Hello, my name is Dr Garret Kow; I’m one of the chiropractors from the Melville Wellness Centre and I just wanted to share with you all a little about what I do as a chiropractor. I see my role as a chiropractor as a healthcare provider who looks after the health and wellbeing of our nervous system through looking after our spine and the muscles surrounding our spines.

What is the Nervous System?

Your nervous system consists of your brain, spinal cord and all your nerves, it is the most vital system of your body. Its responsible for coordinating and regulating all the other systems in our body as well as enabling us to adapt to our environment. Just a few examples of what the nervous system does, with or without a conscious thought from us are:

  • Producing stomach acid after a meal
  • Communicating with the immune system when we’re sick
  • Increasing your pulse when exercising
  • Reducing your blood pressure when resting
  • Coordination in detailed movements such as doing a button or writing
  • Producing pain when touching a hot or sharp object
  • Perspiring to cool us down when it’s hot

Your nervous system controls every cell, tissue, organ and system of your body. It controls and regulates how your body functions.

If your nervous system were to be impaired, interfered with or compromised so that nerve messages to or from your brain were distorted, parts of your body may not work as well as they should and in some instances, pain is the way our body lets us know there’s something wrong.

That’s why the most significant parts of your nervous system are protected by bone. Our brain is protected by our skull and our spinal cord is covered by the moving bones of your spinal column.

Yet, even with this protection, interferences can happen and some of these interferences may be coming from the spine itself!

What I Look for in Our Spines

I look out for any spinal dysfunction, in which spinal bones are stuck, fixated or not moving properly. This is the way our body copes in response to certain stress placed on our spines such as repetitive stress from work or sport, bad posture over time or more immediate stress such as a car accident or sports injuries.

Our ability to turn, bend and move can be compromised. When a spinal bone loses its normal relationship with the bone above or below it, it may set in motion a cascade of effects:

  • Reduced joint motion
  • Nerve irritation
  • Inflammation
  • Muscle spasm
  • Disc bulging
  • Early joint degeneration
  • Pain
  • Numbness in the hands and feet
  • Pins and needles” sensations

How Chiropractic Can Help

So for myself as a chiropractor I work on getting that proper movement back into the spine and correcting the misalignment in the spine in order to not just treat the underlying cause of pain but also get the nervous system to function at it’s best and we use a range of techniques to achieve this from chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy in the form of stretches and exercises, advice on correct posture and examining home and workplace ergonomics.

For more information, any questions you may have or wanting to book an appointment, please visit us at www.melvillewellness.com.au or give us a call on 9314 2777