Once You Start Going, You’ll Never Be Able To Stop
We’ve probably all heard someone say, or have even said it ourselves; “once you see a chiropractor, you’ll never be able to stop”. While most of the time this is said with a negative spin, the same phrase is actually more true from a positive perspective. To help you understand what I mean, we have to understand the typical journey of a chiropractic patient.
The reality is, most of the time a patient starts their chiropractic journey experiencing some sort of symptom or problem and seeks relief from that issue. Don’t get me wrong, chiropractic is great for helping relieve symptoms and making people feel better and move better but this is just scratching the surface of the benefits of chiropractic care. On top of seeing symptomatic improvement, we routinely see people reporting they are sleeping better, digesting their food better, feeling less anxious, thinking more clearly, performing better in athletics and overall bouncing back from health challenges better and feeling more resilient. So how is that possible? I thought chiropractic was just about back pain. This is where so many people get it wrong.
When we break it down, a very small percentage of the nerve system actually senses and expresses pain (see the included graph).
The vast majority of the nerve system is responsible for controlling and coordinating the function of the organs, tissues and cells of our body as well as receiving sensory information back to the brain from all the body’s receptors to help it interpret the world and it. This is where chiropractic comes in. All of the incoming and outgoing signals travel along the spinal cord. So picture our spinal cord as the main highway that connects all of the important destinations of our bodies. Now the spinal cord and every single originating nerve root of our body are housed within our spine and this is why the health of the spine is so important to overall function. When there are shifts, misalignments or restrictions in the spine, it can directly affect downstream function as well as sensory integration to the brain.
This is why so many patients report amazing functional improvements as mentioned above. When the spine is aligned and moving properly, the signals can flow up and down properly. No traffic jams on this highway! Not only do we see it every single day in practice but article after article is showing this too; that consistent, long-term chiropractic care improves overall health outcomes in many areas.
A recent article published in December 2025 studied the effects that a 12 week chiropractic programme had on physiological biomarkers in patients with untreated spinal pain. 106 people were in the study and were split into a chiropractic group (real adjustments) and a control group (sham adjustments). At the end of the 12 weeks of care, there were several significant differences between the groups. The group who received true chiropractic adjustments showed increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor and interleukin-6 which suggests enhanced neuroplasticity and inflammatory responses as well as a decrease in tumour necrosis factor-alpha which shows a regulatory effect on systemic inflammation.
Chiropractic is about so much more than pain
Again, this is one of many studies that show that chiropractic is about so much more than pain. It actually has the ability to change and enhance the way our bodies function by restoring proper communication across the central nervous system. So referring back to the first statement, “once you start seeing a chiropractor, you’ll never be able to stop”; the truth, and in fact what a lot of you already know, is that once you experience the holistic benefits that consistent chiropractic care can bring, you’re not going to want to stop. Regular chiropractic care and maintaining proper nerve system health, like exercise and eating healthy, is a pillar of leading a healthy life. Make sure it’s part of your family’s health strategy.
Dr. Matt, Dr. B and the New Life family.
