Chiropractic care has been around since 1895. It began in Davenport,Iowa by a man called D.D. Palmer. Up until this point he was known as a magnetic healer. Sounds spooky but this is what a magnetic healer does bu today’s definition. Magnetic healing is using high vibrational energy through the trained practitioner’s hands to facilitate healing of the auric field and physical body. This what Hippocrates had to say, “The heat which oozes out of the hand, on being applied to the sick, is highly salutary. It has often appeared while I have been thus soothing my patient, as if there were a singular property in my hands to pull and draw away from the affected parts, aches and diverse impurities, by laying my hand upon the place, and by extending my fingers towards it. Thus it is known to some of the learned that health may be implanted in the sick by certain gestures, and by contact, as some diseases may be communicated from one to another.” So if Hippocrates said it it must be true. It has it’s place in healing. There are many detractors of chiropractic who like to point to magnetic healing as nothing more than a shamanic trick with no therapeutic value. Why don’t we allow Hippocrates decide.
D.D.Palmer discovered that nerve interference blocks the body’s ability to heal. He felt that by removing the blockage caused by a misaligned spinal bone you could restore health to the areas the nerve goes to. He called the misaligned vertebra a subluxation. You would be hard pressed to find a medical professional to recognize the importance of finding and treating subluxation. My purpose is to appeal to your better sense of judgement as to the validity of chiropractic care.
You have this wonderful piece of engineering marvel called the human body. The axial skeleton in the framework surrounded by complex connective tissue that help support and move the framework. The control of the human body originates in the brain and is aided by neurotransmitters that act as the brain’s middle managers seeing that the work is done on the cellular level. Amazing to say the least until something goes wrong. When the brain loses the ability to communicate with a body part all hell breaks loose. You have the hens running the hen house, this is not good. The brain needs to be in charge at all time. When the wires get crossed you have a problem.
How does this tie into chiropractic? The spine is like a fuse box. When a fuse blows electricity cannot go through the box. You have to either replace the fuse or flip the circuit breaker to get the power back on. when you have a subluxation it is like having the fuse is blown in your house. This time it is the body and not your home that has the problem. So if the nerve that exits your spine has a subluxated bone on it the nerve will not work properly. That is until you remove the blockage causing the nerve interference.
What does all this mean to you. Primarily , it means that if you have a subluxated bone you will have pain and dysfunction around the area where the subluxation exists.This may not sound scientific enough for you but I would hope that it appeals to your sense of logic. The chiropractor’s job is to find subluxations and remove them. By doing so we restore the brain’s ability to communicate and take away the pain the subluxation causes.
Why do most medical professionals fail to see the benefit? The reason as I see it because they are taught by older doctors who were taught by older doctors themselves. If you went to medical school in 1980 your professor would have gone to medical school in the 50’s. How old was the doctor teaching him or her? So in a few generations ignorance begets more ignorance. If chiropractor did not serve a purpose why would we still be in business? The market does not tolerate inefficiencies. Therefore if the service we provide was not important enough it would all but disappear. Do you see many stores selling horse and buggy whips?
My explanation may seem nonsensical to you. What you need to know is that chiropractors can do a lot for helping improve the human condition. By addressing the physical manifestation of vertebral subluxations we can reduce pain. The enlightened chiropractor can then treat the soft tissue element that accompanies the subluxation. The brain can be restored to it’s higher level functioning running the show. Conceptually this is not hard to understand. What I do not understand is why the medical profession refuses to recognize the role chiropractors play in helping people feel their best.
The role of chiropractic is not to supplant physical therapy, the preferred provider for medical professionals to refer their musculo skeletal cases to. Our goal is restore the bodies own innate ability to heal. When we address the subluxation the body can get out of it’s own way to allow for optimal healing. Paying attention to the soft tissue as well as the subluxation we are able to deliver results on a higher level then our physical therapist friends. This is not a diatribe against physical therapy. They are hard working professionals who do an excellent job help patients.
The next time you are sitting in your medical doctor’s office waiting for advice on your lower back pain think twice. Does this doctor really know anything about a bad back? He sure knows about diabetes and high blood pressure but he has very little knowledge about the spine. Your chiropractor is the expert when it comes to your spine and fixing subluxations. By now you know what a subluxation is and that chiropractors are the perfect choice in fixing your spinal related problems. Ask your M.D. what s a subluxation? Now you can tell him.
