OK, one more car analogy!
For the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about the windshield wipers on your car and how it relates to your health. Now I want to talk about the tire alignment on your car and use it as a metaphor about your health as well.
Obviously, everyone knows that for your car to drive straight, the wheels need to be aligned properly. When you drive your new car off the showroom floor, everything is aligned perfectly. Over time, the tire tread is going to wear down with normal usage. But, after a while you might also start to notice some extra wear and tear on the edges of your front tires. They might start balding on the sides of your tires more than the area that contacts the road.
This uneven wear pattern is a symptom of misalignment of the front end of your car. If left alone, that balding will get worse and worse and eventually it could cause a blowout. Any time you get a flat tire while driving can be dangerous. But imagine if your tire blows out on the freeway? At that speed, your life (and the lives of anyone else in the car) is at risk.
Where does this misalignment come from? Car accidents, even mild fender-benders are the obvious culprit. But think of the jarring your car takes when you hit a pot-hole hard on your way to the store…Think of the times you misjudge things parallel parking and you slam into the curb…think of times when you took a turn a little to sharply and you hit a curb that shook the car to and fro… all of these can cause the steering system to be knocked off center.
The more of these that happen over time, the more misaligned your car gets. The more misaligned your car gets, the more abnormal wear and tear on your tires. The more abnormal wear and tear on your tires, the more at risk you are of a blow out.
So if you check your tires regularly for unusual wear, you will catch this well before you get a blow out and you’ll have your tires replaced. But when you buy new tires, the shop balances the wheels after installing the tires. They don’t do any alignment of the steering system. The misalignment is what caused the abnormal wear on the tires. So if that is not corrected, the same problem will occur again and then the risk of the blow out will arise again.
You need to realign the steering system so you can get the most miles out of those new tires and keep you and your family safe.
The same is true for your body. Your body can become misaligned as well – from car accidents, hitting pot-holes and curb as well as many, many other causes. If these misalignments are not corrected, they will cause abnormal wear and tear on your body. Over time, this might result in a “blow-out” of a shoulder rotator cuff muscle tear, a blown-out knee, or a blown out lumbar disc in your lower back. But chronic misalignment of the vertebra or other major joints of the body can also cause a myriad of other health problems.
This is a list of the effects of misalignment of just the Atlas vertebra (the first bone of your spine that your skull sits on top of):
- Headaches
- Dizziness, nausea, lightheadedness
- Concentration and memory trouble, “brain fog”
- Coordination and balance problems
- Loss of energy
- Immune System dysfunction
- Pain
- Inability of the eyes to focus properly
- Hormonal imbalances
- Depression, anxiety and emotional instability
All of this from just the misalignment of ONE vertebra of your spine! Just think if you have even more misalignments in your body…think of how your health could deteriorate even more…think of how much more you could be suffering.
Where do these misalignments come from? They come from your daily physical, chemical and emotional stress (see the article: Which Direction is Your Health Moving Towards?).
When do the misalignments start? They can start from birth (see the article: It’s Better to Grow Healthy Kids Rather Than Repair Damaged Adults).
What can you do about it? See your chiropractor!