Published 2011-02-22T19:35:00Z”/>
Kelly Hering
A couple weeks ago, I was feeling literally bent out of whatever shape I was in.
My neck was aching from leaning over one-too-many textbooks, my lower back stung from toting my bursting backpack and the space between my shoulders was throbbing from leaning over my laptop for far too long. Once school starts, I always know it is time for me to start visiting my chiropractor too.
While sitting at a desk or typing on a laptop may not seem too demanding, your body responds to the strain you are putting it through. That strain can manifest itself in the form of headaches, even migraines, which aren’t exactly helpful to an already stressed college student.
Some people are afraid to make the trip to a chiropractor. One time, I even had a friend tell me they wouldn’t voluntarily allow anyone to snap their neck and feared that once they made it in to the doctor’s office they would end up backing out anyway.
A chiropractic adjustment is not by any means a scary or painful experience. In fact, I look forward to it.
My chiropractor’s office is warm and inviting, so I pretty much feel at ease the moment I walk in. No one goes around telling you to brace yourself for imminent back cracking, but rather to take a seat, a deep breath and exhale.
For example, I had an appointment with my chiropractor, Dr. Christina McDonald.
After a large adjustment to correct the burden of my backpack and books, I asked her if just being a student could be stressful on the frame. As it turns out, sitting at a desk all day is rough on the body, she said.
“Students need to focus on posture repositioning,” McDonald said. “For every inch forward of head carriage you exert, you experience the stress that 10 more pounds of head weight on your shoulders would create.”
It’s not exactly a novel idea that we need to take care of our bodies, but we are busy people who constantly put our bodies and minds under a lot of stress.
College students often find themselves burdened with chronic neck pain, headaches and fatigue, McDonald said.
“Chiropractic care is about structure and balance,” she said. “It is a portal in which people discover where wellness comes from. If you begin doing this in your 20s you will learn to take care of your body in the present and you will be healthier and better off in the
long run.”
This can be hard, especially since structure and balance isn’t something you usually find on campus. My life consists of school, homework, my jobs, time with friends and family and the occasional errand or party sprinkled here and there. At this point, it is impossible to create an everyday balanced schedule that my body craves, so sometimes you have to force feed it.
Chiropractic care is something I always make time for and I can personally vouch for its effectiveness. If we take better care of ourselves now, we can have a healthier body in the long run.
Chiropractic care helps me both physically and mentally by taking care of that internal stress manifesting itself into physical and mental pain. So it’s not that much of a stretch to say that a trip to the chiropractor leaves me feeling well-adjusted.
Kelly Hering can be reached at
