Have you ever wondered, 'Why am I here?'

I often ask patients, “How are you doing?,” and I usually get the response, “If I was feeling good I wouldn’t be here.”

When someone walks into the office experiencing extreme pain, I ask “How long have you had this pain?” Sometimes I get an answer, “4-6 weeks and by the way I’m going on vacation in two days, so fix me.”

When I review X-rays and it shows degeneration changes throughout the spine, sometimes a patient will say, “This is not my spine or how did it get that way? I explain that it can take years for symptoms to show up but the damage has been slowly occurring over time, day by day.

If we stop brushing our teeth for example, over time it can lead to a cavity. Are we surprised? No, but when it comes to our spinal health, we are surprised. In the medical community, research is showing that degenerative changes begin at the cellular level as early as 5-7 days after an injury. So, this is why it is important to get treatment right away, don’t wait until you feel the pain. The problem is we can’t see our spine. Out of sight out of mind.

The buzzword these days is prevention, but truthfully it is simply early detection. When you go into the clinic to have your blood pressure screening, you either have normal pressure or high blood pressure. How is this prevention? The only way we will prevent a problem is by being proactive and making better lifestyle choices.

I want to pose the question, what is the most important organ (system) in the body? Most people think it is the heart.

The correct answer is the brain and nervous system, which controls all functions in the body. Without it we don’t live. Cut the nerve flow to the heart, it stops. You have your brain protected by your skull, from there the spinal cord runs inside the spinal bones called vertebrae. Off of the spinal cord we have 31 pairs of nerve roots.

Each connect the spinal cord with a specific region of the body. When the vertebrae move slightly out of position or degeneration occurs it can place pressure on the nerve root, causing a decrease in nerve flow. University of Colorado did a study that found placing 20 mm of Hg pressure on a nerve can decrease nerve conduction by 50 percent.

So if the pressure was placed on the nerve innervating your heart, the heart would only receive 50 percent of the proper nerve impulse it needs to function properly. Not good. By the way, 20 mm Hg is equivalent to the weight of a dime.

At Natural Spine Solutions, our primary goal is to provide you with solutions that can help you get results. Give us at (208) 966-4425 today to schedule an appointment.

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Dr. Wayne M. Fichter Jr. is a chiropractor at Natural Spine Solutions. The business is located at 3913 Schreiber Way in Coeur d’Alene.