Nobody wants to see the check engine light, myself included. When that light comes on, if you are like me, you will hope that it is a fluke and let it ride for a day or so hoping that it goes away. If it remains on, I am quick to make an appointment to have my car checked out so that it doesn’t become something disastrous for my vehicle.
Did you know that pain is your body’s check engine light?
Pain is the signal that your body sends to your brain to let you know that something is not right. For the most part, this is a good thing. This tells your brain that you need to slow down, or change something, so that you do not do further damage to yourself. The sensation of pain comes from inflammation that occurs when tissues are broken down. Even the soreness after a strong work out is due to small micro tears of the tissue. The inflammation excites the nerves in your tissue to send the signal to your brain, and the Pain Light is ON.
Unlike a vehicle’s engine light, it is common for you to feel a little sore at times, after a long work out, starting a new job, being stuck in the car for a while, etc. If the pain goes away on its own within a day or so you are probably alright. Unfortunately, it is far too common for people to continue to feel pain on a daily basis and not think anything of it. I doubt that many people would drive around in their vehicle day after day with the check engine light on, so why would you do that to your body? Furthermore, if you do roll the dice with your vehicle, and it ceases up, at least you can get a different one. The same isn’t true for your body, with a few exceptions like a total hip replacement and other major surgeries.
Would you unplug the bulb to your check engine light?
One of the most common treatments for most pain is pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs. Some of these can even be picked up at your local grocery store. These drugs do one of two things, either turn off the signal that tells your brain there is pain, or reduces your bodies natural response to an injury, which then in turn limits the signal strength of pain to your brain. If you extrapolate this to your check engine light, you are essentially unplugging the bulb. By unplugging the bulb, you can’t just expect that the car is going to fix itself on it’s own, and you aren’t actually doing anything to fix the actual problem. The same is true for your body, whereas you may feel somewhat better, the issue that turned on the pain light hasn’t changed at all. Luckily for us, our body has an innate sense to heal on its own. Ignoring the problem by using medication doesn’t help facilitate that healing process, and in most cases it slows the healing process by allowing you to continue doing the same things that brought the inflammation on in the first place.
What do I do now that my “pain light” is on?
At Cuse Chiro, our main goal is to find the root of the problem or the initial cause. If you have tires on your car that wear down irregularly due to an alignment issue, you don’t just want to rotate or replace your tires. The same is true for the body. When people come in with muscle spasms, joint dysfunction, herniation and inflammation, it isn’t enough for us to just treat the symptoms. We focus on a whole body approach that tackles each symptom of the problem, and focus on rehabilitation protocol to prevent those things from coming back time and again. We utilize chiropractic adjustments to correct any joint dysfunction or stiffness, then utilize physiotherapy to reduce pain, spasms and inflammation, and finally add specific rehab exercises to correct the elements that lead to the problems in the first place. And what that means for you is you will be able to Feel Better, and Heal Better. To find out how you can get out of pain fast, please call or text our office for a FREE consultation, or schedule your new patient appointment online.