Category: Blog

Health Priority Scale:

• Addicted-continuously looks for and adds self-destructive choices.
• Binges-makes occasional destructive lifestyle decisions-is in denial.
• Unconscious-doesn’t know a healthy choice from an unhealthy one.
• Tolerates poor health – “maybe it will go away” – “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” treatment only when they have a problem.
• Open- to the prevention of future health problems.
• Proactive- makes an effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• Consciously works at being healthy-makes healthy choices.
• Looking for and adding constructive, healthy lifestyle changes.
• Continuously looking for and adding constructive, healthy lifestyle changes.

What Happens If You Raise Your Health Priority?

If you raise the level of priority that you place on your health, as long as the health problems associated with having lived at the lower priority are not permanent, they should improve.

What Happens If You Live At a Higher Level of Priority?

If you continue to live at that higher level for a reasonable length of time, you get healthier. Even after the symptoms associated with the former health condition go away, you will likely prevent the prior health problem from returning.

What Happens If The Higher Level of Priority Becomes a Lifestyle?

If you made the higher level of priority your lifestyle, you could expect that your health would improve. In fact, it would cause your health to increase to that of the higher priority. In time, you would be able to maintain that higher level of health and wellness easily.

How Will This Effect Me Over My Lifetime?

If your goal were to improve your health over your lifetime, you would have to continue to raise the priority you place on your health and adopt that healthier lifestyle.

The Ultimate Question About Your Health

The ultimate question is, “on a scale of 1-10, how important is your and your family’s health?” The answer is always “10.” As a “10,” you and your family would be continuously looking for and adding constructive, healthy lifestyle changes, which minimally would include making sure your family has their nervous system checked to achieve their best possible health.

How Can We Help?

Every day at our Littleton chiropractic clinic, we help families not only get healthy but stay healthy for a lifetime. If that is your priority for you and your family, let us help you achieve your health goals. 

Contact our wellness center at 303-794-1737 and start on that path towards health and wellness today!

When asked, most people respond that their health is very important to them. When pressed for a number, the answer is almost always a 7 or higher. How about you? How would you rate the importance you have placed on your health up until now?

Now, remember, most people come to our office for the first time with a health problem or concern that is, unfortunately, usually…minimally, chronic. This means that their health has had to have been deteriorating for a while before consulting us. Well, here are the attributes of the different levels of health priority:

• Addicted-continuously looks for and adds self-destructive choices.
• Binges-makes occasional destructive lifestyle decisions-is in denial.
• Unconscious-doesn’t know a healthy choice from an unhealthy one.
• Tolerates poor health – “maybe it will go away” – “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
• Seeks treatment only when they have a problem.
• Open to the prevention of future health problems.
• Makes an effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• Consciously works at being healthy-makes healthy choices.
• Occasionally looking for and adding constructive healthy lifestyle changes.
• Continuously looking for and adding constructive healthy lifestyle changes.

It’s easy to see that for a health problem to become chronic, the importance placed on personal health could not have been higher than a 4 prior to consulting us. Starting care requires bringing your priority up to at least a 5. Unfortunately, what causes most people to raise the priority they place on their health is a serious health problem that doesn’t go away with their own approaches to correct the condition.

It should also be obvious that in order for one’s health to actually improve, the priority placed upon it must also be higher. So, the question for today is, “if I started living like a 7 instead of a 4 and the problems caused by me living like a 4 were not permanent, are they likely to go away? The answer…of course!

It may be a gross over-simplification but there really are only 3 kinds of health problems or conditions and they are:

1. Acute
2. Chronic
3. Permanent

And, these conditions are progressive. The first time someone’s health begins to fail, there are usually no symptoms. When the body has been moving in an unhealthy direction long enough for it to begin to break down, symptoms generally appear. The first sign of a symptom does not mean that the health problems associated with it are acute or new…it just means the symptoms are. An acute health problem is usually one that develops as a result of an obvious injury…either physically, chemically or emotionally.

If the cause of that health issue is not addressed, eventually the problem returns, symptoms return and the body demonstrates signs of a chronic problem. Underlying but frequent signs of a chronic problem include symptoms that come and go, nervous system scans that demonstrate localized areas of spinal degeneration or decay, muscle problems that won’t be massaged away or simply health concerns that most people use over-the-counter medicines to deal with.

Permanent health problems result from simply treating symptoms when they arise without taking the time to address the underlying cause of the malfunction in the body. People often use medication for the rest of their lives to try and bring comfort to a malfunctioning body. Unfortunately, this only buys comfort…not health. And, this practice usually actually causes health problems that are easy to correct to progress from acute to chronic to permanent.

It is for these reasons that we so strongly recommend spine and nervous system evaluations be performed regularly…not just when symptoms develop. It is also why we are so adamant about how important it is to make sure your children grow up healthy rather than wait for them to break down as adults.

While chiropractic is not involved with the chasing of symptoms per se, it is important to understand the neurological basis for many health complaints. Towards that end, we have compiled reference materials to assist in your understanding of how the nervous system controls and coordinates all function in the human body.

The third spinal vertebra under the skull is simply referred to as the third cervical. There are 7 cervical vertebrae all together.

3C is involved with providing the primary nerve supply from the control centers in the brain to the Diaphragm, face, teeth, and lungs. It is commonly found to be an area that is subluxated (when the vertebra is misaligned producing abnormal nerve system transmission of information- like a kink in a hose) leading to such common health complaints as chronic fatigue, vertigo, anxiety, and shortness of breath. This is a result of the interference produced by this subluxation on the phrenic nerve which is the primary nerve supply to the diaphragm.

3C subluxation can be caused by physical, chemical, emotional (in particular) and/or environmental stressors, as well as a combination of these stressors beyond the body’s ability to cope. Common stressors affecting this part of the spine and nervous system include: depression, thyroid problems, alcohol abuse, unmanaged stress, exhaustion and loss of endurance.

Perhaps of greater importance than these local affects of the subluxation of 3C, are the global affects of subluxation of this area because this is the one area where the entire spinal cord and brain stem may be affected by spinal misalignment. This can cause effects throughout the body. The importance of the diaphragm and the relationship it has to the health of the individual is still not sufficiently appreciated. A measurable reduction in respiratory volume can contribute to many different health problems.

At Dody Chiropractic Center for Wholeness, we’re committed to using the best technology to understand and improve your health. One of our favorite tools is the Insight Subluxation Station—a state-of-the-art scanner that gives us a close look at your nervous system and spine. But here’s the cool part: when we review your scan results, they’re color-coded! Each color tells us something important about what’s happening in your body.

Think of it like a traffic light system for your health:

• Red means a significant disturbance in that area.
• Blue shows a moderate issue.
• Green indicates a mild problem.

These colors give us a quick and clear view of which areas need the most attention to keep you on the path to wellness.

How Do We Get These Colors?

Our scans involve three different tests that each look at your body’s nervous system from a unique angle:

1. Thermal Scan – This measures the temperature along your spine to reveal patterns of stress. When your autonomic nerves (which control things like heartbeat and digestion) show temperature imbalances, it can signal underlying stress or dysfunction.
2. Surface Electromyography (sEMG) – This test measures the electrical activity in your spinal muscles. If the muscles on either side of your spine are working too hard, we can see where tension or imbalances might be lurking.
3. Pulse Wave Profiler (PWP) – This test assesses Heart Rate Variability (HRV), an important indicator of how well your body adapts to stress. It shows us if your nervous system is balanced and able to “go with the flow” of everyday life.

Each of these tests adds a layer to the scan, like pieces of a puzzle. Here’s where the color-coding comes in:

• Red areas mean all three tests show an issue in that part of your spine, signaling a long-term disturbance.
• Blue areas show two tests reporting a problem, indicating a moderate level of stress.
• Green areas reflect a mild concern, with only one test picking up on stress in that area.

Why Colors Change Over Time

It’s common for areas to shift from green to blue to red if left unchecked. Health issues don’t just pop up overnight—they often progress gradually. Today’s green zone may become tomorrow’s blue, and then a red down the line. This gradual progression can happen without any noticeable symptoms, which is why the scan results are so valuable. They let us “see” these changes early on.

Initial Scan vs. Follow-Up Scans: Keeping an Eye on Progress

Your first scan gives us a snapshot—a baseline view of your spine and nervous system. As we continue care, we do follow-up scans to track your body’s response to treatment. By comparing new scans to that baseline, we can see clear progress, allowing us to make adjustments as needed to keep your wellness plan as effective as possible.

The CoreScore™: A Simple Way to Track Your Health

All these results are summarized into a single, easy-to-understand number called the CoreScore™. Think of it as your wellness “grade,” ranging from 0 to 100. A high CoreScore suggests your nervous system is in top shape, while a lower CoreScore tells us there may be room for improvement. This score makes it simple to understand where you are on your wellness journey, giving you and us a reliable measure to track over time.

Your Path to Wellness

At Dody Chiropractic Center for Wholeness, we’re here to support you in staying on the path to improved health. Whether your scan shows green, blue, or red, these insights help us focus on areas that need attention, keeping you proactive about your wellness journey. It’s all about helping you feel empowered and informed about your health.

Ready to see what your nerve scan can reveal? Book an appointment with us today, and let’s put this incredible technology to work on your journey to vibrant health and well-being!

While chiropractic is not involved in the chasing of symptoms per se, it is important to understand the neurological basis for many health complaints. Towards that end, we have compiled reference materials to assist in your understanding of how the nervous system controls and coordinates all function in the human body.

The second spinal vertebra under the skull is called the Axis. There are 7 cervical vertebrae all together and we will consider them one at a time.

2C, according to our Neuro-Anatomy chart, is involved with providing the primary nerve supply from the control centers in the brain to the Sinus, tongue, heart, forehead, optic and auditory nerves. It is commonly found to be an area that is subluxated (misaligned producing abnormal nerve system transmission of information) leading to such common health complaints as allergies, sinus problems, palpitations, visual and auditory disturbances.

2C subluxation can be caused by physical, chemical, emotional and/or environmental stress or a combination of these stressors beyond the body’s ability to cope. Common stressors affecting this part of the spine and nervous system include reflex subluxation resulting from chronic allergies (exposure to allergens), chronic sinus problems (long-term ingestion of dairy products), sadness and despair.

Perhaps of greater importance than these local affects of subluxation of 2C, are the global affects of subluxation of this area because this is an area where a portion of this bone may put direct pressure on the spinal cord itself. This can cause effects throughout the body just like 1C. Additionally, some consider that there is a relationship between digestive disorders and 2C. As such, this may be a combination subluxation and the left side of the 5T ‘ 9T area may also be affected or contributing to the 2C problem.

As you can see, the nervous system isn’t simply a this for that approach to health. Everything is inter-related and your chiropractor’s expertise is in determining the causes of BOTH health problems and health itself.