MINOT, N.D. (KXNET) — When you’re dealing with back pain, your first thought is usually to go to the chiropractor, but there’s a lot more that they do than just take away the pain.

Aaron Esquibel is a chiropractor at Apex Chiropractic, and he says that chiropractic care is trying to restore a body’s ability to function the way it’s supposed to through biomechanics or motion dysfunction.

It’s a focus on healthcare from the inside-out perspective that looks to maintain proper biomechanics so that there isn’t any premature wear and tear on the body.

“We also strive to help people function better than they’re used to because we’ve accepted a standard of living that’s sub-par,” Esquibel said.

People will typically go in for a secondary condition like a headache or back pain, and then they’re put through an objective exam that gives the viewpoint of what’s going on with the body and where it deviates from the “normal” spectrum.

The first thing people notice is that things don’t hurt as bad or there isn’t any pain, but Esquibel wants to focus on the improved function for everything.

“We don’t realize that because we are semi-dysfunctional in the way that our body moves, that there’s this whole other level of what we can do and what our bodies are capable of doing without hurting,” he said.

When you are in pain, you don’t think properly, you don’t want to sit and focus on what you’re doing because you’re struggling to just survive through the day. Or when the body is stressed, it’s stressed and it doesn’t know the difference between an injury or something going on in life. But if one of those stresses can be removed, the body can calm down and assess the situation better.

“When you’re injured, you’re grumpy, right? You have a much higher capacity to handle things when you’re feeling good,” Esquibel added.

He said one benefit of practicing in Minot is that it’s a small town, masquerading as a big town. There are a lot of people here and he gets the opportunity to really make an impact in the community that you typically wouldn’t get to do in a larger place.