The Relationship Between Chiropractic Care and Nutrition

How and what you choose to eat can severely impact both your muscular and skeletal system. Selecting natural foods and products over processed versions can directly affect the outcome of your chiropractic care. 

Nutrition Affects the Nervous System - As you may be already aware, the nervous system plays a critical role in your body. The purpose of your brain and spinal cord is to tell your body what to do, how to do it and to help your body to allocate the nutrients from the meals that you feed it. The nutrition is stored and broken down appropriately throughout the body. Your nervous system may be interrupted if you aren't nourishing it correctly. 

During chiropractic care, Dr Vollrath is busy trying to realign the spine and nervous system. These techniques are used to treat patients who have suffered an injury or even for those patients who are just concerned about maintaining their overall health. Chiropractic treatment can often involve the manipulation of bones and working around the spinal cord that it protects.

The very essence of chiropractic care revolves around the health of the spinal and nervous system. A disruption to the nervous system (as a result of not nourishing your body properly) means you could be undoing all of this hard work. Proper nutrition allows both the nervous system and the skeletal system to work together toward healing.

Balanced Nutrition Can Reduce Inflammation - Inflammation of the muscles surrounding the spine is one of the most common issues seen in chiropractic care. Inflammation can be caused by sports injuries, car accidents, or even twisting the wrong way at the checkout line.  

Consider increasing or introducing some of the following foods into your diet to avoid or reduce inflammation: olive oil, nuts, fish, fruits, leafy green vegetables and tomatoes. These types of foods also offer many protective factors such as antioxidants that can neutralize free radicals in the body and protect cell health. Free radicals form when food is digested, but the body is unable to process it. The end result is known as 'oxidative stress'.

Balanced nutrition is not only good for digestion but can also improve the chances that your chiropractic treatment is going to be successful at the cellular level. At the cellular level is where the real change to your body begins. Eliminating free radicals and reducing inflammation is the start of a healthy system. 

Don't Forget the Musculoskeletal System - It is evident that nutrition matters while under chiropractic care on a cellular level, but we can't forget about effects on the musculoskeletal system. This musculoskeletal system is fundamental in the treatment of both spinal health and nervous system health. 

Let us look at how nutrition impacts the spinal and nervous system health:

• As your body processes the food, the necessary nutrients are taken and distributed them throughout the body. The musculoskeletal system often receives the bulk of your body's calcium, protein, and vitamin D. Calcium, protein and vitamin D are essential for the long-term health of your bones and muscles, especially those that are manipulated during your chiropractic treatment. 

• However, musculoskeletal nutrition must also include magnesium. Eating lots of raw magnesium -rich foods (cooking foods with magnesium can wash it away) or taking a daily magnesium supplement. Protein is also essential in improving both bone health and muscle health that can prevent some of these chronic ailments.

• All four of these elements - magnesium, calcium, protein, and vitamin D - work together to promote better bone health and stronger muscles. They also prevent significant diseases that affect the spine, such as osteoporosis. 

Every Diet is Different - Dr Vollrath may have specific recommendations or suggestions for the type of diet that you should follow. The difference in diet can be attributed to your body’s specific needs. You may need to work on improving bone health or reducing inflammation in your muscular system. No matter what you need to work on, there is a nutrition component that can contribute to your overall health.

Incorporating a balanced diet into your chiropractic care is important if you want to treat the entire body. You will likely see benefits that extend well beyond just your spinal and nervous system health. Many people experience an increase in their energy or at minimum a decrease in other symptoms that are unrelated to their treatment.

Take the advice of Dr Vollrath and start focusing on whole-body wellness in addition to your chiropractic treatments. In the end, your body will thank you.