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Making Adjustments

At HealthQuest Chiropractors in Southfield, Dr. Raphael Okonkwor, 36, sees patients who suffer from a myriad of chronic ailments like back pain and migraine headaches. With a wife and two children, his six-day-a-week workweek is very different from a life he may have had if his family stayed in Nsukka, Nigeria, his birthplace 15 years ago.

In 1992, Dr. Okonkwor’s mother and father moved their family of six to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His parents’ intention was as noble and idealistic as any family uprooting their family from their homeland to relocate to another country in search of more opportunity. For Dr. Okonkwor’s family, his parents, who are both professors, landed teaching positions in Milwaukee. Their love and exploration of knowledge rubbed off on their eldest son.

After settling down in Milwaukee, Dr. Okonkwor was accepted into the University of Wisconsin where he played football and subsequently injured his knee. His knee pain became worse and intensified after graduation. On good days, Dr. Okonkwor walked with a pronounced limp. On bad days, he couldn’t feel his leg. He tried all approaches, from physical therapy to knee surgery. The interventions left with him temporary relief but soon the pain would surface with renewed vigor and intensity.

One afternoon while stumbling through a workout at the gym, a gentleman who saw how deliberately and cautiously Dr. Okonkwor was moving his body, approached him. The gentleman, who was also a chiropractor, was about to change Dr. Okonkwor’s life. He talked to him about his knee pain and encouraged him to come into his office for a chiropractic adjustment on his back. Not his knee. Curious and hopeful, Dr. Okonkwor sought the help of this man for the next six weeks. He gradually began to notice a slight difference in his level of pain. Bouts of numbness in his leg soon became less and less and then altogether disappeared. Within two months, he could walk without a limp.

Inspired and in awe of how the chiropractic adjustments were able to heal his knee pain, he began a one-year investigation into the field and study of chiropractics. After that year, he made the decision to become a chiropractor and applied to a number of schools throughout the country. He chose to complete his four-year degree at the Cleveland Chiropractic College in Missouri and then joined HealthQuest in Southfield two years ago after receiving his Doctor of Chiropractic degree.

“It wasn’t just that my knee was tremendously helped through chiropractics but it was also the philosophy behind this school of healing that drew me in and eventually inspired me to have a career in it,” says Dr. Okonkwor.

The basic philosophy of chiropractics is the body is a self-healing entity that will heal itself, given the right internal environment. The health of the spinal cord, which is an extension of our brain, is the basis for the health of the body.

The field of chiropractics does not aim to treat a kidney infection or cancer.

“It’s preventive medicine. A chiropractor tries to heal you before you get sick,” says Dr. Okonkwor, even though many of his patients are led to his office after exhausting other treatment modalities like medication, surgery or physical therapy.

Chiropractors use a drug-free, hands-on therapy called spinal manipulation or adjustments to treat a patient from neuromusculoskeletal complaints, including but not limited to back pain, neck pain, pain in the joints of the arms or legs, and headaches. Dr. Okonkwor says that low back pain and headaches are the conditions that he most often sees in his own practice.

Since no two spines are same, and how we use our bodies greatly affect our body’s alignment, back or neck pain has probably been developing from many years of using the incorrect postures as we go about our activities of daily living. From how we sleep, to how we carry our children, from what shoes we wear and to what we eat are all factors that affect the quality of our spinal cord. Given this philosophy, pain is the last thing to come and the first thing to go, says Dr. Okonkwor.

One of the chief complaints about seeing a chiropractor is that once you go, you must go again and again. Chiropractic healing is not a one-time fix, says Dr. Okonkwor. Even though a bone was moved after one adjustment, it will probably move back again to its previous place. This occurs because the body is so habitually used to having the bone(s) in this specific, albeit dysfunctional, place that it must be realigned numerous times before it is placed there permanently.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), chiropractic care is one of the ten most commonly-used complementary and alternative therapies. About 20% of American adults have received care from a chiropractor at some point in their lives. Side effects of a chiropractic adjustment might be temporary headaches or discomfort in the areas where an adjustment was given. The risk of serious complications following an adjustment, such as a stroke, appears to be extremely low and is related to the type of adjustment performed and the part of the body treated.

If you are interested in seeing a chiropractor, Dr. Okonkwor strongly encourages seeking out a qualified and licensed chiropractor that takes the time to find out who you are and is very attentive to your condition.

Dr. Okonkwor ‘s Tips to Prevent Back Pain

• Maintain a healthy diet and weight.

• Remain active

• Don’t cross your legs at the knees since this twists the spine and throws off the hips.

• Warm up or stretch before exercising or other physical activities.

• Maintain proper posture while throughout the day and while you exercise.

• Wear comfortable and low-heeled shoes

If you have low back pain, be careful of exercises that hyper extend the back