Did you know that chiropractors can help with asthma? This topic is near and dear to my heart because this is what led me to become a chiropractor. In this article I will tell my story about chiropractic and asthma.

I was diagnosed with asthma at a young age, for as long as I could remember I used to take a medication called Theodore and carry an inhaler with me for controlling asthma attacks. I was told to not play sports or get my heart rate up because that would induce my asthma. Also, being around cats would trigger an allergic response and induce serious asthma attacks. As you could imagine, this was a terrible diagnosis for a young boy who loved sports.

What Did I Do?

I did what all little boys do, and I didn’t listen! I loved sports and nothing would keep me away from them. This led to many episodes of me being rushed to the ER not being able to breath. I have many memories of having breathing treatments in the hospital and as I got older I remember having one occasion where I was pretty sure I was going to die. Luckily, every time I had an attack I was treated successfully by the ER doctors. Modern medicine is really the best when it comes to life saving crisis situations.

Fast forward to when I was 19 years-old. I had a weightlifting injury to my neck which had me sidelined for many weeks. My sister told me I should see her chiropractor so I could get back into the gym. I had no idea what a chiropractor was, but if it could get me back in the gym I was all for it.

I went and met with the chiropractor and he explained to me what was going on with my neck and told me he could fix it. During the consultation with him I told him I suffered from asthma, and this is when the magic began!

He explained to me that the human body is self-healing and self-regulating and that any symptoms are a result of the body not healing properly. Then he went on to explain how the nervous system is in control of how our body heals and that there may be interference to the nerves that innervate or control my lungs. In particular the nerves of my middle back were the ones he was concerned about because I had terrible posture as a child. My shoulders were severely rounded forward putting excess stress on my middle back.

As we started treatments for my neck injury, the chiropractor worked on all the areas of my spine that had stress on them, which included my middle back. Within weeks my neck was back to 100% and I was working out again. During my workouts I noticed my breathing was improving. After some months of treatments with the doctor, my posture was improving and I realized I hadn’t used my inhaler in a couple of weeks! This was huge for me because I was accustomed to using it at least a couple of times a week for as long as I could remember. This is when I realized becoming a chiropractor was my calling! I wanted to help others realize the amazing healing power of the body through chiropractic!

To this day I do not even own an inhaler! I workout and play many sports and have had not one single issue since the chiropractor helped me. I, of course, still get my maintenance adjustments to keep my spine healthy, but let me tell you, there is so much freedom when you don’t have to worry about having an asthma attack.

Get Involved

Do you suffer from asthma? Tell your story below about what you’ve experienced as a result of asthma!