Got a hitch in your get-along? Wishing you could walk a mile in your OWN shoes? Shooting for 10,000 steps a day? How about 100,000 miles in a lifetime! Wellspring Chiropractic Lifestyle Center can help you achieve your health goals.

If you have foot pain, knee pain or hip pain in Shelburne, you are well aware of how it can affect your life.
Are you an athlete with a chronic injury that is impacting your performance? Or just feeling frustrated that your lower extremity pains are messing up your plan of exercising to get back into shape … So much for the garden this year… It is harder to take care of your home, your kids, and even yourself… Have you found yourself living around these problems? Can’t sit on the floor to play with your kids, never mind going outside to play tag with them? Or afraid if you get down on the floor, you will have trouble getting yourself back up?

After trying to ignore it and hoping it would go away, you may be like many folks who have started to rely on over-the-counter drugs or even prescription medications to just get through your day; maybe even injections to try to get some relief. Perhaps surgery is being suggested as the last resort. Have you been told it is just aging and you will have to learn to live with it?

Improved Mobility in Shelburne

To really understand any lower extremity problem, you need to see it as a continuous closed kinetic chain. The design of the body is brilliant. How could your skinny little ankles possibly support the entire weight of your body?

The foot has 33 bones, 106 ligaments and 25 muscles all working together over 33 joints that are designed to have ice-on-ice glide to last your entire lifetime like every joint in your body. The narrow ankle has tendons attached to the larger lower leg muscles that move the foot. The knee glides over the tibial plateau. The hip’s ball and socket joint supports the weight of the body and moves you around when locomotion is called for.

But wait, there is more! The proper mobility of the pelvis, sacrum, and lumbar spine is also necessary for a healthy gait and if any of these components of this complex kinetic chain are not in alignment, then breakdown will begin to occur and abnormal wear and tear will set the stage for osteoarthritis and increased risk for injuries. Stepping off a curb wrong, falling off high heels, never mind hiking or playing sports all become opportunities for injuries.

What is it that keeps it all coordinated? Your brain and nervous system! It is the master control system of every cell of your body. The brain sends a message down the spinal cord, out through the motor nervous system telling the muscles to contract, which moves the bones. The tendons, ligaments and joints send feedback signals telling the brain where the body is in space. This complex proprioceptive system is what allows us to coordinate all the muscles, ligaments and bones to be able to move our bodies gracefully in the rhythm of walking, dancing or sophisticated and efficient athletic performance. In fact, studies now show that concussions and nerve interference in the upper cervical spine alter proprioception leading to nearly four times greater risk in ACL injuries of the knee during sports where your righting reflex is wronging you because of distorted feedback to the brain.

Chiropractic for a Healthy Nervous System

This musculoskeletal system needs to be fueled, maintained and repaired. So the brain directs and monitors our organs, blood vessels and glands to direct blood flow, tissue repair, fighting off of infections and metabolism of food for energy. As long as the messages go from the brain to the body and back again without interference, you get to be healthy and healing. Any disturbance in the flow of messages can lead to aberrant movement and altered function.

The musculoskeletal system may be responsible for moving us around, but what is in charge of the musculoskeletal system? The nervous system. If you have injuries that are not healing up or have begun to degenerate, your best chance of restoring that function may be to get your spine and nervous system checked for interference. Once there is clear communication between the brain and your lower extremities, the natural healing power of your body can kick back into gear. Getting it ALL back in alignment is key to avoid degenerative changes and get you back to living the big life you have planned.

Be sure to check out our YouTube playlist by Chiropractor Heather Rice aimed to help you solve your lower extremity pain!

Chiropractors are the only professionals trained to locate and help your body correct nerve interference. Get a check-up now to find out if chiropractic at Wellspring Chiropractic Lifestyle Center can get you back to moving with ease.