Don’t Call in Sick to Your Chiropractic Appointment!

Just like you’d keep an appointment with your general practitioner when you’re sick, you should keep your chiropractic appointment. You may be inclined to call and cancel, but it’s far better that you come in to see the doctor and receive your adjustment.

The Nervous System is Linked to the Immune System

If you’re under chiropractic care, you likely know a bit about the nervous system. This critical system, containing the brain stem and spinal cord, controls and regulates all body functions. Research also tells us that it is linked to the immune system.

“There is significant research on the connection between the nervous system and the immune system, specifically through the adrenal glands and the hormones and chemicals that relay messages from the nervous system to the cells of the immune system,” explains Dr. Phillip Shaw, D.C., Chiropractic Director of Chiro One Wellness Center of Wheeling.

Dr. Phillip always tells his patients to continue to come in when they’re under the weather. “A healthy spine is integral to a fully functioning nervous system,” says Dr. Phillip. “The nervous system controls the regulation of the immune system. Thus, a healthy spine = a healthy nervous system = a healthy immune system.”

Your Symptoms are Serving an Important Purpose

It’s important to understand that the typical symptoms of illness—runny nose, cough, mild fever, swollen or glassy eyes, loss of appetite, weakness and lethargy—indicate that your immune system is doing its job!

These symptoms aren’t random, each serve a purpose:

• A runny nose helps excrete the virus or organisms
• A mild fever serves to stimulate the immune system and create an environment that kills the invading foreign bodies
• Watery or glassy eyes cool down the cornea so that its heat-sensitive protein make-up is not damaged by the fever
• A loss of appetite is due to the body redirecting energy from the digestive cycles to the immune system

Your body is designed to fight illness and often the symptoms you exhibit are simply signs that your body is doing exactly what it should be.

Worried You’re Contagious?

If you’re exhibiting flu-like symptoms or are in the early, contagious stages of a sickness, call your doctor of chiropractic to let him or her know.  Ask if you can be seen at the very beginning or end of adjusting hours or at a time when there are fewer patients around. The office staff will be extra careful to ensure that you can receive care while limiting the spread of any illness.

If you’re exhibiting signs of serious illness or high fever, please be sure to contact your primary care doctor right away.