One of the most exciting things about chiropractic is how the body responds to an adjustment. We are a society that loves predictability but chiropractic is full of surprises.

I like to read the weather report and find out how warm it will be a week from now. I listen to the trend watchers who tell us about the next big thing. But the human body will never follow the rules.

The stress response is quite amazing. Even under extreme circumstances the body can take a licking and keep on ticking. Maybe that is why we can ignore a pain for a long time because we have such good tolerance. Perhaps it is a double edged sword.

In chiropractic, the spine is assessed for flexibility, range of motion and muscle balance. These can be quite boring topics and often I am yawning if a patient comes before me only interested in a quick fix.

Chiropractic is not a promise of a quick fix and sadly, the one track minded people are often disappointed. This is attributed to the problem of chronic illness brought on by hectic lifestyles, obesity, poor nutrition and sedentary job demands. We don't just present to doctors' offices anymore with a cut and dry problem that will be all right with a little quick “tweaking.” We present with “layers of issues.”

Under stress, the body's communication system is forced to take matters into its own hands and rewire new patterns that are not easy to break. On the outside a chiropractor notices severe postural imbalances, muscles that feel like cement and spines that are stuck in place. On the inside, the body is a complicated computer overloaded with input.

If I can open up people's minds to the reasons why the body is behaving the way it is and demonstrate the relationship between spinal health and their “layers of issues” they understand we have to work on the body's schedule and not our own.

The chiropractic adjustment introduces a force into the spine that resets many systems of the body by decreasing inflammation, increasing endorphins and blood flow, relaxing muscles and directly changing the way the brain processes information.

When there is a lot of stress to unravel, no one can predict how the body will do it. When folks are looking for a specific response such as a reduction of back pain, they are surprised when their breathing improves or a chronic headache goes away first.

The beauty about biology is that the body is in charge, not our intellectual reasoning. We cannot manipulate the body; we can only nurture it. Chiropractic teaches us to talk the body's language and learn how to reduce stress. Chiropractors are the “spine whisperers” assessing how flexibility, range of motion and muscle balance are mirroring the health of the other body systems.

I get most excited when patients remove their own mental limitations and expectations to fully experience the chiropractic adjustment.

Lisa Ann Homic, M.Ed. D.C., may be contacted at www.DrHomic.com