For a long time, many people thought chiropractors only helped patients with bad backs. What they didn’t realize was that the nerves traveling down the spinal column go to every organ and cell in the entire body.
When a spinal bone (vertebra) is out of alignment, it can interfere with the normal flow of life energy through nearby nerves. If the affected nerve happens to be carrying a message to the liver, the function of the liver can be altered. If the nerve is taking instructions from the brain to the heart, that organ’s function may be upset.
The fact is, the health of every part of the body depends on the proper flow of nerve energy. If that normal flow is interrupted or interfered with, the result is dis-ease. Some part of the body will not be able to function at peak performance. Chiropractors locate misalignments in the body's nervous system, called subluxations. They use adjustments to correct these subluxations. The nerve energy can resume its normal flow. Only then can the body continue its natural effort to maintain optimum health.
When the flow of nerve energy is restored, the body is often able to heal itself. Only the body’s wisdom itself can do that. When these people went to a chiropractor, the actual cause of the problem -- the interference -- was corrected. Their bodies were able to work properly and regain their healthy balance.
But chiropractic didn’t cure them. In fact, it’s important to understand that chiropractors don’t treat illness. They locate and aid in correcting subluxations in order to help restore the normal flow of life energy throughout the body. After the interference is eliminated, the body’s own healing power takes over.
Just as dis-ease is caused by interference in the normal flow of energy, health depends on having a normal flow of energy.
Who needs chiropractic? Think of it this way: Who needs to learn to feel and direct a normal flow of life energy in their body? People who have headaches or back pain or any other kind of illness need chiropractic. So do people who have liver problems or arthritis. So do people who feel great!
In other words, everyone needs to learn to adapt their bodies and remain free from subluxations. Everyone needs to be able to function at peak performance, so that the body can adapt to it’s environment, both internal and external. Biologists call this dynamic process homeostasis. This ability to adapt remains central to the body’s ability to maintain its health and sustain life. Every vital life sustaining process, whether it’s digesting our dinner or responding to potential infection, depends on the integrity of this communication network between the brain and the body.
Health, then, is truly an inside-out phenomenon. Most therapeutic interventions are designed to speed up or slow down function. The chiropractic goal is to normalize function. By correcting subluxations, the chiropractor removes a significant impediment to nature’s inborn ability to heal.