Last week we talked about why when we laugh we may pee a little, this week we’re going to expand on that topic and talk about how CBP Chiropractic can help with incontinence and erectile dysfunction (ED).

How can a CBP chiropractor help me?

It really does depend on what the problem is. That’s the importance of the spinal checkup. Active Family Chiropractic does a complete spinal checkup of each section of the spine and your low back spinal structure. Your low back spinal structure houses the nerves that control bladder and reproductive organ function.

Occasionally what happens is that people have or develop bad spinal structures over the years, from their jobs or maybe they’ve had an accident. Then what winds up happening is that they have all this pressure on their nerves for so many years that the nerves are getting fewer messages or no messages to the areas that need those messages to function.

How does a poor structure lead to ED or incontinence?

What winds up happening is that somebody who previously had normal bowel and bladder or erectile functions are now starting to have problems holding their urine or having problems holding an erection and these things are very common in the older population. It’s not something that people like to talk about because it can be very embarrassing, but it is very common and it can be managed with the right approach.

Are there some cases that a chiropractor just can’t help?

Now sometimes there are things that are not within a chiropractic scope of practice. An example of this is if a woman gave birth to a child, who tore the structures of her urinary system. The baby damaged it and something happened and killed the nerves to the area and now the mom is incontinent. In that case that is not something that a chiropractic adjustment can help because the actual structure is damaged. Same thing with erectile dysfunction. If a man has had an injury to that part of his body and the nerves have been severed or something happened with the actual muscle tissue, then the adjustments are not going to help.

There is hope!

However, if you can rule out all of those other things, then there is a strong chance that it’s just lack of nerve flow to the area. Chiropractic Biophysics adjustments can identify what’s wrong and correct the problem. Active Family Chiropractic (AFC) has found that people who have been previously diagnosed with these problems and told by the medical community that it’s irreversible have seen improvements at AFC and begin to live normal lives again.

Why aren’t medical remedies, such as drugs, really effective and potentially damaging?

All of these drugs on the market to help incontinence and correct ED are influencing the brain, believe it or not, not the actual problem. You think when you take a drug is goes to that body part to help heal that part but in fact, they are all chemicals that influence your brain chemistry.

So for example, if you take a Viagra, that pill doesn’t make you have a better erection. It doesn’t go to the actual tissue and push up the tissue, what it does is it changes something in your brain. Whether it tells your brain to overstimulate the area by sending a rush of blood to that area or it inhibits the brain depending on what the issue is. If the issue is hyperactivity the drug tells the brain to calm down. So the brain actually is being tricked into thinking something because of this medication.

It’s the same if you were taking a street drug, it all deals with your brain chemistry and has nothing to do with your body parts. The dangerous thing about it is, this drug that is telling your body to send a lot of blood to muscle in your penis is now also telling your body to send extra blood to other body parts, like your heart, kidneys, and other organs. That isn’t always ideal. Which is why when people overuse Viagra, they have to go to the doctor because they could have cardiovascular implications from the drug. The idea of taking the medication is to control the brain to do a desirable effect in the body.

How can a CBP doctor help me?

Instead of forcing outside stimulus in through a medication, CBP figures out what is going on within the body and they address that. Instead of saying, let me try to take this drug, force it into my body so that it tricks my body to give me the desired result, CBP doctors try to figure out what is going on in that area to fix that problem so that the desired result occurs naturally.

A lot of times your brain is sending the right message to the area but if the nerves are compressed, it’s not going to get the message. That’s where the medications have success because they can trick the brain into doing more or less than it normally would do to try to get that reaction to happen.

CBP is a different philosophy where CBP doctors look within to change the body. They look at what is already happening with the person internally and try to help them that way.

Are there things I can be doing at home to help correct my issues?

Yes, adjustments with a CBP doctor are the first line of defense because if you have the proper structure you will have proper function. That has to be step #1 for everyone. However, it’s not the only step, taking care of yourself is the second step.

If you already receive chiropractic care and do nothing for yourself, you don’t exercise or eat well or drink enough water or manage your stress, all the efforts of your chiropractic care will not be fully realized. Your overall health and well-being play an important roll in your functionality. Exercises can be done to help with incontinence and erectile dysfunction such as pelvic floor exercises.

At the end of the day, the best thing to do is to see a CBP chiropractor and get a checkup. Having a full spinal checkup with x-rays will give you a better understanding of how your body is structured and how to help heal it from the inside out.

For more information ask Dr. B and send her an email at [email protected].