With 2018 being my 28th year in practice, I‘ve heard many New Year’s resolutions during my career. The most common resolution usually goes something like this: “I want be healthier this year!” What I’ve realised is that “healthy” for most people means that they want to get fit. Or at least look fit which often means losing some weight and to exercise more.

While most people know that working out is good for them, the number one excuse I hear is, “I don’t have the time.” Really now, when the rubber meets the road, what ever a person deems important in their life they will make time for. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology stated that within the first week, 25 percent of people have already given up their resolution, followed by 36 percent within the first month, 54 percent within the first six months, and a whopping 92 percent have given up within the first year. One would think that if people noticed increased health after starting their resolution, it would be enough motivation for them to stick with it. Many people start the process but don’t notice a difference in their overall health because they give up after too short of a time frame. Others go out to hard too fast and get discouraged or sustain a injury and quit.

You may be thinking: “Shouldn’t I get healthier if I exercise?” Not always. Professional athletes can be some of the fittest, leanest people on earth, but unfortunately, the opposite is often true. For example, the NFL Players Union and Harvard released a study stating that the average life expectancy of professional football players is mid to late 50’s, as opposed to mid to late 70’s for the average person. I have personally seen many lean, fit, very sick people in my career.

For anyone who exercises and wants to get healthier our bodies need to function properly. Many scientific studies have shown that chiropractic care can alter and enhance muscle function. Interestingly, studies have shown that adjusting dysfunctional segments in the spine, can not only improve spinal function but can also improve the way we sense our environment, process information in our brain, and control the muscles in our arms and legs.

In other words, how our spine moves, and for that matter our body, is a product of how our brain and nerve system is working because exercise is physically stressful on the body. In fact, physical stress is the number one cause of spinal subluxation. A spinal subluxation is a dysfunctional area in the spine that negatively affects health and wellbeing, due to its influence on the nervous system. Spinal subluxation can lead to interference with normal nerve supply from the brain to your body’s cells, organs, and tissues. Without proper nerve supply, your body can’t function properly. This is one of the key focuses of chiropractic care to detect and correct spinal subluxations in order to restore the healthy function of the spine and nervous system. This enables the body to function at its optimal potential. So if you have already started your New Year’s resolution, or for that matter a new exercise routine, be extra careful with your spine during your exercise program and realise how complex and wonderfully you are created.

If you are starting out with a new exercise program, you may need to increase your spinal maintenance schedule to counteract the new stresses to your spine until your body has had time to adapt. This will help to prevent injuries by improving your core stability, improve your proprioception, and increase the accuracy of your brain’s control over your muscles. If you haven’t had your spine checked for a while, make sure to do that first, before starting any exercise program ensuring things are moving the best they can from a structural and neurological level.

For Your Health

Dr Ron Howard

1. Norcross, J.C., Mrykalo, M.S., & Blagys, M.D. (2002). Auld lang syne: Success predictors, change processes, and self-reported outcomes of New Year’s resolvers and non-resolvers. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(4), 397-405.