By Dr. Steve Booth D.C.
In order to understand how chiropractic
works, you must first understand how your body works.
Do you know what controls all of
the activities within your body?
How does your heart beat? How does your
stomach digest food? How do your lungs turn oxygen into carbon
dioxide? How does your body create new cells? What's
making all this happen?
The Nervous System
The nervous system is the master control
system of the body. In the Gray's Anatomy textbook it says, "The
nervous system controls and coordinates all organs and
structures of the human body." The nervous system is
made up of the brain, spinal cord, and all of the nerves that
travel throughout the body. The brain acts like the
central computer. It's the control center that gives your body
instructions of what to do.
For your body to be healthy and work
properly, your brain has to be able to communicate with the rest
of the body without any problems. Your brain
communicates with your body through the nerves. Think of the
nerves as the communication lines between the brain and the rest
of the body. As long as your brain can send
information to your body via these nerves without any problems,
your body will operate and function normally.
However, if there is anything interfering
with the brain's ability to communicate with the body, or the
body's ability to communicate with the brain, then there's going
to be a problem. In other words, if something
interferes with the nerve pathways from the brain to the body,
then the body will start to malfunction. There will be
consequences. Your organs, tissues, and structures will become
unhealthy and with enough time you will develop pain, symptoms,
or other serious health problems.
Let me give you an example.
Do you know who Christopher Reeve is? Christopher
Reeve was the actor who played Superman in the movies.
Unfortunately he suffered a great tragedy while doing a hobby he
loved...riding horses. In May of 1995, it was during
the cross-country portion of such an event in Culpeper,
Virginia, that Reeve's Thoroughbred, Eastern Express, balked at
a rail jump, pitching his rider forward. Reeve's hands were
tangled in the horse's bridle and he landed head first,
fracturing the uppermost vertebrae in his neck.
The injury to his spine had caused so
much trauma to the spinal cord and spinal nerves that he
instantly became paralyzed. Later, the doctors determined that
Reeve's brain was working perfectly...it just wasn't able to
send information to or receive information from the rest of the
body because of the damage to the spinal cord.
Do you see what happens when the brain is
unable to communicate with the rest of the body? I've shown you
that if the nerve pathway is damaged badly enough it can cause
paralysis, but what else can it cause? When adults
have nerve interference, it can cause back pain, neck pain,
headaches, stomach trouble, fatigue, depression, muscle spasm
and tension, numbness, tingling, loss of strength, loss of
flexibility, and the list goes on. It can cause hundreds of
symptoms and areas of malfunction in the body.
In kids when there's a problem with the
nerve pathways it can cause ear infections, colic, bedwetting,
reflux, fatigue, and pain to name a few. As soon as
there's interference to the nerve "communication" pathways, the
body will malfunction.
It's important that you know that you
could feel great and not even be aware that your body is
malfunctioning. Almost every disease or health problem in the
body always starts off painless. There are people
who have been given a clean bill of health at the doctor's
office and have died of a fatal heart attack a week later.
Malfunction in the body starts off
painless. Don't assume that just because you feel good you or a
loved one doesn't have interference to your nerve system. After
all, cavities start out painless. Cancer starts out painless.
Spinal problems start out painless.
So How Does Chiropractic Work?
The goal of chiropractic care is to
restore health to the spine, muscles, and nervous system.
If your spine is causing interference to your nervous system,
your body will immediately start to malfunction.
It's important to keep your spine as
healthy as possible because any irritation or interference to
your spinal cord or spinal nerves will negatively affect your
health.
