What is Chiropractic?

An explanation of what chiropractic care is all about

The healthcare field in the United States is also the most utilized “alternative” healthcare approach.  Chiropractors seek out the cause of dis-ease (ill health) and attempt to restore the body’s inborn ability to heal itself.  It is this simple tenet upon which chiropractic is founded: in each of us exists the best doctors, and when the body is functioning properly, they can work to the fullest potential.

Controlling the body’s ability to heal itself is the nervous system; it literally controls every function you can imagine in your body.  The nervous system comprises the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.  You can think of the brain as where messages are made and given and the spinal cord and nerves as the relay stations. During this relay of messages, the spinal cord is given lots of protection via the bony spine, made up of moveable links called vertebrae.  Unfortunately for us and those messages, the nerves do not have any real hard or bony protection.  This is because the nerves exit the protection of the spine through small holes made up of the interlocking of the

vertebrae.  These holes, or foramen as they are called, can become smaller in size and literally choke off the messages from the brain by pinching on the nerves.  This happens when one of the vertebrae in the spine moves out of its normal position and becomes stuck.  This is called a subluxation.

A chiropractor’s job is to locate these misaligned bones, which are placing pressure on delicate nerve tissue. Once found, the chiropractor will manually correct the misalignment through an adjustment and thus restore the nerve function.  When the nerve function is restored, the body can allow the messages to get through properly to the various muscles, organs, and tissues to self-heal.  The reduction of subluxations and the restoration of nerve function can result in a myriad of changes in the body. This is why chiropractic is a long history of helping patients not only get relief from their pain but also improve health and relief from numerous conditions that, at first glance, seem unrelated to the spine.