Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jimmy Allgood.
Hi, Dr. Jimmy; we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I can still remember the billboard along Highway 183 in the back of my parent’s car on our way to a little league baseball game like it was yesterday, even though it was almost 30 years ago. I know you have seen a version of it yourself: “Car Accident? See Dr. Blank for pain relief.” This is the permanent image I have had of Chiropractic my entire life, and this is probably the first taste of Chiropractic you have also had. The truth is, yes, that version of Chiropractic works. It is great at getting people out of pain, but how? How does pushing on little spots along your back and neck help get you out of debilitating pain? To get this answer, let’s return to 6th-grade Jimmy on his way to a baseball game. It’s a tie game; runners are on 1st and 3rd, there are 2 outs, and the parents start cheering extra loud because, like them, we all know what’s at stake. The tournament championship is riding on the quality of pitching that I can provide. With their lead-off batter at the plate, I reared back and delivered a fastball (probably the only pitch I had) only to fall to the ground. The cheering from the parents is immediately replaced with a harmonic gasp among players, coaches, and parents. I lay on the ground motionless because it was such a shock that I could not feel my legs from the waist down, no movement, no feeling, no command. To this day, I still have no clue what happened or how it happened. What I do know is the life-altering event that happened next. Tyler’s dad stepped onto the field and said, “Let me look.” He was a Chiropractor in town, and that was all I knew about him. I studied his facial expressions as he felt my lower back with his hands as if scanning my spine for an anomaly. “Ah-ha!” he said with confidence. Still, to this day, I have no clue what he felt, but I am glad he did. He then proceeded to give me my first Chiropractic Adjustment. Dr. Blank informed my parents that he believed there was a bone in my hips/lower back that had over-rotated and had put tremendous pressure on the nerves as they exited the spine. This resulted in losing function and sensation in my lower extremities almost 100%. He said, “Let’s give it time to see if it improves. If it doesn’t show any signs of getting a little bit better by the end of the day, proceed to visit the emergency room or primary health care provider, depending on my condition.” My parents agreed to give it time before continuing with their freak-out. After about an hour, I noticed the sensation coming back into my toes, and it felt as if I could move them. Slowly, that feeling traveled up my legs and to my hips. About five to six hours later, I was walking, and yes, walking! So, let’s dissect that a little bit further:
Is Chiropractic really about pain?
At no point in that experience did I have pain. I had a loss of function, sensation, and a total freak-out. So, how did Dr Blank play a vital role in restoring this function and sensation? To understand this, we must understand the anatomy first. We know the brain controls every single function in the body, period. If you want to talk, it comes from your brain. If you’re going to move your pinky, yup, from the brain. Suppose your heart beats faster because your crush repeatedly walks up to your brain. Bee sting? The reaction of pulling away, the swelling, and the naughty words, after all, brain. It is not even an argument that it is the most important thing in the body. Equally as important is its avenue for communication—the spinal cord.
The Spinal Cord carries any information from the brain to its destination, whether organ, cell, muscle, tissue, or gland. The spinal cord also carries information back to the brain. This all happens ridiculously fast. Want me to prove it? While I don’t recommend it, try stepping on a nail. Within the blink of an eye, your foot is off the nail, and profanity follows. So, what happened?
You stepped on a nail, and a signal was sent to your brain about what damage had happened. The brain said, “Yowzers! Retreat!” It sends a signal down your spine through your neck, through your mid back, through your lower back, through your hip, past your knee, past your ankle, and into your foot. That signal immediately activates your hip flexor and foot to use every method possible to get your foot from that nail. This means you don’t have to think about lifting your leg and ankle simultaneously while experiencing pain. Your brain does that for you and very fast.
So, where does Chiropractic come in?
The spine’s bones can often become misaligned or “Subluxated” to slow that signal from the brain down. If the brain works at 100% and there is a subluxation in the neck, that signal can drop to 80% (we don’t know how much, but for this example, let’s say it -20%). Then, if we find another subluxation in the mid back, we are down to 60%. Another in the low back, you say? We are down to 40%. When that signal gets to the lower back, it’s just a trickle of information to and from the brain through the spine. What is crazy is these nerves don’t just control how you feel. They control the function of your digestive system; they control your heart, lungs, gall bladder, kidneys, life, and everything. So, imagine having digestive problems and low back pain and trying to chase two separate problems when there is a problem with your fuse box that supplies information on both issues. This is where Chiropractic comes in. My job as a Chiropractor is examining, analyzing, locating, and correcting Subluxations. In doing so, we allow the brain to communicate 100% of its information to the rest of the body so that you may live a better and higher quality of life. My job is not to pop your back, crack your neck, or massage your neck but rather to let you express your genetic potential. When you are in Subluxation, your body works how it was designed. It’s as simple as that. You don’t get headaches; you don’t get ear infections. (I’m looking at your toddlers!) You don’t have digestive problems, and you certainly don’t get allergies. I must admit that even I, the eventual Chiropractor, had no idea what it was. It’s not a billboard talking about pain relief from a car accident. Today, I serve the Steiner Ranch and surrounding areas, primarily focusing on restoring function to every person’s nervous system. I am one of the only certified prenatal and pediatric chiropractors in Austin. Yes, getting adjusted is safe and very beneficial for babies (even minutes after birth), toddlers, and pregnant moms. The research shows kids who get adjusted have a significantly stronger immune system and are said to require fewer sick visits to their pediatrician.
If you have any questions or are just curious about Chiropractic and if it can help serve you and your family, reach out to me! I’d love the opportunity to serve you.
-Jimmy Allgood D.C.
AllgoodChiropractic@gmail.com
512-276-2710
AllgoodChiro.com
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It always takes work. Every single day, I am confronted with, “Are you a real doctor?”, “Are you going to kill me?” Over the years, I have become very good at understanding they are coming from an actual and authentic place of concern. I have become great at meeting them where they are and building a foundation of education on what we do and are trying to accomplish.
Thanks for sharing that. Could you tell us more about your work?
We are a family chiropractic facility that focuses on spinal correction and care. Chiropractic and Dentistry are very similar. We know that if you don’t care for your teeth, they will eventually shift, hurt, decay, rot, or become irritated. This is the same for your spine. If you don’t give that spine some love, it will shift, degenerate, compress, or put pressure on nerves, and it doesn’t have to hurt for it to become a problem. The same is also true for your teeth. In fact, if you go to the dentist when your teeth hurt, you are likely behind the ball, and some extensive work usually needs to be done. The same is true in Chiropractic. If you go to the Chiro when you are in pain and have the mindset, “I’ve never needed a Chiro before because it’s never hurt,” then you are setting yourself up for failure. You certainly wouldn’t say, “I’ve never needed to go to the dentist because my teeth aren’t hurting.” You can also replace teeth. You are stuck with his spine for life, so you better take care of it! We base all of our care on X-rays, which we have in-house. We can analyze and correct the spine based on an X-ray! How cool is that? On the initial exam, we will take X-rays to get the spine’s foundation and starting point. We develop an action plan for correction (much like getting braces on your teeth). When we have made significant progress, we will take an updated set of X-rays to show you the progress and make any necessary changes moving forward. Once the correction has met its maximum potential, we keep it there. (Like wearing a retainer when braces come off!). Simple enough.
How do you define success?
I define success by the people and lives that I can serve. Money has no measure of success in my world. It is the miraculous stories of how someone was able to get pregnant after seeing a Chiropractor, or someone finally found relief from debilitating headaches after 10 years of agony, or new parents that haven’t slept in a week because their newborn won’t sleep or get comfortable and seeing the amazement when the child falls asleep in my arms after their first adjustment. That is success. Not how much money I have or what car I’m driving.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AllgoodChiro.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allgood_chiropractic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allgoodchiro
