To fully benefit from the exciting potential of chiropractic care, we must first understand the philosophy behind the science. Chiropractic is a profession that has been utilized for over a hundred years. The foundation of chiropractic is based on the belief that we are created to be well…to thrive in our environments…all by ourselves.
We know that our bodies are self-healing and self-regulating, without the use of drugs or surgery. How does a newborn baby, minutes old, know to latch on to mom for nutrients to live? How does your body know to form a scab over a cut? Did you consciously tell your body to form a clot in an attempt to stop from bleeding to death? When you are cold, do you tell every muscle in your body to contract really fast (shiver) to increase your core body temperature for survival? There are so many amazing examples of your bodies own natural intelligence, but what controls it all?...the nervous system! It is made up of the brain, the spinal cord, and all the nerves that leave the spinal cord and travel to other organs, tissues, and systems of the body. Everything that your body does or that happens in your body in a day is controlled by the nervous system including your emotions, heartbeat, digestion, coordination, sleeping, walking, immune function, etc.
The most important system in your body needs an equally important housing which is called your spine. The spine is made up of individual vertebrae that allow both the spinal cord to run through the middle and the nerves to run out the sides. When the vertebrae are aligned, the spinal cord and nerves are free from any interference, allowing the important messages to relay more efficiently from the brain and back. When a vertebrae is subluxated, “out of alignment”, the nerves can not relay messages as effectively or efficiently as they are made to do. In the short term, this results in symptoms like coughs, headaches, pain, numbness, loss of mobility. Down the road, these interfering subluxations can lead to more serious problems of dis-ease. It is our duty as chiropractors to also let you know that so much more happens before you even feel or notice the signs/symptoms of subluxations. Changes at the cellular level are taking effect when the nervous system is not functioning properly. For example, does arthritis and the pain that goes with it, just show up one day? Or is it a process that is taking place slowly, over time without the slightest clue that our bodies are changing? Chiropractors find and treat the source of problems by correcting spinal mis-alignments.
But if we are made to be well and thrive, then why do so many people suffer from dis-ease? There are three stressors, in our everyday lives, that influence our body and alter this natural state of well-being…. 1) chemical (foods, drugs, heavy metals, alcohol, caffeine, toxic fumes, skin and hair products, etc…) 2) physical (injuries in sports, falls, heavy lifting, sitting at a desk all day, posture changes in pregnancy, etc.) and 3) emotional (money, work, death in the family, time schedules, lack of sleep, etc…) Chiropractors seek to treat the cause of dis-ease by limiting the stresses that affect our health, weather it be chemical, physical or emotional stress.
A person can live a month without eating, days without water, minutes without a heartbeat, but not one second without a nervous system. To truly LIVE WELL...to live long, active, lives with those who matter most, we must take care of ourselves today.
