3 Tests More Important than Your Cholesterol

So why do we have poor health? Our poor health stems from an inability to adapt to our environment. Looking at two hospital workers who are exposed to the same germs on a daily basis, why does one get sick and not the other? Obviously the one who did not get sick had the ability to fight off the germs. Where does that ability come from? It is the system in our body that coordinates all other functions. Your nervous system, which is made up of your brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

If the health of our nerve system is responsible for coordinating every other function in the body, we should probably have some tests that measure how our nerve system is functioning. The following are 3 tests that are more important than your cholesterol level, blood pressure, and BMI.

1. Spinal Thermography

This test takes less than 30 seconds and compares the skin temperature around the spine. This is a "snap shot" picture of how your autonomic nervous system is functioning, which is the part of your nerve system that coordinates organs and glands. Depending on the type of thermography used, your scan should be balanced left to right or top to bottom. Chiropractic care has been shown to bring an abnormal scan into balance, thus improving nerve system function and overall health.

2. Spinal sEMG

Surface Electromyography (sEMG) is a test that is completed to measure overall muscle tone and balance across the spine. Muscles are controlled by a part of your nervous system known as the motor nerve system, responsible for movement of joints, balance, coordination, and posture. Increased muscle tension and imbalance across the spine is largely due to spinal subluxations (misalignments that place increased stress and irritation on the nerve system). This increased tension can lead to poor posture, pain, headaches, poor balance, and fatigue. Chiropractic adjustments restore spinal alignment to help reduce muscle tension and increase coordination of your nervous system.

3. Heart Rate Variability

The average heart rate in humans is around 60-75 beats per minute. However, if your heart beats at 60 times per minute, those beats do not fall exactly one second apart. One beat may occur at 0.9 seconds and the next beat may occur at 1.1 seconds, so there is a variability in your heart rate. A low heart rate variability has been linked to heart failure, diabetes, SIDS, and poor outcomes in premature infants. The greater variability in your heart rate, the better you are able to adapt to your environment and experience a high level of health and function. There are many factors that affect this score including hormones, stress levels, and sleep cycle. However, chiropractic care has been shown to increase your heart rate variability score, thus increasing your adaptability and overall health.



I am not telling you to forget about your cholesterol, blood pressure, and weight scores, but I am telling you to ask questions about what those numbers might mean and what is the course of action for improvement. Medication can easily change a lot of your test scores, but chronic use of medication is never the best route for achieving a higher level of health. If you are truly seeking better health, then it has to start with the system that coordinates everything else, the nervous system!

Remember, "Health comes from within, that's the ways it's always been!"

Abundant blessings,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter.