What is Chiropractic?

To this day I will stand behind my opinion that our profession has done an awful job at educating people about chiropractic. Why? Because many in the profession don't really know what chiropractic is themselves.

When I go anywhere and someone asks me what I do, I'll respond that I'm a chiropractor and I always get the same response. They'll point to their neck and say "I have this pain right here." They've obviously been to a chiropractor and he/she has focused on their ache and pain, so I can't blame them for their response.

I blame our profession.

As a chiropractor who travels the country, I get to see many chiropractic offices and chiropractors. As a colleague, it pains me to lay down on another chiropractor's table only to be asked, "how are you feeling?"

If everyone walking into a chiropractic office is being asked how they're feeling, then what more could they possibly think chiropractic is?

And do you know WHY chiropractors ask people how they feel?

Insurance.

Our profession has stepped into the medical realm to provide services so they can receive insurance reimbursement. So to appease the insurance companies, they have to practice like a medical doctor...symptom based.

So if it's not about headaches, back pain, or how you're feeling, then what IS it about?

In a nutshell, chiropractic is the science, philosophy, and art of detecting and correcting vertebral subluxations to restore normal nervous system function and increase a person's life potential. It's an alternative health care profession that focuses on LIFE and how your brain and body connection works to express LIFE within you.

I like to use the example of the dimmer switch when I explain chiropractic to people I meet. The electric meter is the brain, the light bulb is the body, and the dimmer switch is the vertebra.

When the dimmer switch is turned up (properly positioned vertebra), the light in the room shines bright. The electricity from the meter (brain) is communicating at 100% with the bulb (body). When the dimmer switch is turned down halfway (subluxated vertebra), the light bulb (body) dims because there is interference along the pathway from the electric meter (brain) to the light bulb (body). When the switch is turned all the way down (chronically subluxated vertebra), there is darkness. The electricity from the meter (brain) is now failing to communicate with the light bulb (body) at all...0%.

What do you think would happen if the nerves that send signals from your brain to your heart were only communicating at 50%? You might have arrythmias, high blood pressure, or a whole host of other issues. You could be put on medication to band-aid those issues, but that does nothing for the root cause...the subluxation.

The brain controls every cell, tissue, and organ in your body. It does this by sending electrical signals from your brain to your body to regulate and coordinate all functions and aspects of your body.

These signals pass down the spinal cord and thru the nerves that pass out of your spinal column and go to every area of your body. If one of the bones of the spinal column moves out of proper position (what chiropractors call a vertebral subluxation), it can irritate the nerve that passes thru that area and cause a breakdown in the communication pathway from the brain to the body.

This process will cause poor function, sickness, and disease.

God designed our body to be self-healing and self-regulating to the constant stresses and demands that we place upon it; that is, we all have an innate (or inborn) intelligence within us that allows us to heal ourselves.

If there is interference in the communication pathways, then the body cannot accomplish this itself.

If the pathways are clear, we are able to heal and function at an optimum level.

Chiropractors check the vertebrae in the spine to find subluxations. This is a hands-on sensitivity that is learned over time.

If one or more subluxations are found, the chiropractor will then use his/her hands or an instrument and apply a specific force, speed, and torque to your spine moving the vertebrae closer to their normal position (this is a chiropractic adjustment).

As your body adapts to the changes, your communication pathways will become clear and your body will function at greater potential.

Every chiropractor is different and uses a technique that they have perfected to their liking. Just as two painters can paint the same object on a canvas using different mediums, chiropractors use different techniques to achieve the same goal: correcting vertebral subluxation.

Anyone with a spine.

Yep, you heard me right. EVERYONE!

Do you have a dentist? You see them for regular teeth cleanings and to make sure you don't have any issues that may indicate decay or disease, right?

Do you have an optometrist? You see them for regular eye exams and to make sure you don't have any underlying problems that could lead to eye issues, right?

Females: do you have a midwife or gynecologist? You see them for regular checkups to make sure you don't have any issues that may develop into problems in the future, right?

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Why is it that we have doctors we see for every other aspect of our health except our spinal health?

Everyone with a spine (yes, infants and children included) should have regular checkups with a trusted chiropractor.

You don't need to have anything wrong to have your spine checked for vertebral subluxations. Just get checked to be sure that your nervous system is working at 100%!