When I introduce myself as a chiropractor, I will get several typical responses:
- Oh… (insert blank stare indicating they don’t know what that is)
- “I love Chiropractic! I can’t imagine not getting adjusted.”
- “A Chiropractor saved my life/saved me from surgery/did wonders for me.”
- “I hope I never need to use your services!”
- “I don’t believe in Chiropractic.”
The last one always cracks me up. My usual response, “That’s good because Chiropractic isn’t a religion.” So…do you have to “believe” in order for Chiropractic to work? Not at all. Chiropractors regularly adjust children and they have no idea what we’re doing or how it’s supposed to help them — they just get better.
Animal chiropractors treat their furry patients without even explaining their chiropractic care program to them or the results they can expect — yet they still get better (just ask their owners!).
There’s a great quote from B.J. Palmer, considered the developer of Chiropractic:
“Have you more faith in a spoonful of medicine than in the power that animates the living world?”
I’m betting you have no clue how any medicines you take work or the effect they have on your body. However, you expect that they’ll work and that a simple pill or potion will take care of your symptom.
Why then, do you doubt your body’s ability to recover from health problems if given the opportunity to do so without interference? That’s all a chiropractic adjustment is doing, after all.
We line up the vertebrae with the idea of allowing your nervous system (it’s the master system controlling everything in your body) to work at its best.
Combine a chiropractic adjustment with drinking water, eating healthy food, getting enough sleep, and exercise… well, you’re going to be pretty healthy.
Do you have to believe in any of these factors to make them work effectively? Nope.
Do you have to do these things consistently for them to be effective? Absolutely.
That becomes the “faith” aspect of whether or not someone believes in chiropractic care vs. taking medicine. When you take a pill, you may notice an effect almost immediately. A pain killer takes away pain quickly and you know when the pill is wearing off.
Take another pill and bam! – the pain is gone again.
Eat some healthy food to improve your overall health and it may be weeks before you notice a big difference. Get a chiropractic adjustment and you may notice some difference initially, but most people will take between 3 and 5 adjustments to really notice a difference in their symptom levels.
This ends up becoming a philosophical debate more than a religious debate. You don’t have to have faith or belief in order for these things to work to make you a healthier person, but you do have to have the mindset that good things done consistently will make a major difference in your health and quality of life.