Chiropractic offers natural ways to manage pain and stress in 2022

For many of us, the New Year is an opportunity to renew our commitment to good health. Gina Marino, DC, owner of the Center for the Alignment of Body, Mind, and Spirit, in Wantagh, says regular chiropractic care can help us stay healthy and avoid aches and pains. In fact, chiropractic can ease recovery from the holidays themselves.

“Enjoyable as they may be, holiday activities can strain your joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons,” she says. 

Even seemingly harmless activities, like putting away decorations or shoveling snow, can leave us in pain. Marino says these symptoms may be related to misalignments or subluxations of the bones that make up the spine, and chiropractic treatments facilitate recovery from these injuries.

“Subluxations happen when the vertebrae become misaligned,” she says. “They may be caused by falls, poor posture, car accidents, poor lifting technique, sitting for long periods, and even mental and emotional stress. When you're feeling stressed, the muscles in your neck and back tend to become tight. If your muscles remain tense for a long period of time, the tension can pull your spine out of alignment.”

Spinal adjustments, one of the hands-on treatments offered by a chiropractor, ease the vertebrae back into alignment, she says. The goal is to relieve pain, reduce nerve tension, loosen tight muscles, improve mobility, and increase range of motion. 

Marino lists seven ways receiving chiropractic care throughout the year can make for a better 2022:

• Fewer aches and pains: It’s always easier to prevent problems than it is to treat them, and aches and pains are no exception. “With periodic visits, your chiropractor can identify subluxations and correct them before they trigger pain, inflammation, nerve dysfunction and muscle tension,” Marino says. “Regular appointments help keep your spine aligned and your muscles and joints limber.”

• Quicker healing: Chiropractic treatments like spinal manipulation improve nerve and blood flow to injured areas, speed healing, reduce muscle spasms and promote healing, she says.   

• Less stress: “Spinal adjustments provide a gentle way to treat stress naturally,” Marino says. “If your life is hectic, add regular chiropractic visits to your calendar. Treatments decrease the production of the stress hormone cortisol while triggering the body to release serotonin and endorphins, natural chemicals that promote feelings of relaxation and happiness.”

• Better sleep: About 30 percent of Americans struggle with insomnia, according to the American Sleep Association. Luckily, sleeping pills aren’t the only solution. “Chiropractic offers a completely natural way to relieve pain and stress, both of which can make it hard to fall or stay asleep,” Marino says.

• Better control of chronic conditions. Regular chiropractic care may make it easier to avoid flare-ups of arthritis, sciatica, migraines, fibromyalgia and other painful conditions—and even manage chronic conditions like asthma, Marino says. “Improving spinal alignment gives your lungs more room to expand and also decreases pressure on nerves, improving the function of the nerves that serve the lungs,” she explains.

• Less pain medication—or none at all. Marino notes that pain medication provides only temporary relief, and even over-the-counter pain meds can have unpleasant side effects. “Chiropractic care treats the source of pain and helps the body heal naturally,” she says.

The Center for the Alignment of Body, Mind, and Spirit is located at 2050 Wantagh Ave., Wantagh, NY. For information or appointments, call 516-221-3500 or visit Align-Me.com.