I have to shake my head and chuckle a bit when I hear news about Congress discussing yet another health care bill. I don’t argue that this is a system in our country that needs desperate help. However, what we have in the U.S. is actually sick care, not health care.We learn to seek treatment only when we are ill or have been in pain for a while - not for minor irritations or when we feel fine. Health care is symptom-based because medications are designed to stop the symptom, not the cause. Medications sometimes even wind up creating additional symptoms that require further medications and so the cycle continues. Think about all of the pharmaceutical commercials you see on television, they might help your arthritis, but they also can cause any number of maladies, and in some instances death!Chiropractic works as true health care, not chasing symptoms but rather going after the cause of the problem. Chiropractors restore proper nerve function from the brain down through the spine and out to every part of the body, including the cells and immune system. This is an inside-out philosophy, where medication is an outside-in philosophy in that it adds something to your body.Chiropractors work to remove subluxations (or spinal misalignments caused by physical, emotional, and chemical stresses), which helps to restore proper nerve flow. This allows your body to heal itself, function optimally, and adapt to what is going on around you.Even a normal day contains enough stresses to cause subluxations, even though you may not have any pain, your body is constantly adapting to these stresses. Nerve flow is cut off or disrupted in varying degrees, which prevents your body from functioning at its highest level.Coming in and getting checked out while you are pain-free is the best thing you can do to prevent pain (along with walking and other home exercises). Learn to treat and react to the causes of pain (instead of pain itself) and watch as the quality of your life greatly improves.Of course, I also encourage you to remain active – take walks, stretch, do weight-bearing exercises; and make sure you have a healthy diet with mostly whole foods and no processed foods.