Chiropractic Care is Holistic Health Care

Reviewed August 2026

One of the great things about chiropractic care is that it is holistic. I can't remember the last time I saw a new patient and they didn't leave their first appointment saying something like, "that was so much more thorough than I expected". The reason is that every bit of the puzzle helps me to determine the best course for care for that person...and each plan for care is bespoke to the person at hand. How could it be otherwise when each body, and their life experiences, are unique?

It is totally understandable that a person might think that when you visit a chiropractor that they would work with your spine. That's our thing, right? The spine and the nervous system. Absolutely. The spine protects the nervous system and the nervous system conducts communication between the brain and the body (data about our internal and external environments in to the brain, and orchestral-conducting-like messages from the brain to the body informing our response to that data). Chiro care keeps the spine aligned for optimal biomechanical function of the musculoskeletal body, and the communication pathways open for optimal function of the body.

I spend most of my days working with people's spines to optimise their health and wellbeing. However, I also spend a goodly amount of time each day dealing with other parts of the mind and body with the same goal. If you have read some of my other blogs you'll be aware of this.

A patient recently suggested I write a blog about these other facets of chiropractic care, which brings me to this piece today.

Unsure where to begin, I thought I'd ask a collection of people who see me for chiro care what surprised them most about the care they'd received across their time at the Adelaide Chiropractic Centre. Here are a some of their answers (paraphrased):

• After I'd had Covid-19 you pointed out I was breathing shallowly, not using all of my lungs. You explained how this shallow breathing feeds into my stress response and compounds the tension held in my body, contributing to making me feel wired, tired, tense and stressed. You taught me how my diaphragm worked and released it so I could breathe better. You then gave me exercises to learn to breathe properly once again. It made such a huge difference. I had never thought I'd be speaking to the chiro about my breathing.

• I'd come to you about my neck pain, but you solved it by working on my lower back. That was unexpected. And then I noticed that I wasn't having as much PMT or period pain. You explained the link between my lower back and my ovaries and uterus and told me it was due to a combo of better posture and better communication between my brain and these parts of my body. A huge bonus for me.

• I had lower back and hip pain, and pain in my right heel. You sorted it all, but I never expected you'd be sitting on the floor working on the bones in my feet. Lessons about how the bones in my feet work and homework in the form of exercises, tips on better shoes...knowing how it worked really helped in my recovery.

• I'd had carpel tunnel syndrome (pins and needles in part of the hand from too much data entry work on a computer) in the past, but came to you with help for headaches. I was grateful when the headaches and neck stiffness receded, but when you worked on my wrist and elbow and my hand worked better so I could crochet again ~ that was great!

• I came for you to stop the pain. You did (though I know you say it was my brain that brought things back to normal, you just "helped"), but I know I feel better in myself when I have the maintenance care. You explained how regular chiro care helps my body manage the stress loads in my world, so it doesn't accumulate and start causing pain. You told me the research shows maintenance care promotes "less pain, less often and better quality days". It makes such a difference for me.

• We started by working on my back following an adductor injury at training. After you broached working to improve my balance. As a young person, someone who wasn't 50 plus or prone to falls, I wasn't sure the value in this. However, you explained how we would be optimising brain maps for stability in my ankles with the goal of preventing ankle injuries (I'd had multiple in the past) in the coming footy season. My ankles are stronger and no injuries on that front this season ~ brilliant!

• I never expected you to be working on my face! I came in for a regular tune-up one day and was clogged up in my sinuses, dealing with the dregs of a cold. You suggested a "sinus drainage", which was weird, but glug was emptying from my head before I was standing up again and I felt so much clearer afterwards. Now I know to ask you to do a "sinus drain" when I'm feeling clogged. Gold! I never knew chiro's did that.

I need to be very clear here. Each body is different and I can not, and do not, claim to treat particular disease processes. However, in working with the spine and promoting clear communication between the brain and the body, the brain will always endeavour to bring the function of the body back towards normal (a process known as homeostasis). What is possible depends on the body I'm working with at the time. We are all different.

The human body is a wonderfully complex thing. The brain is awesome. It all works together.

It remembers your experiences ~ from upsets with family members and stress load at work, to falling off the horse when you were 15, twisting to one side playing hockey for 10 years and the water skiing accident when you were 23. And all the good ones too ~ years of violin with your neck scrunched to the side making beautiful music, that time when you did the assisted sky diving (the rush!), being part of the team who collect and chop wood for the next cold season (axes, chainsaws and such), hours and hours sitting crafting that beautiful thing or reading that great novel.

Your body adapts, copes, creates work arounds, heals and survives. It's pretty awesome like that. However, sometimes, the load (mental, physical, emotional) reaches a level that is unsustainable and then there will be a dysfunction or a pain. If I didn't chase back all those details, I wouldn't have the puzzle pieces to determine a path towards recovery (within the limitations of matter ~ of course).

Yes, a chiro is likely to work on your spine. Our first goal is to help you achieve your health goals, such as less pain and being able to do "XYZ" again. However, our overarching goal, if you choose it, is to optimise how your whole body is working. Chiro care very rarely focuses on just the one spot where the pain that brought you through our door is. We can, if you insist, but the possibilities are likely to be broader than that.

Chiro care is holistic wellness care.