Articles by Dr. Lee

Caution: Side Effects of an Adjustment

By Dr. Helen Lee 

Possible Side Effects:  Decreased pain, decreased inflammation, increased circulation, increased blood/nutrient flow, increased energy, quicker reaction time, decreased numbness/tingling, increased range of motion, increased adaptability to stress, better sleep, decreased tightness/soreness, decreased muscle spasms, increased cell function, etc.........

These and much more are possible “Side Effects” of an adjustment.  How is it that a person with low back pain experiences less pain in the lower back after getting adjusted a few times.  But a person who experiences intestinal problems also gets their lower back adjusted and achieves better bowel function. Or a child with enuresis (problems with bed wetting),  gets the same adjustments to the lower back and now is able to control bladder function?  In each case, the lower back or lumbar region is being examined for subluxations and is adjusted appropriately.

When you receive an adjustment, there are many neurologic & physiologic changes which occur in the body.  There are synaptic patterns which are getting activated through the nerves, up the spinal cord to the brain.  Once that information arrives at the brain, IT then decides what needs to be addressed and corrected. Then the brain sends the correct information down the spinal cord through appropriate nerves to carry out the changes that are necessary to the bowels, or the lower back muscles, or to the bladder, etc. 

This is how a chiropractic adjustment allows the body to function better and allows the body to essentially heal itself.  Each adjustment is “waking up” the body in certain areas of subluxation.  Once the body is awake and the power is flowing, only your body knows EXACTLY what it needs.  And only your body will decide what needs to be fixed or addressed first. 

Sometimes you may believe that the pain in the lower back is number one on your list of “To Be Fixed” priorities.  However, your body may know that there is hormonal imbalance that is creating more disruption in overall health so it addresses that first.  Or that toxicity is building up in the intestinal system and leaking slowly into your body, so it fixes that first.  Or that there are free radical cancer cells that are accumulating, so it addresses that situation first.  Meanwhile it leaves you to deal with a couple more weeks of pain and discomfort in the muscles while it “fixes” these more important things first. 

I trust that your body will always do the perfect thing.  My job is to locate and correct the subluxation process which is creating interference in the body.  The adjustment is to free up this interference and increase communication from the brain to the body and back.  Your body will do exactly what it needs to do in order to heal.