The Science of Chiropractic

Chiropractic science recognizes the foundational role the nervous system plays in health. When there is interference in the communication between the brain and the body, we are not able to adapt to stress effectively. Finding, measuring, and helping the nervous system reorganize these areas of interference is the primary goal of chiropractic care.

This begins with movement. Areas of the spine that do not move normally do not move effectively. The energy bound in these areas can show up as muscle tension, stiffness, reduced range of motion, or pain. Movement, especially within the spine, is a vital nutrient for the brain.

Without free and integrated movement, the quantity and quality of information from the body to the brain is reduced. The picture the brain has to work with becomes less rich and detailed. Its ability to regulate normal baseline function in the organs is affected.

What follows is a change in tone. Tone is the energetic signature that all cells, tissues, and organs have. All muscles in the body must maintain tone in order for the body to work properly.

Beyond the “musculoskeletal” system, when we recognize that muscle tone determines the flow of blood and the release of hormones from every gland in the body, we can appreciate the physiological fact that the health of any part of the body is intimately connected to the state and tone of the nervous system.

Dysfunction, dis-ease, and disease are downstream effects of the insult and interference within and through the nervous system. Chiropractic calls this interference subluxation. The chiropractic adjustment is an invitation to help the nervous system re-member, and in so doing liberate the self-healing and self-organizing power of the body.

Diminishing Light

The word luxation refers to a joint that has been displaced. The Latin lūxus (“dislocated”) and the Greek loxós (“slanting”) both refer to something that is obviously and painfully not where it is supposed to be.

In chiropractic, our central focus is on something we call the subluxation. The misalignments that indicate biomechanic, neurologic, and energetic compromise to an area of the spine are, by definition, less than a luxation. Subluxations are an intelligent response of the nervous system experiencing stress beyond its capacity to integrate in the moment. This stress can be physical, chemical, mental, emotional, and/or environmental. Since the spine houses the central channel of communication between the brain and the body, the presence of subluxation indicates the brain and body are not effectively coordinating. The effect, which advances with time, is a diminishment of function, especially in the parts of the body that are directly and anatomically linked through the nerves that serve them.

What, you may ask, does this have to do with the shortest day of the year?* Simply this - in Latin lux also means “light.” Subluxation, more specifically (but less technically), represents where and how the central nervous system has dampened its light. Less light means less life. The purpose of the chiropractic adjustment, therefore, is to clear the neurologic interference to the expression of the light within.

May you find the space and time on this winter solstice to connect to your inner light, that wisdom within, for inner light warms night.

*This post was originally published on the winter solstice in the Mutter Chiropractic Newsletter.

Call It What It Is

I do not use the word treatment when talking about chiropractic. 

There are two reasons for this. The first is that it is the practice of medicine to diagnose and treat medical conditions. I am not a medical doctor. The second is that I understand a treatment to be a procedure one does in order to fix an ailment or condition. It might be therapeutic and it might even address the surface issue. There is nothing wrong or bad about treatments. They have a place and provide value to those who seek them.

By contrast, the chiropractic adjustment is a creative act. The adjustment allows the Innate Intelligence that communicates with and coordinates all spheres of the human experience to be unlocked, enticed, and reorganized. An adjustment is something that works co-creatively with the Resident intelligence of the body for the betterment of the individual and, by extension, all who will be affected by their greater connection to Source.

The clinical impact of the adjustment is profound. Since the chiropractic adjustment works directly with the mechanical and energetic integrity of the nervous system, it has the ability to affect any manifestation of dis-ease in the body or mind. This is what differentiates an adjustment from a treatment. The scope is far beyond the removal of an uncomfortable or undesired condition. To be clear - it can help with that, too.  An adjustment takes as its starting point the premise that the the body is a connected, continuous, self-healing, self-regulating, living organism. The adjustment, therefore, is delivered to integrate and enhance the expression of intelligence, health, wellness, and sanity in the physical form of the human being.

This is why I use the word adjustment.