3 ways to know if your care is working

In previous blogs, I have often discussed what can feel like a paradox in chiropractic.  

 

While our goal is never to “fix” your pain and symptoms, chiropractic often has the side-effect of improving your pain and symptoms as we work to reprogram your nervous system.

 

A reasonable person might ask, “If I can’t judge chiropractic based on how much or how little pain I feel, then how will I know if this is working!?”

 

If a pain or symptom going away can’t be the litmus test for whether your nervous system and spine are getting healthier, then what is?

 

I remember when I started Network Spinal care in 2005.  I had so much pain in my neck and back that I couldn’t sleep at night.  So I felt pretty clear on what “getting better” meant.

 

If you had told me that my pain wasn’t THE problem, I wouldn’t have believed you 😂  

 

But as time went on, and I experienced me and my nervous system and spine differently, over and over through the repetition of getting adjusted every week, a bigger picture and a whole new me began to emerge.

 

As your chiropractor, I can tell you if I think you’re responding to care and if your nervous system is getting healthier.  I’m trained to know the spine by assessments, observation, and what I feel with my hands.  I share these observations with you as you go through care.  

 

It’s one thing for me to be telling you the care is working, but how do YOU know it’s working? It’s one thing for me to tell you, but how do you know for yourself?

 

Here are my top 3 ways you can know main things that Network Care and Focused Breath (if you practice these techniques) are working in your spine and body.

 

1.You get to experience a new version of yourself ☀️

 

When we first start in care, these moments might be fleeting.  We’re laying on the table during a session, perhaps zoning out.  Or perhaps thinking about something we’re going to do later that day. Perhaps we are vaguely wondering why our chiropractor doesn’t seem to be adjusting us where our pain is.

 

And suddenly it hits us– we feel completely heavy, relaxed, and peaceful.  Or maybe on the table or shortly after a session we suddenly have the urge to shift our hips to the side, and immediately feel our pain or tension release.  “Why couldn’t I just do this myself all week?” we wonder.

 

Both in these moments, as well as through time and repetition, we begin to notice that there is a different way of feeling and a different way of being when we are functioning in the updated nervous system “operating system.” We can be more peaceful and focused. We have awareness of other feelings in our bodies besides pain, and a focus on aspects of our experiences besides the “problems.”  We sit up taller.

 

All of this (and more) is what it feels like to have a brain and body that are communicating freely and clearly, without interference by blockages in the spine and tension and irritation in the nerves.

 

2. We know differently, even during difficult times 💖

 

As we continue in care, we have the opportunity to notice ourselves over time.  There may be ups and downs in our process, and we may be getting frustrated at times.  Still, we now have the perspective of knowing by our own feeling and noticing whether our nervous system is in the clear, peaceful pattern or in the painful, stress-based pattern.

 

As your chiropractor, I can’t “control” your body any more than you can.  I also can’t control what you do outside New Day.  What I will continue to do is assess your spine at every visit and work with you accordingly.  

 

What you can continue to do is have the perspective, based on now having experienced this newer version of yourself and your nervous system, that what you’re experiencing doesn’t have to be permanent.  And you can use that perspective as a way to continue to be present, no matter what is happening.

 

At a seminar once, Donny Epstein shared with us a story where he told a frustrated patient, “Your healing is not about you feeling comfortable or having a predictable experience.” For most of us, this would have been alarming to hear early in the process!

 

But the peace and receptivity that we help your nervous system learn in Discover level care (most of what I do with you on the table when you are new) ultimately helps anchor us during times when we come face to face with some of the things that might need to change in our lives to support our health and healing.  “We need to make sure all the parts are in place,” says Donny, “In order to have a wild ride.”

 

3.As time goes on, you feel more of the “we” and less of the “me” 🌍

 

It has been said that the difference between “illness” and “wellness” is the difference between “I” and “we.”  The more we get to experience ourselves as having a healthy nervous system; having that experience in our feeling in our bodies, as well as how we experience ourselves in the context of our lives, the more we get to feel connected to those around us.

 

Being part of a “we” is a powerful way to heal as you contribute to the healing of others.  This is why we create so many opportunities at New Day for you to experience yourself as someone who contributes to someone else’s wellbeing, by just showing up.

 

This is never something I thought through as I was creating New Day– just how important it would be that we are a “we.” Events and workshops just seemed like a fun way to add to everyone’s experience and knowledge and to create outlets for the larger Lincoln Square neighborhood to get to know us.

 

Over time, through my personal experience and through witnessing the breakthroughs of our clients at New Day,  that “community,” Stage 12 of Donny’s “12 Stages of Healing” is the ultimate in wellness.  This is when we get to experience ourselves as a stand for health, peace, love and understanding in our lives, easily able to be with and be there for others, because we can be with and for ourselves.

 

If you’re not sure if this is you, think back to what it was like, or maybe still IS sometimes like, for you get adjusted in the same room as our other practice members.

 

At first (or maybe sometimes now too!), you probably thought it was fine to be in a group adjusting room, as long as no one was talking too much, breathing too loud, or annoying you in any other way.  You may have even labored strenuously to tune everyone else out and get into a real meditative state of mind.

 

Later on, you might have noticed that some of the things being said in the adjusting room while you were there, though not directed to you specifically, seemed helpful somehow.  You felt like you were part of something, or some sense of connection with or empathy for someone else.  Maybe someone else’s loud exhale or even their expression of emotion felt helpful to you, or at least interesting.

 

If you’ve experienced any of the above– then congratulations! You can be certain that your care is working for you.  And I look forward to seeing you at your adjustments this week.