The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Dorland’s Medical Dictionary claims it is a state of wholeness where your body’s organs are functioning 100 percent of the time. Chiropractic, a distinct science, art and philosophy of health and healing, concerns itself with the relationship between the structure (mainly the spine) and the function (primarily coordinated by the nervous system) of the human body as that relationship affects the restoration and maintenance of health.

“Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the cause for many diseases.” ~ Hippocrates 460-377 BC

Since your brain and nervous system control the function of your cells, tissues and organs, it is important for the nervous system to operate at 100 percent for optimal health. Your spine protects your spinal cord; when a spinal bone shifts out of normal alignment, it may produce abnormal motion and damaging pressure on spinal nerves. If this vertebral subluxation condition is present, it may interrupt the vital nerve flow within your body. Doctors of chiropractic are the only doctors who are trained to correct subluxations by performing gentle spinal adjustments.

Research over the years has shown that correcting vertebral subluxations is effective in eliminating symptoms such as pain without the use of drugs or surgery; chiropractic care has also been shown to have profound effects in restoring health to the body. In fact, in the November 1921 issue of Medical Times, Henry Winsor, M.D., questioned the ability of chiropractic care to correct subluxations, remove nerve interference to the body’s organs and improve health and prevent disease. As part of an experiment, he dissected human and animal cadavers to see if there was a relationship between any diseased internal organs discovered on autopsy and the vertebrae and nerves that went to the organs.

In a three-study series permitted through the University of Pennsylvania, the doctor found a nearly 100 percent correlation between “minor curvatures” and vertebrae subluxations with diseases of the internal organs. For examples, he found that all 20 cases with heart and pericardium conditions and all 26 cases of lung disease had subluxations in the upper thoracic area T1 through T5. In all nine cases of stomach, 13 of liver, five of gallstone and three of pancreatic diseases had mid-thoracic subluxations from T5 to T9. All 17 cases of kidney disease had misalignments from T10 to 12, while the eight of prostate and bladder disease had L1-3 misalignments and the 2 uterine conditions had L2 issues.

Other researchers have confirmed Winsor’s discovery and chiropractic’s effectiveness on people of all ages, even newborns. A German medical doctor, G. Gutzman, examined more than 1,000 infants. He concluded in a paper published in 1987 in Manuelle Medizin that blocked nerve impulses at the atlas—the first vertebrae in the neck the sits under the skull—cause many clinical features from central motor impairment to lower resistance to infections, especially in the ear, nose and throat. Gutzman concluded that approximately 80 percent of all children have atlas subluxations. He further stated that “chiropractic and radiological examinations are of decisive importance for diagnosis of the syndrome.” Gutzman also mentioned that he was “constantly amazed how, even with the slightest adjustment with the index finger, the clinical picture normalizes, sometimes gradually, but often immediately.”

Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to boost the coordinated responses of the nervous system and immune system. In 1975, Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York’s Preventive Medicine Institute and professor in environmental health at New York University, began researching the most scientifically valid ways to estimate individual susceptibility to various chronic diseases. He has conducted a tremendous amount of research in this area that includes over 160 published reports in peer-reviewed journals.

Pero was fascinated by the relationship cancer-inducing agents had on the endocrine system. Since the nervous system regulates hormone balance, he hypothesized that the nervous system had to also have a strong influence on one’s susceptibility to cancer. To support this argument he found a substantial amount of literature linking various kinds of spinal cord injuries and cancer. Pero found that these injuries led to a very high rate of lymphomas and lymphatic leukemias. This understanding led Pero to consider chiropractic care as a means of reducing the risk of immune breakdown and the onset of disease.

Pero’s team measured 107 individuals who had received long-term chiropractic care. The chiropractic patients were shown to have a 200 percent greater immune competence than people who had not received chiropractic care. In addition, they had a 400 percent greater immune competence than people with cancer or serious diseases. Interestingly, Pero found no decline with the various age groups in the study demonstrating that the DNA-repairing enzymes were just as present in long-term chiropractic senior groups as they were in the younger groups. “Chiropractic may optimize whatever genetic abilities you have so that you can fully resist serious disease...I have never seen a group other than this show a 200 percent increase over normal patients,” he concluded.

Doctors of chiropractic are not only interested in treating your spinal symptoms but they are also concerned with your overall health and wellness. They distinguish between dis-ease in the body and disease under the hypothesis that the body was malfunctioning (dis-ease) long before the disease was diagnosed. Their work is focused on restoring normal function proactively rather than waiting to treat the disease.

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of  the human frame,
in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” ~Thomas A. Edison

Mark Joachim, DC, FIAMA, can be reached at 203-838-1555. Associates in Family Chiropractic and Natural Health Care P.C. is located at 156 East Ave, Norwalk. See ad, page 13.