How Do I Know My Spine Is Misaligned?

A chiropractic adjustment can help reduce pain, correct your body’s alignment and how your body functions physically. Chiropractic adjustments offer treatment that complements traditional medical care you receive.— The Cleveland Clinic

In many instances, including correction of a misaligned spine, mainstream and chiropractic medicine are becoming increasingly complementary. That means they can be used together to treat a certain condition. This is contrary to alternative medicine, which is used instead of standard treatments. The previous statement on the Cleveland Clinic website (my.clevelandclinic.org) is clear evidence that providers of chiropractic medicine like Montvale Sport + Spine can work with them toward a common goal.

Spinal adjustment is essentially realigning the so-called afflicted backbone for the chief purposes of reducing pain and increasing range of motion. The spine is much more than the backbone that spans the center of your body from the base of the skull (brainstem) to the tailbone. It is really a stack of small bones called vertebrae that are the building blocks of the spinal column. The flexibility or movement of this column is provided by soft discs between these bones which also absorb impact and bend without fracturing or otherwise harming the spinal cord, the delicate string of nerve tissue transmitting messages to the entire body from the brain. 

A misaligned spine can be the source of all kinds of woes if not corrected or adjusted. Adjustment is the best word to describe this correction. The general definition is “to move or change (something) so as to be in a more effective arrangement or desired condition,” and that is exactly what chiropractic adjustment is intended to do.

The spine may suffer a misalignment for a wide variety of reasons. Sometimes it is a result of a simple, even temporary, problem like an injury or poor posture that stresses on the spine. There are also conditions that may be genetically endowed or the long-term effect of illness: a noticeable sideways S-shaped curvature called scoliosis; a rounded hunched posture called kyphosis, and swayback, an inward curve of the spine pulling the shoulders back known as Lordosis.

A spine that is out of alignment evokes all kinds of symptoms, many that seem to have little or nothing to do with the spine itself or the impact of a chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractors are adept at identifying misalignments of the spine. By painlessly manipulating and adjusting bones in the pelvis or spine they have the knowledge and power to return them to healthy alignment. 

Obviously lower back pain qualifies as a symptom of misalignment, but when you think about the spine being a conduit of a multitude of messages from the brain throughout the body, often simultaneously, you might understand why the following symptoms may benefit from chiropractic adjustment:

√ chronic headaches 

√ lower back pain

√ neck pain

√ knee pain

√ hip pain

√ joint stiffness

√ headaches

√ numbness in the extremities

√ slouching posture

√ decreasing mobility and limited range of motion

√ sciatica

√ overwhelming fatigue

If you can’t get comfortable no matter what position— standing, sitting or reclining— that’s a notable symptom of a misaligned spine. Walking abnormalities may originate in the spine, and one documented sign is one shoe showing significantly more wear than the other.

You may not be able blame a misaligned spine on all the above, bug it does confirm the far-reaching impact of a healthy spine.