Women and their heavy bags, active people and their backs?more and more they?re discovering the chiropractor
KIDNEY STONES could cause severe back pain; problems in the gall bladder could cause shoulder pain; a headache could be induced by neck and shoulder pain.

Anchored on the concept that the body has a powerful self-healing ability, chiropractic health care lets the body heal itself from a structural basis, not chemical. Simply put, chiropractors do not prescribe medicines even if they co-manage patients with MDs.

?We are a complementary health care. We are not and shouldn?t be the last resort, although here in the Philippines people tend to see their MDs first before running to us. In the US it?s like a no-brainer?they know their choices and go straight to a chiropractor if they want to,? said Dr. Anton Cancio, doctor of Chiropractic and Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician.

Cancio, a cum laude graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic West in California, holds a license from the National and California State Board of Examiners and is licensed by the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians.

He grew up in the US but decided to continue his practice in the Philippines two years ago when he learned there was a dearth of chiropractors here. It is his mission, he said, to inform the public of their choices for treatment and established Cancio Chiropractic (2/F, Missouri Square Bldg., 101 Missouri cor. Connecticut St., Greenhills, San Juan; tel. 7227530 and 0917-5807530).

?We can diagnose but if, for example, a headache is caused by poor vision, allergy or tumor, we recommend they see their MDs. We know the role we play in health care,? Cancio said.

Spinal hygiene

Chiropractic believes the structure of the human body, mainly the spine, and its functions are related.

Specializing in ?spinal hygiene,? chiropractors ensure proper spinal alignment by adjusting and/or realigning their patients? spines. A good spinal alignment is especially critical to athletes and sports enthusiasts. Cancio knows this only too well.

It was at 12 years old when Cancio first encountered a chiropractor. As a sporty kid, he said he often suffered sprained ankle from playing basketball. His parents took him to a chiropractor, where it was discovered his hips were misaligned. The misaligned hips meant one foot was a few centimeters shorter than the other, causing the ankle to get sprained all the time.

Regular treatment and several sessions later, with his spine realigned and hips corrected, Cancio vowed to become a chiropractor when he grew up.

?The sooner you get treatment for an injury the faster your body will heal and recover. Spine realigned for back pain, for example, is treating the symptom of the problem. Drugs can help ease the pain, but as long as the source of the problem is not addressed it will persist on coming back,? he said.

While a child?s body, whose spine is still developing, responds so much better to treatment compared to a 40-year-old, Cancio said goals differ as people grow older. Someone in his/her 40s or 50s would be looking into keeping his/her spine in the best possible condition, aiming to slow down the degenerative process.

A misaligned spine can cause a pinched nerve, a bad posture, stiffness, among other ailments. Where there?s muscle imbalance, he said, a misalignment usually occurs. Weak abs, poor flexibility, especially in the hips and hams, all contribute to lower back pain. (Back pain is the most common sport injury, followed by knee and shoulder pain.)

?As you get older the most important thing is your flexibility. Always save time in your workout routine to do stretching,? he said.

Therapy

Therapy length will depend on the severity of the injury/injuries and how one?s body reacts to a treatment. Sessions last anywhere from five minutes to one hour. Many athletes, and some non-athletes, come to see him for a ?tuneup? to make sure they?re always in their peak condition.

A tuneup is a spine adjustment. In a spine adjustment, or when a spine is realigned, an audible ?crack? or ?pop? can be heard. This is not a cause for worry, Cancio said, since the sound is only caused by gases released inside your joints. This procedure almost instantly increases the range of motion and relief from aches and pains.

?It?s all about mobility,? Cancio said.

So many people are overly medicated, Cancio said, downing muscle relaxant and pain relievers like candy for, say, a simple shoulder pain. Some women, he said, experience shoulder pain because they tend to carry heavy bag repeatedly on the same shoulder. A little behavioral and lifestyle adjustment, plus a few treatment sessions, and their shoulder pain is gone.

?You don?t prepare nutritionally for an event a day before. You need a lifestyle change,? Cancio said.

Chiropractic can treat back pain and stiffness, neck pain and stiffness, muscle and joint pains, postural pain, postural correction especially in children who sit all day before the computer playing video games, arm and leg pain, arthritis pain, headaches, slipped disc, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, rotator cuffs tendonitis, golfer and tennis elbow.

It is also a wellness and prevention care.