The “patch or fix” question can be applied to so many different life scenarios right? Today we are going to talk about this question as it applies to traditional chiropractic vs. structural chiropractic (the way I practice.) 

First, some exciting new research that came out this month that has EVERYTHING to do with what we are going to talk about.  This randomized controlled clinical trail investigated the immediate and long-term effects of cervical lordosis restoration (neck curve restoration) and correction of anterior head translation (aka text neck or forward head posture) on pain, disability, autonomic nervous system function, and cervical sensorimotor control in athletes with chronic nonspecific neck pain. 

Here is the cliff notes version of the study: 110 patients with chronic nonspecific neck pain and a defined loss of a normal neck curve (as determined from x-ray) along with forward head posture were adjusted and treated with cervical traction 3 times per week for 10 weeks. The control group WAS NOT given cervical traction exercises. This study showed that the group who had a restoration of NORMAL STRUCTURE had a reduction of pain, disability, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, and sensorimotor control.

In plain English: they felt better, became healthier and had improvements in overall health outcomes.  Here’s the link to the study: https://meridian.allenpress.com/jat/article-lookup/doi/10.4085/1062-6050-0481.19

Ok, so what’s the point? 

Well we’re all familiar with normal body temperature: 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  How do we know when someone one has abnormal eyesight? How do we know when someone has an irregular heartbeat? How do we know when someone has high blood pressure? For that matter, how do we know when the air pressure in our tires is low? The only way to appreciate abnormal - is to know normal.

When it some to normal in the spine, we’re not expecting anyone to be perfect. However, if your head is displaced by an inch beyond what’s considered acceptable, you (like the people in this study) have Anterior Head Syndrome (the primary condition).  Your head shifting forward is no different than your car behind forced out of alignment, or the foundation of your house sinking on one side by just a couple of inches.  Because the underlying structure has been shifted (regardless of the reasons), this deviation of your skull puts abnormal stress on your muscles, tendons, ligaments, spinal bones, and discs - forcing them to deal and accommodate to this load in a sometimes very unfavorable way resulting in some very unfavorable conditions: neck pain, headaches, jaw dysfunction etc. 

What would happen if the foundation of your house sunk down on one side by just a couple of inches? Would it be reasonable to suggest that your floorboards would creak a little? Would you expect to start seeing crack in your drywall? How about the windows? Would you expect them to open smoothly or not so smoothly? Would it be reasonable to expect there to be problems with your roof as a result of this shift?

As you probably guessed, the PROBLEM is a structural shift - but in this case, of the foundation of your house. Traditional doctors, regardless of what area of healthcare in which they fall, typically look at managing the SECONDARY CONDITIONS - (the creaky floorboards, cracks in drywall etc.) rather than focusing on the underlying cause.  The traditional doctor might put an extra nail or two into your floor to stop it from creaking, patch up the drywall, put some WD40 around the window to help things move a little smoother. But will all of those measures FIX the problem?

At Precision Chiropractic we focus on structural correction of the spine (like they did in this brand new study) by utilizing specific structural corrective adjustments and in-office spinal remodeling/cervical traction in effort to improve and correct structural shifts of the spine.

By doing so, unlike tradition chiropractors, we can ensure we are addressing the PRIMARY cause of your health concerns and challenges and help to FIX them rather than simply focus on your symptoms (secondary conditions) and try to PATCH them. We didn’t even dive into the autonomic nervous system function and cervical sensorimotor control gains demonstrated in this study (which is all incredibly important.)  I spoke about the autonomic nervous system last time, if you missed it you can read up on our blog, just click on “Understanding Your aOS” down there on the bottom right hand corner of your screen.

Lastly: the 110 participants in this study were analyzed and assessed at the 3 week mark, 10 week mark (end of treatment) and again at 1 year later.  Their improvements and gains were still apparent and measurable at the one year mark!  See, it really was a fix.