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Are You Getting Stronger or Weaker? - Supporting YourAtlas Alignment
The key to freedom from the pain cycle and getting thebest results from your atlas alignment istraining your own body to do its own work. In practicalterms, it means that it will not adjust you at the first sign ofdistress. Instead, I must find a way to train your body to becomestrong enough to take care of itself.
The key to freedom from the pain cycle and getting the bestresults from your atlas alignment is training your own body to doits own work. You have to do your own push-ups! Let’s say that youdecide to get fit, healthy and strong … and you’ve just discoveredan ingenious way to do it! You’re going to pay me to go to the gymfor you.
I will do all your push-ups, all your running, and all the work… but you’re going to get all the benefits. Soundsawesome, right? Of course, it sounds amazing. The onlyproblem is a fairytale! If you want to reap the benefitsof exercise, you and you alone must do the work.
You can have a gym partner, personal trainer, or coach, but “youhave to do your own push-ups.” The same goes for your atlasalignment. Misalignments occur at every level of your spine all thetime. Its what allows your body to move!
However, if your muscles are damaged or weak, thesemisalignments have the potential to negatively affect your health.So how does your body prevent these types of misalignments fromhappening? By using your muscles!
And what do muscles feel when they’re worked out? Theyache and they burn. They feel uncomfortable. If you’redoing a bunch of push-ups, you don’t get stronger from the firstfew reps. Its when you’re starting to feel the burn that the realwork is happening.
The same thing happens when your muscles struggle to maintainyour alignment. As uncomfortable as the process may be, it is farbetter than having that same amount of tension pulling directly onyour nervous system. Even if your adjustment does slip, the effortyour muscles made to keep control of your alignment will make youstronger next time.
For this reason, there will be times when youradjustment will be slipping - you will be feeling uncomfortable -but I will elect not to adjust you for the very purpose of makingyour own bodywork to pull back the misalignment on itsown.
You Have to do Your Own Push-ups to Make Your AtlasAlignment Stronger
Its when you "feel the burn" that your muscles areactually getting stronger. Can you imagine what would happenif I pushed on your spine every time you felt a littleuncomfortable? First, I would only create more stress for yournervous system, causing your pendulum to swing erratically … maybeeven making your condition worse.
Second, I would be doing the very work that your own musclesneed to do. In effect, I would be doing your push-ups foryou with the expectation that you can reap that rewards. That isinsane! That strategy will only keep you weak anddependent on someone like me to push on your spine every few daysfor the rest of your life just so that you can “feel good” make itthrough the week.
That is not the purpose of an atlas alignment,and that is not my goal for you. The purpose of upper cervicalcare:
To restore the alignment of your upper neck into its normalrange of flexibility so that your own muscles will be able to keepit there; and
- To allow your own muscles to do the work without interferenceto keep it there for as long as possible.
When you have a misalignment that is truly jammed in a way thatyour body can’t fix the problem by itself, that is when I have toadjust you. However, if you have a misalignment that your body iscapable of fixing without me, that is when I will make your musclesdo the work on their own.
As I’ve stated before, my ultimate goal for you is to facilitateyour recovery - adjusting you only when absolutely necessary - sothat your own body will be able to take care of itself. My goal isto allow you the opportunity to get stronger so that you need myservices as little as possible.
From an upper cervical chiropractic perspective, I’m ofthe opinion that you are not doing well until your adjustment isstable for at least one month at a time … and that isentry-level! I prefer when your muscles are strong enough tomaintain control of your adjustment for three months, six months, ayear, or even longer!
When I use the expression, “You have to do your own push-ups,” Idon’t mean that you literally have to do push-ups. What I do meanis that your own muscles have to do the work so that youradjustments will stabilize. That is the only way that you will beable to reap the greatest benefits from your care. I mean, thinkabout it. If your own body is strong enough to pull your alignmentback on its own, it means three things:
- Doing the work is an investment. Simple but not alwayseasy ... but in the long run, well worth it! You didn't actuallyneed another adjustment in the first place. And if we had, it couldhave seriously messed things up.
- Your body is capable of doing something it was not previouslyable to do. And if that’s not a clear sign of progress, I don’tknow what is!
- Your muscles may even be strong enough to prevent misalignmentsin the future. I wouldn’t intentionally go out to test it, but youmay be able to suffer a direct blow to the head without youradjustment ever slipping.
Doing push-ups isn’t always a fun chore. Yes, you would probablyfeel way much better if I’d just adjust you when your muscles startto pull or burn. But the benefit of doing your own pushups ismassive. A bit of physical discomfort is both normal and necessary.That is the price of getting stronger. That is the price ofindependence. That is the price of getting healthier. Andit the long term, the price is worth it.
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