I have always been a bit skeptical about alternative/holistic medicine because at my core, I am a “traditional” medicine person. After all, I was studying to become a veterinarian and tangible, physical results were ingrained in me. Traditional veterinary care is based on years of research and results, and the emergence of holistic veterinary medicine was still new when I was studying veterinary science. To me, it appeared that holistic veterinary care was shrugged off – seen as more spiritual belief than actual medical care and results. (Hospice, on the other hand, was accepted since it focuses only on pain management rather than treatment.) Allopathic veterinary care is the most science-supported type of care, so to me, it meant the best type of care.

But let me freaking tell you – I am now more open to holistic/alternative medicine, and it’s because I recently began seeing a chiropractor that specializes in Network Spinal Analysis (NSA). This chiropractor was recommend to me by a friend that knows I’ve been struggling with fatigue (amongst many other physical ailments) all year – frequently feeling too fatigued to go out or socialize. It was working for my friend, so he thought it would help me, too (thanks!). I had never even been to a traditional chiropractor before, so you can just imagine how especially skeptical I was about an NSA chiropractor. I had never heard of NSA chiropractic in the first place – never knew it existed – until my friend told me about this chiropractor and I looked into it. To say that it goes against all of my beliefs about healthcare may be dramatic, but it kind of feels like that. But I still decided to try it (because there was a special promotion going on in which the first 3 visits are free).

During the initial consultation, I was expecting the worst about my posture and where I hold stress in my body because I am very well aware that I have a lot of stored trauma in my body – but surprising my overall “score” from the several assessments/scans was 64, which is not the worst. I’m wondering if my score was worse off before and therapy+ had already been bringing my score up by the time I saw the chiropractor. My initial visit was approximately 2 hours long because it also included divulging my entire history with trauma and how it was causing physical manifestations to my body. Yes, I cried – which honestly surprised me because I thought I was done crying over the past. The singular moment that made me cry, though, was something that has never happened in the past. I was talking about my ex that had slapped me in the face and he paused me mid-recount to ask me, “How did you feel after he slapped you?” No one had ever asked me that before, and I don’t really focus on that particular relationship when I recall my traumas because what’s first and foremost is when I was raped.

Essentially (to my understanding), NSA chiropractic is based on the neural system throughout the body as a whole and the ideology that physical, chemical, or mental/emotional stressors can cause interferences to our neural network, which can render our nerves ineffective, leading to symptoms over time such as sore muscles, pain, and even depression. This foundational idea – I understand it. I do believe we store trauma in our bodies. What made me skeptical about NSA chiropractic is the philosophy that light touch to specific areas of the body can help heal our bodies and symptoms naturally.

It’s very hard for me to wrap my head around this approach because of my traditional medicine background. How can a gentle touch – basically a poke – miraculously fix something in our bodies?

In my first visit, the only adjustment that the chiropractor did were a few light touches to the sacrotuberous ligament area, and somehow those few pokes actually made a physical difference. I was simultaneously confused and amazed. It literally seemed like sorcery – because how?! I had come in knowing that my trauma was stored mainly in my neck and shoulders (and this was confirmed by the scans taken by the chiropractor), and after the adjustments, I felt like I had just walked out of an hour-long deep tissue massage. I had the same light-headed feeling – which apparently is the release of toxins and completely normal. I physically felt lighter; I physically felt my chest opening up and my breathing almost tangibly breaking through whatever barrier I had been feeling all year. I also felt chest pain, which I attributed to my body kind of waking up and feeling my chest for the first time in a while. It was nothing more intense than what I had been feeling sporadically throughout the year and it was very temporary. It maybe lasted a few breaths and subsided, and I haven’t felt chest pain since. I had been feeling chest pain at least 1-2 times a week, sometimes 1-2 times a day at its worst – which is what prompted me to see the cardiologist in the first place.

Seconds after my second visit and second round of adjustments, as I was lying down, I suddenly let go of my shoulders and released them so much; I didn’t even know that I was holding them or there was even active tension there. It wasn’t until my shoulders dropped significantly where I really felt, “Holy shit.” I am still skeptical about how these gentle touches fix anything, but I do understand that physical contact sends signals to the brain – pain, itching, hugging, etc. NSA also works by utilizing sources of energy in the body and distributing them to other areas of the body that need energy – how? I don’t know.

There was a breathing technique that the chiropractor showed me during my second visit which was a method to distribute energy. It first involved finding where my breathing was easiest – throat, chest, or stomach. In my body, my breathing was easiest at my throat and my stomach came in second. So we did a few deep breaths with my hands gently placed at my throat – in through the nose and out through the mouth. Apparently it is essential that you exhale through your mouth – something with the release of CO2. He then had me move my hands to my stomach and take a few deep breaths there. No more than 3 breaths, and say out loud a few statements that start off with, “Sometimes it seems…” The few he gave me to say were:

• “Sometimes it seems helpless here.”
• “Sometimes it seems like I don’t know what’s going on here.”

I did feel profoundly calmer after the breathing exercise, but I always do after some mindful breathing. The breathing exercise apparently results in transferring energy from high to low areas of energy in the body to make it easier to breathe. I’m more skeptical about this than the spinal/neural adjustments because maybe I was just breathing easier because I was settling into a deep breathing flow or was reaching a more meditative state than when I originally started the breathing exercise.

Overall, while I am still skeptical, I am staying open-minded and am not afraid to keep asking questions until it makes sense to me. The fact that it’s currently free for one more visit also helps because it’s (literally) at no cost to me to try it out. And it honestly seems to be working. Even if it is all placebo effect, it’s still working, and I’m feeling the results significantly and immediately. Even as I sit here, I feel as though I am sitting taller than normal, naturally, without forcing a correction to my posture. I feel like my shoulders are lower than normal – that I’m not holding them up with tension. Even the physical, muscle tension in my neck lightened after my first adjustment – immediately. As I palpate my neck now, there is a bit more give, more bounce-back, than I’ve typically felt all year. It’s not as loose as it was immediately after the adjustment, but I don’t expect it to be. I don’t expect it to be a singular solution but a process of continual adjustments. Nothing ever is.