Verve sat down with Dr Brian Kelly who has been a chiropractor for 30 years and has worked in academia and private practice.
Can you explain the relationship between spinal adjustments and the nervous system?
Hippocrates (the father of modern medicine) was one of the early pioneers to write on this in 400BC. Essentially, the brain, spinal cord and nerves control and coordinate every body function and have a profound effect on our health and wellbeing.
As many nerves pass through the movable spinal column, they are susceptible to interference when spinal vertebrae misalign. This is called a subluxation.
Some subluxations affect muscles, some affect brain function and some affect how the body is functioning. It can even manifest in headaches and spinal pain. Spinal adjustments help reduce interference caused by subluxations, allowing the nerves and nervous system to function more effectively.
Can chiropractic care assist with managing the daily stressors that most of us are subject to in our fast past modern lifestyles? What about mental health?
Stress manifests in different ways for different people and can show up as different symptoms. The three most common reported changes when beginning chiropractic care are getting better sleep, having more energy, and being able to deal with stress better – all of which can tie in to better mental health. A number of people find changes in their anxiety levels as well.
Who should see a chiropractor?
Anyone can get chiropractic care, and you don’t need to be in pain—95% of the time you can have subluxations and not be in any pain at all. People go to chiropractors either because they want to get well, or to stay well and enhance their wellbeing. For example, we work with many elite athletes who want to get back on the field, and others who want to perform at their best. There has been a chiropractor on the NZ Olympic medical team for many years. Children also benefit from chiropractic care in myriad ways. In our clinic we also work with patients from all over NZ who have had a concussion injury. We do a very specific upper cervical technique called Atlas Orthogonal that has a dramatic effect on concussion recovery.
As well as being a chiropractor for 30 years, you have worked extensively in academia, as the President of the NZ College of Chiropractic and the President of Life Chiropractic College-West in California. What changes have you seen in chiropractic practice in this time?
The main change has been the increase in research into chiropractic and the increased utilisation, i.e., more and more people see chiropractors (including whole families) as part of their health care team. When I left San Francisco, Google and Facebook had just employed 14 full-time chiropractors (on staff) for their staff. They saw it as a major wellness benefit.
You’ve also led several outreach trips to India, what inspired you to do this?
We were part of a mission organisation, and we got to help some of the poorest people in the world, and some of the most grateful. We were also invited into hospitals to deliver chiropractic care. It was a very moving experience.
