Over the past few months I have been plugging away and attempting to learn the guitar. For years I wrote myself off as not being musical because I had tried to learn guitar in grade 7 but didn’t do so well, probably because I really wanted to learn drums but my parents got me a guitar instead as it was cheaper and much less noisy.
What I have discovered is that learning an instrument is less about talent and more about CONSISTENCY. When I first began my fingers were very clumsy, it took me ages to change between chords and maintaining a strumming rhythm was near impossible. Although I am far from proficient I have noticed steady improvements, my fingers are more coordinated, transitioning between chords is much easier and I can generally hold a rhythm all from practicing 10-30 mins every day or two.
So what changed between the start of the year and now? New movements like playing guitar, dancing, learning to drive or starting to walk as a child require our brain and nervous system to develop what we call a motor pattern. At first it takes a lot of mental and physical effort to make seemingly small improvements. Over time the movements become more natural to the point where you can drive to the shop and not even remember exactly how you got there, walk across the room without agonising over how to take each step or play a whole song on the guitar.
This physiological fact is key when it comes to understanding your Chiropractic care. Your spine is made up of 24 bones that protect the spinal cord and allow movement. Over time various stresses like poor posture, playing contact sport, wearing high heels and carrying a handbag in one arm can have an impact on how well each segment moves. This altered movement or poor alignment is called a vertebral subluxation and its effect on the brain is less than optimal. As a Chiropractor my job is to make adjustments to these subluxations to improve spinal movement and therefore how your brain responds to signals from the body. This is very much like my guitar practice sessions, just as my hand and fingers are learning a new way of moving, each adjustment is re-training your spine to move in a normalised manner. It comes down to learning a new motor pattern.
If I were to only practice the guitar once every month or two how much progress do you think I would make? Not very much. It is the CONSISTENCY that has built the motor patterns needed to make playing actually enjoyable and not completely frustrating. The same holds true for subluxation correction, we are breaking down old poor patterns and helping your body learn new ones which requires higher frequency of sessions in the beginning stages. But don’t worry, multiple visits per week is not required forever, we often find that between 1-3 months of high frequency care is enough to reset your body to the point where one visit per month is enough to maintain your spinal motor patterns optimally.
To Your Greatest Health!
Dr James MacKay
Get to know Dr James:
” With the desire to dedicate myself to a career that would be fulfilling each and every day, I chose Chiropractic. Chiropractic is about helping your body run at its best so you can heal and deal with everything life throws at you.”
Dr James’ passions are Chiropractic, motorbikes, power lifting and most importantly, food!
Aug 08, 2018 at 6:42 AM
Well written, Dr James.