Left side, right side. Good side, bad side? Sounds like a Dr. Seuss verse, right? 😂
I want to discuss a topic I get asked about often, both as clients/practice members are new and just starting care, as well as at all different points along the journey that is choosing chiropractic care as a context for ongoing health and wellness.
“My left side is always the problem!”
“It’s my right shoulder, AGAIN!”
“My left leg is short and the problems are on the left!”
“It’s ALWAYS my right ankle.”
“Normally my right side is my bad side, but now it’s my left?! What’s wrong with me now?! Am I getting better? Or worse?!” 😂😂😂
Any of these ever sound like you? Do you ever feel like you can’t rest until you figure out the answers to these questions? If so, read on!
Focusing on what’s wrong and wanting to fix it can be a major step forward from a place of feeling confused, disempowered, or helpless in our bodies or life experience 💥💥💥
When I sit down with new clients at their initial visit and follow up visit, looking at what’s wrong and where and how the problems are manifesting is a major focus.
✅ We look at your posture and may see the neck is forward of the shoulders, and that your torso is rotated.
✅ We look at the Myovision s-EMG scan and see areas of high tension and places where tension is likely too low.
✅ We look at my exam findings and see that the spine may have misalignments interrupting the flow of information between the brain and the body.
And so it makes sense that you may come away from our first few visits thinking, “just fix that bad neck, those bad tense muscles on the left, and bad bones that are misaligned, and then I’ll be good to go!”
But make no mistake, we aren’t “fixing” the body part that’s being bad, out of alignment, tense, etc. “The problem” is bigger than a “bad” body part, side of the body, limb, etc. Much bigger. 💥🙏💓
The problem we are addressing as I begin with you at New Day has to do with the functionality of your entire nervous system. As an expression of this problem, we may see that your nervous system seems to be having difficulty connecting your right side and your left side, for example, or in coordinating your “good” shoulder with your “bad shoulder,” (etc.).
Since the problem is in the system itself, that means that the problem is happening EVERYWHERE. The problem is limiting how your body is functioning in the organs and tissues, in the muscle tension, in the posture, in the emotions, in the thoughts, and in the way of relating to life. (Hopefully this also helps explain why I often seem to be adjusting you in spots that feel distant or unrelated to the “problem areas”) 🤗
“But wait a minute,” you might be thinking. “I just thought my problem was in my arm and my neck, and now you’re telling me it’s, in essence, everywhere? How is that supposed to cheer me up?!” 😢
There is good news! The good news is that if the functionality of the nerves –the way that your brain and body coordinate and work together– is the problem and it’s everywhere, then that means that THE SOLUTION IS EVERYWHERE TOO. Say, “woo-hoo!!” 💃
With chiropractic, and specifically with Network Spinal care, we aren’t fixing the part, but rather we are optimizing the relationship between the parts through your nervous system. And this is why you get to feel the benefits of the work I do with you not just in your bad or painful area, but throughout your body and out when you’re living your life. 💓☀️🌍
Chiropractic care is the safe, sensible, effective choice in a world where fixing what’s “wrong,” and the parts of us that we think are faulty or bad, leads us down a never-ending path of needing more practitioners, specialists, fixes, answers, and interventions.
Chiropractic unlocks the body’s innate ability to heal through the nervous system, and is here to remind us that we are so much bigger, brighter, and more powerful than the pain or limitations we’ve been focusing on. Yes, I said “we”! I am on this journey with you, as always 🤗
As time goes on and you get more and more time with your brain and body working together better through your nervous system, there may be times when you become hyper aware of old “problem areas” again, but through a different sort of lens or awareness ✨✨✨
This new awareness is part of how this care keeps working over the course of months and years for so many people, updating your/our context for your body and healing. Be sure to share with me these new awarenesses, as appropriate, even if you feel like you have a hard time putting it into words. This can help me help you more.
It is an honor and privilege getting to work with you over time and continue to remind you, again, and again, and again, whenever it’s needed, that you are more than the sum of your parts, and that a new awareness and interpretation of what you feel, where, and what you decide it means is waiting to emerge 💖
When was the last time you thought your “problem” about a part of you, and then experienced a shift in experience? I would love to read about it in your comments below!
