Spine and Disc Degeneration and Chiropractic in High Point, NC
Your spinal bones begin to deform; your discs swell, then shrink; your ligaments, tendons and muscles begin to harden and weaken; and your entire spinal column loses its balance, flexibility, stability and strength.  What is happening?  Your spine is degenerating.

Spinal degeneration is often caused by long-standing stress, along with the bones, tendons, ligaments and muscles, your nerves, body chemistry and internal organs can also be affected.  Spinal degeneration leads to less overall ability to adapt to the pressures of life; you lose the spring to your step and the youth in your being.  You also lose your height.

Loss of Height
Most people believe they lose height when they get "old."  Does that mean that at age 65 you wake up and find yourself shorter?  Of course not.  The loss of height is silent, slow and gradual, and may begin in your 20s and 30s as one of the symptoms of spinal degeneration.

What Causes Spinal Degeneration?
Spinal degeneration is usually caused by years of longstanding vertebral subluxations in your spine.  What are vertebral subluxations?

Vertebral Subluxations
Day-to-day stress can cause your spine's many complex parts (intervertebral discs, ligaments, tendons and the very bone itself) to deteriorate.  Stress often causes the spinal vertebrae to shift from their proper places, or become misaligned and irritate the surrounding nerves, bones, discs, ligaments and other soft tissues.  This serious spinal condition is called a vertebral subluxation complex.  Subluxations, often painless, are common; they can be termed a "hidden epidemic."

Spinal Decay
Spinal degeneration is like tooth decay (often a painless process) that by the time a person notices its effects or feels any pain has been going on for many years.

The Phases of Degeneration
Your spine degenerates in stages or phases:

Degeneration Phase 1 (Usually birth to age 20)
First your spine loses its normal balance.  There may be a loss of normal spinal curves.  Your nerves may be affected and the vital life energy that flows over them is interfered with.  Also your joints, discs, nerves and posture are stressed and age more quickly.  Surprisingly, there may be no pain other than occasional minor discomfort.  Also present may be a slight lessening of energy and slight height loss.  Response to spinal care is generally good.

Degeneration Phase 2 (Age 20 to 40)
Here there is a much greater degree of decay, disc narrowing and bone spurs (deformations); postural changes are much worse.  This condition is very common (by age 40, 80% of males and 76% of females exhibit moderate disc degeneration).  Spinal canal narrowing or stenosis may occur.  This phase is characterized by more aches and pains, fatigue and a diminished ability to cope with stress.  Height continues to decrease.  With chiropractic care from Bailey Chiropractic Centre of High Point, North Carolina, significant improvement is possible.

Degeneration Phase 3 (Age 40 to 65)
Here there are more postural imbalances, increased nerve damage, permanent scar tissue and advanced bone deformation.  Physical and/or mental weakness or disability begin.  Also found in this phase is permanent loss of height and loss of energy.  With care some reversal is possible.

Degeneration Phase 4 (65 and older)
This is the most advanced stage of subluxation degeneration.  The postural imbalance is severe and motion is limited.  There is severe nerve damage, permanent scar tissue is formed and the bones may begin to fuse.  In this phase we find pain, various degrees of physical or mental disability, and continued loss of energy and height.  By now the condition is considered irreversible, although Dr. Bailey may give some symptomatic relief.

The Bailey Chiropractic Centre of High Point, NC Approach
You need not sit and passively watch your spine degenerate. Bailey Chiropractic Centre can reduce, halt and may even reverse spinal degeneration by improving spinal balance and posture and keeping your joints, nerves and discs healthy and strong throughout your lifetime.  As one researcher writes: The restoration of motion to a previously (fixated) joint leads to a restoration of normal joint function and physiology.

Further, there is increasing evidence that some spinal degeneration may be reversible.  As another researcher has noted: Correction of a vertebral subluxation can not only attenuate and arrest this degenerative process, but can actually allow the condition to reverse itself.

Prevention
The sooner care is begun with Bailey Chiropractic Centre of High Point, NC, the better.  According to one researcher: The earlier the degeneration process is identified...the better chance the patient has for its arrest and reversal.

This means bringing in your children for periodic spinal checkups to make sure their spines are free of the vertebral subluxation complex.  Of course, anytime someone experiences a fall, accident or other trauma they should have their spines checked by a Doctor of Chiropractic to make sure that they are subluxation free.

Periodic spinal checkups to detect the "silent" vertebral subluxation complex are of vital importance for everyone.  That's because stress, including emotional stress, job stress, school stress, family stress and environmental stress takes its toll on us.

For that reason you should have your spine checked periodically for vertebral subluxations, the hidden epidemic that slowly and steadily drains your life of energy, strength and wholeness.

See Bailey Chiropractic Centre of High Point, NC to keep your spine free from subluxations and free from spinal degeneration.