It’s summer time again and campfires await. Although I don’t eat many hot dogs (perhaps
one or two in a year) they are such a nostalgic treat. The whole experience is a lot of fun to
me. The camp fire, the wiener stick and
cooking them just right (enough to heat them without singeing them). Followed by the chance to doctor them up with
my choice of condiments. For me I am a
traditional guy, ketchup and mustard do just fine. The sweetness of the ketchup along the
tartness of mustard with the smokiness of a fire cooked wiener, it doesn’t get
any better than that. I have tried wieners
with only ketchup – “No, not quite right.”
Wieners with mustard, again “Close but not it either.” After my years of camp fires I am clear that
ketchup and mustard aren’t a substitute for one another but they sure are the
perfect complement.
Sometimes clients ask – “Dr. Norm, is it okay if I do yoga
after my adjustment, or how about running?”
“Yes, yes…” I respond, “… moving your body, stretching, and exercising
are all great things to do as they help to compliment the adjustment.”
Many clients will report afterwards, “Dr. Norm, receiving these adjustments seems to be the perfect complement to my yoga class. I seem to be able to stretch so much farther than I could before.” Just as eating healthy food a great complement to exercising, so too is yoga and running a great support to getting adjusted. You will get far more from your adjustments and more from your workouts too.
Many clients will report afterwards, “Dr. Norm, receiving these adjustments seems to be the perfect complement to my yoga class. I seem to be able to stretch so much farther than I could before.” Just as eating healthy food a great complement to exercising, so too is yoga and running a great support to getting adjusted. You will get far more from your adjustments and more from your workouts too.
Sometimes people really like one activity, event or modality over another. And they think that it can be a
substitute. Can going for a run
substitute eating a healthy lunch? Or
can doing yoga substitute for an adjustment?
No they can’t. Remember they are
complements to one another not substitutes.
Let me explain.
Imagine that you nourished yourself with a very expensive nutritional supplements and yet due to a spinal imbalance that happened years ago the nerves from your brain to your digestive system were blocked and as a result they were only working at 25%. Absorbing only 25%, the supplements are still a good thing, but you would also have the most expensive urine on the block! Alternatively, I have seen numerous yoga practitioners who on their first visit had a very subluxated spine. Why would that be? With all the repetitive movement if there is a pattern present in your nerve system there is a chance that pattern gets reinforced over and over again.
Please hear me correctly, I am not saying that yoga is a bad thing, it is a great thing. I think everyone on the planet should be doing it, it just doesn’t accomplish what chiropractic care does. Yoga cannot replace chiropractic. Yoga is a perfect complement to chiropractic care but it isn’t a substitute. On the flip side there are others who attend regular chiropractic care and yet put the same causative stressor in the bodies week in and week out. Chiropractic does not substitute a healthy lifestyle it is a complement to it!
Remember health is a result of a combination of factors, a subluxation
free spine and nerve system is one of those factors, and with care and time you
will realize how it is a perfect complement to your other healthy practices.
Have a beautiful weekend.
Dr. Norm