What Is Chiropractic?

Many people experience chiropractic as a natural drug-free way to get healthy. For example, a little boy who no longer suffers from ear infections may tell you: "Chiropractic is for my ears." A young woman may tell you: "Chiropractic is for menstrual problems." Others may tell you that chiropractic is for digestive problems, asthma, back or neck pain, colds, headache, sciatica, neurological problems, colic, bed-wetting and many more conditions to which the flesh is heir.

But it won't be only talk of disease. People also visit their chiropractor for more energy, for improved sports performance, for feeling more alive, for better resistance to disease and to help ensure drug-free lives for themselves and their families.

So, what do chiropractors do? Chiropractors remove a serious interference in your life and health - vertebral subluxations - which prevent you from functioning at your best. Free of vertebral subluxations, you are more balanced with less stress on your nervous system and body structure. Free of vertebral subluxations, you can better tune in to your inner resources of life, health and healing.

Though the chiropractic profession celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1995, various forms of spinal manipulation have actually been practiced for thousands of years. The earliest mention of manipulation as a healing procedure is in the ancient Chinese manuscript, Kong-Fou, said to have been written about 2700 B.C. The Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetans in the Far East, the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Babylonians, Syrians, and Hindus of the Middle East, as well as the Aztecs and Incas of Central and South America, all practiced spinal adjustment.

On September 18, 1885, Daniel David Palmer, in a now famous incident, gave birth to modern chiropractic. Harvey Lillard, a maintenance man, related Palmer that he had lost his hearing 17 years earlier when he had heard something "pop" while working in a twisted position. Palmer examined him and located a vertebra that was apparently displaced. Using the spinous process of the vertebra as a lever, he repositioned the bone into its proper place. Lillard's hearing improved immediately, and within a week had almost fully returned. Palmer went on to develop his new discovery which he named chiropractic.

The word "chiropractic" comes from the Greek words "cheir" (hand) and "praktos" (to do, use); literally translated into "to do by hand." "I am not the first person to replace subluxated vertebrae, for this act has been practiced for thousands of years," said Palmer. "I do claim, however, to be the first to replace displaced vertebrae by using the spinous and transverse process wherewith to rack subluxated vertebrae into normal position, and from this basic fact, to create a science which is destined to revolutionize the theory and practice of the healing art." Soon thereafter, D.D. Palmer's son, Dr. B.J. Palmer took over the research and development of the practice of chiropractic, and spent his entire life studying and analyzing the spine in search for the cause of dis-ease. He rationalized that nerves control the entire body, and that the 24 movable bones of the spine exist to protect the spinal cord from damage, and that the misalignment of these bones could cause dis-ease.

The human spine consists of 24 moveable vertebrae, the sacrum and the coccyx. Although they are individual vertebrae, the spine functions as one organ, upon which the structure is dependent for support and movement.

The cushions between the vertebrae are called discs. Discs help absorb shock, reduce friction, and facilitate movement.

There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves that extend down the spine from the brain, and exit through openings in between the vertebrae. From the spine, these nerves form the very complex network which influences every cell, organ, and system in your body.

Falls, accidents, poor sleeping positions, bad posture, junk food, chronic anxiety, emotional stress, overworking, sitting for hours, drug use, emotional shock, poor diet, little or no exercise, and childhood traumas such as a difficult birth, falling off of a bicycle etc. can result in minor displacements, or subluxations of one or more of these vertebrae, causing irritation to spinal nerve roots either directly or indirectly.

Chiropractic teaches that this spinal nerve root irritation or pressure, in the form of the vertebral subluxation complex, may cause malfunction in your body. This malfunction can ultimately lead to a state of dis-ease within the body, causing it to function at a less than optimal capacity. For some people this may cause symptoms like chronic headaches, and for many others, there may be no symptoms.

Regardless, you should be sure to have your spine checked for subluxations. Chiropractors are the only trained health professionals who specialize in the detection and correction of the vertebral subluxation complex.