55 I’m no longer a spring chicken but my spine and nervous system work as well as they’ve ever done! Sure, once in a blue moon I’ll overdo it and get a symptom or two but an adjustment gets me back to as good as new. I get checked on a regular basis, just like I recommend to my patients, and I wouldn’t be without it.

So, of course I have chiropractic! You couldn’t pay me enough NOT to have it.

Yours in health

Dr Neil

Hello again and welcome. From here on, our site will be discussing some of the myriad health topics that crop up in the course of our daily practice. Besides talking about Chiropractic, we explore many other areas of natural health and wellbeing such as how to eat, think and move healthily so you perform at your best. I will include some of the latest thinking and news releases relating to our health. Some of this informatoion will be cutting edge and controversial (ooooh!). I think this is a good thing as it challenges our preconceptions and helps to stimulate beneficial changes – without which we would still be hunter/gatherers living in caves and moaning about this new-fangled “wheel” thing!

Back to my topic for today.

One of the most common things I hear from my patients early on in their care (and I know my colleagues hear this too) is this exact phrase:- “I feel better in myself”. Sometimes, people preface that with “I’m still in pain but…” or sometimes “Not only has the pain gone but…”. It’s the ‘in myself’ that intrigues me. Why that exactly? I have a theory.
It seems to coincide with when the person’s nervous system starts to become free of interference. So, it could be that this is the best phrase we can come up with when we do literally feel better in our “selves”. We start to feel more of what’s going on in our bodies, even if that means we’re more aware of the bits that aren’t working that well! It still feels better somehow. We don’t (and indeed can’t ) know for certain – it is just a theory (I think it’s a sound one though!)

So, who do you know who’s not “feeling good in themselves”? Who needs to get their spine checked? An older relative who’s putting up with twinges that could be helped, a stressed-out teenager or a child struggling with a poor immune system who’s constantly suffering from colds and bugs?

Get your body reconnected and you will actually feel better. So, you see, you don’t have to be in pain… just not properly connected.

Yours connectedly

Dr Neil

During my time in practice, I’ve seen many people who’ve overworked and taken liberties with their spines for many years. They get away with it for a long time and then, one day, bang, they’re picking up a pencil and their back “goes”.  So, was it the pencil or was it all the other times of misuse and strain finally coming to a head?

It is, of course, the latter. It was the “straw that broke the camels back” as they say (though as a chiropractor it’s not one of my favourite turns of phrase!). Did they have a back problem five minutes before their sudden symptoms or for many years before? The answer is usually the latter. Would we have been able to detect that? Almost certainly.

Alarm bells

Problems often build up over many years. A fall here, a heavy lift there, stress, tension, overwork, repetitive motions, sitting for long periods, etc. It all adds up and eventually reaches a level sufficient to trigger the body’s alarm bell; The backache, sciatica, neckpain, headaches etc. Doesn’t it make sense to deal with those effects on your spine on a regular basis rather than waiting until they overflow again?

This is why we advise everyone to get checked and why we recommend checking and correcting your spine on an ongoing basis after, of course, we’ve helped your body to heal by removing interference. It’s SO much easier to keep you well than to get you well.

Just like you’re wise to look after your teeth it pays to look after your spine. Don’t wait for the alarm bell? After all, your spine and nervous system controls everything – so how important is that?!

Yours in health

Neil Folker

So… Your spine’s started to click a lot more now has it? Fine. It’s to do with how your body responds to the changes in flexibility as a result of the beginning stages of chiropractic care.

First let’s just briefly recap on what a subluxation is. It’s a part of your spine that, in a nutshell, is stiff and doesn’t work as it should. Very often there are compensations in other levels in your spine that move more than they should. The more flexible a joint is the more easily it can move enough to click or pop. So… you’ve got some stiff and some extra flexible joints (that may click a bit more easily – occasionally).

Now you’re getting adjusted the tight parts start to loosen up. So you’ve got the loose compensating parts and now some increasingly normal flexibility parts. Net effect? Generally loose….so… when you then stretch that area of the spine, sometimes reaching out to a cupboard or just having a general stretch, then the overused part can move to such an extent that it will click by itself. Now, as time goes on and the spine settles down to work normally at all levels, then the clicking will decrease as everything goes back to working normally.

So nothing to worry about and, in the words of Tom Jones, it’s not unusual.

Yours in health,

Dr Neil

Symptoms are your body’s attempt to alert you when things are getting really bad! The trouble is that the problem itself often starts long before you see the signs and it’s only then that we think to see someone about it. For example, tooth decay is present long before the actual toothache starts (that’s why we can end up getting unexpected fillings).

It’s a similar thing with our spines. Your spine is amazing and will adapt and work around problems that develop over the years as a result of falls, traumas, poor lifestyle habits, work stress etc. In fact, because your body is so good at adapting to traumas, accidents and poor habits, you may be pain free for months or years. Eventually, however, your body becomes overwhelmed; your spine can’t compensate anymore and rings the alarm bell, or in other words, lets you know by producing symptoms. So… you’ve been “feeling” ok, whilst your spine has been slowly going downhill and may now be in quite a bad way, both structurally and symptomatically. Furthermore, if we ignore our symptoms, which are just our body’s cry for help, and even put up with them for years, problems can become chronic. Degenerative changes can start to take place.

The good news is that chiropractic works quite quickly. We have a saying in chiropractic that pain is the last thing to come and the first thing to go. Unfortunately, the fact that this often happens can lull us into a false sense of security. Occasionally, I hear people say “I’m feeling so much better, I think I’ll leave it for now” by this they mean their chiropractic care.  Now, this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you are feeling better, that you are better. This is simply NOT SO! To think in this way, is to say that lack of symptoms equals good health.

Now you know that symptoms are merely your body’s alarm bell, what do we , as chiropractors, go by when assessing the health of your spine? Function is the answer. As a chiropractor, I go by how your spine is functioning. Of course I’m interested in your symptoms, but function is my main concern and it’s the way I assess how you’re doing. My aim is to get you to recover as well as your body is able to. This means getting you out of pain and then ensuring your spine is functioning well. Meaning that we make sure that the muscles and ligaments are doing their job in supporting your spine – something they can only do when your spine has been stabilised and everything is given the time to strengthen. This means going through the Initial stage to correct the problems in your spine and then the Reconstructive stage to stabilise your spine and allowing muscles and ligaments to strengthen. Only then can maintenance keep you at your best.

Chiropractic aims to help you be the very best that you can be. Together we can make sure you’re not just symptom free but problem free and that you stay amazing!

Yours in Health

Neil Folker