A Center for Health

Image of a ballet dancer.

Mindfulness programs and practices frequently describe a process of locating your "center." One's center may be conceived as a focus of energy, both spiritual and physical, by which all activities may be grounded and from which all activities flow. Similarly, ballet teachers and gymnastics instructors enjoin their pupils to "work from your center," meaning that the student's spins, leaps, kicks, and other choreographed movements should emanate from a central region of power. As well, coaches of many sports disciplines, including baseball, football, and basketball, encourage their athletes to "stay focused" and "see the ball going through the net." All of these injunctions are designed to remind players to reconnect to their center -- their focus of disciplined strength, quickness, and coordinated activity.

But you don't have to be a highly trained athlete or a master of meditation to be able to derive power, strength, and grace from your personal center. Each one of us has these capabilities. The first requirement for demonstrating and enhancing these qualities is having awareness and focusing attention on your center itself. One person may locate his center in his heart. Others may locate their centers in their spine or in their solar plexus, that is, the lower abdominal region. One's core musculature may also be identified as one's center. The key is not so much the perceived anatomical location of one's center, but rather maintaining the concept of, the focus on, the center.

The metaphor of a center may be extended to include a center for health. From a chiropractic perspective, your center for health is your nerve system and spinal column. The nerve system, the body's master system, transits information regarding healthy functioning from the brain to all the cells of the entire rest of the body. This information coordinates activities of the body's tissues and organ systems, and the free flow of information from the brain to the body and back again results in good health. The spinal column houses and protects the spinal cord and the roots of the spinal nerves, the main nerve trunks that send nerve branches to your arms, legs, hands, feet, and every other physical location.

Regular chiropractic care helps support your body's center for health by detecting and correcting sources of nerve irritation and by helping to maintain the durability and flexibility of your spinal column. In this way, regular chiropractic care helps ensure the ongoing health and well-being of everyone, including individuals, families, and communities.

  1. Demarzo MM, et al: The Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Primary Care: A Meta-Analytic Review. Ann Fam Med 13(6):573-582, 2015
  2. Marusak HA, et al: Mindfulness and dynamic functional neural connectivity in children and adolescents. Behav Brain Res 336:211-218, 2018 doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.09.010. Epub 2017 Sep 5
  3. Christensen JF, et al: I can feel my heartbeat: Dancers have increased interoceptive accuracy. Psychophysiology. 2017 Sep 21. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13008. [Epub ahead of print]

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Testimonials

  • "SUCCESS!!
    I had been experiencing tightness in my lower left back and buttocks going down the exterior of my left leg for about six months. I tried adjusting my posture and doing frequent stretching exercises. Although the problem didn't get worse, neither did it improve.
    After my first visit with Dr. Rich, I noticed a huge improvement. The pain down my leg reduced by 80% and the tightness in my back and buttocks improved too. Thus far I have had four sessions and continue to feel better with each visit. If not for Dr. Rich's treatments, who knows how long I would have continued living day to day with this irritating constant pain."
    PF
  • "Thank You!!
    I want to thank you all so much for the care I received following my recent motorcycle accident.
    I came to my therapy the following Tuesday with a knot in my back that felt the size of a racquetball. After three sessions of very deep and hard massage it was finally broken up and has not come back since.
    Additionally all the work that Dr. Rich did on my spine, knees, left foot and shoulder joints have both relieved a great deal of pain and resulted in what I believe is an overall improvement in function.
    All in all by the time Dr. Rich recently released me, I feel that my back and joints are in better condition than before the accident. They certainly feel better.
    I cannot thank you enough."
    JKB
  • "I Feel Great!
    I started treatment with Dr. Rich and Christina, his wonderful massage therapist about two months ago. I had an appointment to see the nutritionist and arrived early so someone suggested to get a massage and I shared my neck and shoulder discomfort.
    I ended up being treated by Dr. Rich and he adjusted my neck, back and shoulder and I could not be happier. I never thought that all of my neck, shoulder and back issues would go away. I am a nurse and had been suffering with this pain for about a year. I am now able to work out and use my shoulder. My neck doesn't hurt and I am a happier person.
    Thank you so much Dr. Rich and Christina!"
    OP