Questions and Answers

Why are chiropractors against pharmaceutical drugs?

They aren’t! They are against the misuse/overuse of drugs. Chiropractors are concerned with the side effects of drugs and know that there is often a non-drug approach to the patient’s problem. If pharmaceutical drug intervention is necessary then the proper referral will be made.

Why are chiropractors against surgery?

Again, they aren’t. Often chiropractors can help avoid expensive, unnecessary surgeries. Chiropractic care is safer and more cost effective than surgery. Chiropractors think patients should explore all alternatives to surgery first. Certainly if surgery is required and is the only option, the DC will make the proper referral.

Chiropractors often want to improve the patient’s posture. How come?

Your posture is directly related to your health. Don’t believe me? Take a look. Just spend the next few days observing people 50 years and over. Notice their posture and then notice how healthy they look. You likely will see people with good posture almost always look healthier than those with bad posture. Poor posture causes problems with the spinal cord (nervous system), respiratory system and cardiovascular system.

Here are a couple quotes to support these concepts:

“Head in forward posture can add up to 30 lbs of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine. This can pull the entire spine out of alignment. Forward head posture may result in the loss of 30% of vital lung capacity. These breath-related effects are primarily due to the loss of the cervical lordosis, which blocks the action of the hyoid muscles (muscles in the front of your neck), especially the inferior hyoid responsible for helping lift the first rib during inhalation.”

Rene Cailliet MD, famous medical author and former director of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at USC

“All measures of health showed significantly poorer scores with poor posture. Even minor forward head/body balance is detrimental. The severity of symptoms increases in a linear fashion with progressive increase of forward head/body imbalance. There is clear evidence of increased pain and decreased function as the magnitude of forward head/body balance increases.”

Spine Volume 30(18), September 15, 2005 pp. 2024-2029