Communicate with Your Chiropractor

Whether you're fighting through traffic, paying the monthly bills, dealing with the
noisy next-door neighbor or struggling with illness or disease, it can all add up to
a considerable amount of stress. Stress is basically what we feel whenever we are
faced with a difficult, unpleasant or challenging situation, and the way we deal with
all this stress can substantially influence our overall health and well-being.

If stress is affecting your life, it's time to make an appointment with a doctor of
chiropractic. Here's why: A study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological
Therapeutics (JMPT) examined the contribution of stress as a potential disease trigger
among 138 chiropractic patients attending one of 10 chiropractic clinics. Patients
completed two questionnaires that asked about how their current stress affected their
ability to function emotionally, mentally and physically.

Results showed that nearly one in three patients viewed their lives as moderately to
severely stressful, and more than 50% felt that stress had a moderate or severe impact
on their current health problem. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of the patients said that
it would be helpful if their chiropractic care included strategies to help them cope
with stress.

Chiropractic care might be just what you need to help relieve some of that stress in
your life. And remember, evidence suggests that low back pain, a condition that chiropractors
are experts at managing, may be caused or worsened by stress. So talk to your chiropractor
about stress and about all of your health care needs. Trust and communication are important
in any relationship, but perhaps no more so than between patient and doctor. After
all, you're placing your health and wellness in their hands.

Jamison J. Stress: the chiropractic patient's self-perceptions. Journal of Manipulative
and Physiological Therapeutics, July/August 1999: Vol. 22, No. 6, pp395-98.