When discussing the foundations of regaining health with my patients, I often use pregnancy as an example of the incredible power of the human body. My girlfriends and I all started having babies around the same time. For many of them, their babies and bellies got bigger with each consecutive pregnancy. Not so for me. My babies and my belly started big and just kept growing. Baby #1 was a big boy. To the point that I got into an argument in a homewares store with a lady who insisted I was having twins. By the time baby #4 came along, I was noticeably pregnant at six weeks and looked much more like I was about six months pregnant.

Fast Forward 6 years after the last baby, I do my best to embrace the stretch marks and extra layer or two that have stayed with me as a reminder of how I created a life for these four amazing beings. My youngest thinks it is tons of fun to poke into my few extra layers and ponder her very existence (I can see the little wheels turning). This inevitably turns into a conversation about how babies grow in a woman’s belly and how this process occurs. She looks at me in wonder every time as she processes that her body has the potential to create life. 

Being a chiropractic mom, I cannot leave the conversation there. Inevitably, I leap into a discussion about how her body is all connected and that messages travel down her spine and nerves into her fingers and toes. I then attempt to relate to her how all her good healthy choices help her body function even better. Those carrots and cucumbers help her body to make sure that all the messages that need to travel around her body can do so quickly and clearly. It’s right around this time that I look down from my imaginary podium and see that she is long gone. 

The take-home message for me after four babies is that if the body can produce human life, the body indeed can do anything.  

In practice, this is the foundational tenant to everything that I do. The body provided it is getting its requirements fulfilled, can regenerate, heal and move towards outstanding health. 

The requirements are simple, proper fuel, appropriate movement, well functioning nervous system, and adequate rest. You can pop over to https://clairejefferychiropractor.ca/ for more info on my approach. 

We are constantly regenerating. As this regeneration occurs, we create ourselves in our current likeness. For example, your liver cells are continually regenerating to the point that a damaged liver can heal within one month. Only, however, if the environment for regeneration is a healthy one. Take an alcoholic, for example, if they have damaged their liver through excessive drinking, 30 days of sobriety is a minimum necessity for healthy liver regeneration. This applies to our entire body. The epithelial lining of the small intestine is regenerated every five days or so. Your bones are laying down new cells daily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180926111004.htm

This is robust information when we think about how every choice we make does matter. Sure we are going to make some unhealthy choices, but we want to ensure we are tipping the balance of our options towards healthy regeneration and a future healthier you!

Ensuring your nervous system is working to coordinate all of this regeneration and re-creation is crucial. How your brain and nervous system interprets your environment is essential to you moving towards health. For example, if your spinal segments are not moving correctly, it is thought that the information to your brain can be altered and over time can contribute to chronic pain conditions and other unwanted results. Chronic pain leads to elevated inflammation levels, which in turn can change the internal environment, therefore, making it harder for your body to move towards healthy regeneration. More to this point, what happens to your spine has implications far beyond a sore back.

One of the stumbling blocks for people with this, however, is that it takes time. Cumulatively after three years of being pregnant, I now get to watch these four fantastic humans develop. Reestablishing your health does not happen overnight, nor does it happen in 21 days. It takes 9-months to grow a life. It is a process, a continual development. 

When I see people in practice who have started on a new health routine then gotten discouraged and not stayed the course, I always like to remind them that health is simple, but not necessarily easy. Your body has requirements that have to be met, and not just for a little while. 

When starting with a patient, we take an in-depth look at their gut health, their nervous system function, their sleep, and their movement patterns. Then all of the pieces are put together to develop an individualized plan to help them regain their health. 

If this sounds like an approach that would help you get back to living your best life. Reach out anytime, drclaire@clairejefferychiropractor.ca or  https://clairejefferychiropractor.ca/

-Dr. Claire