Keep the Power On

The human body is a marvelous thing. It performs an myriad of heroic feats every day, around the clock, unconsciously and perfectly when allowed to do so. It grows, repairs and replaces its cells constantly. It maintains homeostasis (constant conditions within the body) in diverse and changing environments, responds to stimuli appropriately, adapts to ensure survival, and perhaps most incredibly, reproduces new life when in union with another. So why is it that so many people suffer discomfort, disease, and despair when the human body is designed to maintain itself perfectly?

Every one of the more than 50 trillion cells of the human body has a specific purpose within the grand symphony of the body's interdependent neural, endocrine, visceral, cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal systems. Every cell in every tissue in every part of the body depends on information transmitted via electrical signals called action potentials to direct them, directly from nerves or through complex "second messenger" pathways involving various chains of molecules that trigger specific responses from tissue cells to "carry out the orders" that originated from action potentials in nerves that trace their origin from the brain.

Every movement that you make requires precise and sufficient numbers of action potentials to excite muscle fibers, while inhibiting others and recruiting muscles of your hips, trunk and neck for body balance, eye coordination and preparation for the next movement. The frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex  sends instructions for voluntary movement on a circuitous route by shooting action potentials to other centers of the brain for integration and coordination, then down the spinal cord and out to your hands or feet through increasingly smaller and more specific nerves, with increasingly more specific tasks but generally falling into the categories of initiating movement, perceiving sensations, or promoting the "fight or flight" reflexes. The same basic concept applies to  every organ system as well, and it has been pretty well mapped out by anatomists as to which muscle, joint, organ, or area of skin is supplied by which exact nerve or combination of nerves, which all trace their origin to the spinal nerves that branch off of the spinal cord, which lives in and is protected by the bones of your spine, or vertebrae. 

If at this point you are thinking, "Great, but who cares?" consider this: What happens if these signals, these action potentials fail to reach the liver? The colon? The uterus? And for a long time? What happens if action potentials are altered on their way to the hand, foot, mouth, or otherwise? What happens if action potentials carrying sensory information back to brain are altered, interrupted, or blocked? Quite obviously one cannot definitively deduce every possible outcome, but what can be concluded is that a change will occur. A change that moves the body away from normal, away from homeostasis, and away from health.

The human brain floats in a nutritious, weight-reducing bath of "cerebrospinal fluid" and is encased in the skull by various layers of tough tissue, and this arrangement follows the spinal cord as it descends to your lower back in the middle of this wonderful spinal canal protected on all sides by a strong yet flexible column of wonderfully shaped bones called vertebrae, and aside from traumatic injuries, this arrangement tends to work quite nicely. However, when spinal nerves branch off that big beautiful cord, things can get a little tricky as they weave through narrow spaces between adjacent vertebrae as they exit, and with less protection enter tissues full of obstacles. On top of this, systemic or local inflammation can physically or chemically alter their function and ability to transmit information to the body from the brain, or from the body to the brain. After an extensive amount of time under such conditions, nerves may wither or die off, wreaking havoc on the body. An interruption or interference with nerve flow due to pressure from misaligned vertebrae or swollen tissues is called a subluxation, and can result from a variety of daily stressors, physical, mental, or chemical. 

If you are still reading and feeling discouraged, don't be, because untold millions of people, for over 120 years, have already benefited from an affordable, effective, and safe approach to maintaining a healthy nervous system and body, with sometime miraculous results. I'm sure you already know what its called, and thats why you're here. Its called Chiropractic, and simply put- is the art, science and philosophy of finding and removing subluxations, and allowing the body to heal itself.