"Look well to the spine for the cause of disease." -Hippocrates

Thursday, November 5, 2009

What is Chiropractic?

After a long hiatus, I am back blogging and will be discussing various aspects of chiropractic over the next few weeks. I have already posted a few times discussing chiropractic and complementary health topics, but I have decided to take a slightly different approach this time. This post will be about the general premise and theory behind chiropractic. I figured it was about time I put the horse back in FRONT of the cart! So you might ask, what exactly IS chiropractic? Well I am glad you asked!

Chiropractic is a form of natural health care that involves the bones of the back, which are called vertebra (plural: vertebrae), the nervous system, and the body! Chiropractors believe that the nervous system is the master controller of the body. Grays Anatomy, which is considered an authority in all things anatomy related, says that "it is the mechanism concerned with the correlation and integration of various bodily processes and the reactions and adjustments of the organism to its environment". Therefore, if the nervous system isn't functioning properly, then the body isn't functioning properly.

There are a lot of things that can cause the nervous system to not function properly, including a large number of neurological diseases like Parkinson's, Cerebral Palsy and strokes to name a few, but chiropractic theory states that another cause of nervous system mal-function is a subluxation.

A subluxation is a bone that is out of its proper position, and can occur anywhere in the body. Chiropractors are primarily concerned with subluxations of the spine, because when the bones of the spine are not in their proper position, it causes the tissues surrounding the joints of the spine can become inflamed, similar to when you sprain your ankle or get tennis elbow. Inflammation occurs when you have an injury and your body produces a variety of chemicals designed to address the injury and prevent injury. The nerves that supply every part of your body leave the protection of your spine through a hole formed between each bone of the back. These chemicals act upon the nervous system and the nerves exiting the spine and alter it's function which alters the overall function of the body.

A chiropractic adjustment is intended to restore the normal position of the subluxated bones of the back, and therefore help to return the nervous system to its normal function and affect the overall health and wellness of the patient through this restoration of nervous system function. This is the basic premise behind chiropractic philosophy and chiropractic wellness-care.

I want to point out that I used the word theory frequently. This is not because the chiropractic theory is not true, it is because the research to back the theory has not been completed. A great deal of research is under way to help us understand the theory, but research takes a large amount of time, money and multiple studies to research just one aspect of a theory. When Newton originally suggested gravity it was a theory, and one that was not well accepted at the time. But given enough time, more evidence was gained to support the theory, which is occurring in the chiropractic profession.

Now you have been exposed to the basic premise behind chiropractic and the chiropractic adjustment! Congratulations! Over the next few weeks I will be breaking this down more and discussing specific aspects of chiropractic care and the nervous system! Please feel free to ask any questions you have or any areas that you want explained in more detail.