Those who take an active interest in holistic health and healing know that, for the most part, the remedies used are of the non-pharmaceutical kind. While a good holistic healer would never ignore a patient’s need for a medicinal remedy, the local pharmacy is not where they turn first for a treatment.
Instead, the holistic healer looks at any of the mind, body, spiritual, and emotional factors that might be causing someone to feel unwell or be in pain. And they usually find answers in numerous places. For instance, someone who is not sleeping well and who has startling nightmares that wake them many times during the night may have some unresolved emotional or spiritual issues leading to this disruption of slumber. Of course, there could be a physical issue causing it – like a misalignment of a vertebra or two in their spine. It might even be their diet.
Holistic healers look at all of these things and know that a balanced body is one that can help itself to remain in prime condition and optimal good health.
How Chiropractors Fit Into the Picture
Within the spectrum of healing techniques used by a holistic healer are many alternative treatments. Acupuncture, dietary changes, and massage treatments might be part of the healing, and a visit to a chiropractor is often among the steps used to rebalance the patient.
While you might not think of a chiropractor as a holistic healer, it is likely that your chiropractor actually views themselves in this way. This is because chiropractors are not quite traditional healthcare providers and they are not alternative providers either. They exist somewhere between the most widely accepted treatments and the less familiar.
They are recognized by most modern medical experts, and a larger and larger pool of doctors are now turning to chiropractors as part of patient care programs. However, a large number of chiropractors are branching out and beginning to position themselves as primary care providers, too.
This is due to the very nature of their work. While many mistakenly believe that they are experts in spine and neck care, the reality is that they are healers who understand that the human body can often heal itself if given the right cues and treatment.
For example, most chiropractors tell you that they look for “subluxation” when examining a patient. This is simply a misalignment in the usual position of the vertebrae in the spine. If even a slight misalignment occurs it can cause pressure and miscommunication between the nerves and the brain. This can lead to a host of physical ailments, and yet many doctors would not look to the spine as a cause or as a solution.
When a trained chiropractor adjusts a subluxation, they tell the body to get back to normal, to heal itself. They have gotten to the root cause of the symptoms, and are not treating the symptoms. So, chiropractic care is part of holistic care, and it is also an entirely drug-free remedy. It does not try to overcome a symptom and ignore the cause, but remedies the cause and eliminates the symptoms without a prescription or other artificial relief.