Chances are, if you are like most people, you don’t want to age any faster than you have to. Most of us would love to be that person who looks 35 when they are actually 50. Better yet, most would love to FEEL like we are 35, or younger, when we are 50.
Often times we will go through our lives experiencing different aches and pains as we get older: low back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, muscle stiffness, etc. Others might also experience decreased organ function such as high blood pressure (a sign your arteries are aging), acid reflux, incontinence, tinnitus, etc. These examples are often attributed to age. We remember our parents going through these nagging symptoms, telling us as kids “Just wait until you get older and this happens to you!” Sometimes we go to our doctors with these complaints and are told “You’re just getting older. Better get used to it.”
What if those nagging aches and pains and weird symptoms you develop over the years, the ones that progressively get worse, aren’t actually caused by your age, but a misalignment in your upper cervical spine? That idea may conflict with everything you have ever thought to be true, but read on.
These misalignments in your spine are called vertebral subluxations (we’ll call it a subluxation for short). A subluxation is not just a simple spinal misalignment, it is actually comprised of four parts, made simple by the acronym MOPI. This stands for:
- Misalignment of the vertebra.
- Occlusion of a foramen – This means the opening your spinal cord travels down through your spine has been narrowed by the misalignment.
- Pressure on nerves or spinal cord – That narrowed opening caused by the misalignment is putting increased pressure or tension on the spinal cord. This can also result in tight muscles around the spine, putting increased pressure on your nerves.
- Interference to the transmission of mental impulses – This means the vertebral misalignment has narrowed the opening, causing pressure to your spinal cord, interfering with that vitally important brain-body communication.
When a subluxation is present in your spine, chances are one or more parts of your body are not getting the proper or complete messages from the brain that they need.
Think about it this way. If you knock the wheels out of alignment in your car, what will eventually happen? Your tires will wear out unevenly, with one of them probably needing to be replaced before the others. It’s the same with your body. If one part of your body is not functioning properly because there is a subluxation preventing it from doing so, other parts of your body have to step up and work harder. This will wear out your body, leading to faster aging, more symptoms, and possibly dangerous prescription drugs and/or surgery.
If you have a subluxation putting pressure on your nervous system, and the result is that you feel low back pain, what will happen over time? The nerves that go to your low back, also travel down to your legs and feet. Maybe pain or joint problems in that part of your body is in your future if left uncorrected. The nerves that go to your low back also go to your digestive and reproductive organs. Maybe irritable bowel syndrome or incontinence or sexual dysfunction is in your future as well if not addressed now. If you think about it, low back pain might eventually be the least of your troubles.
Remember, symptoms are a sign that your body has been dealing with a problem for a while. And if your body has been dealing with a problem for a while, that means it has been aging faster as well. Getting checked for a vertebral subluxation, and getting it removed, is one of the best things you can do for your spine, your nervous system, and your overall health and well being!
