Imagine a patient walks in to the chiropractor’s office and says to the doctor, “I threw my back out. I don’t know if it’s a bone out of place, a pinched nerve or a muscle strain.”

In the past, I worked as a trash collector in Cherry Hill for nine months and I have seen a lot of things thrown out in the trash. I’ve never seen a backbone thrown out in the trash!  People really don’t throw their backs out; their backs tend to grow out of place.

When a chiropractor does an examination and finds that you are in a state of subluxation, he means that there is dysfunction in the bone, the nerves, and the muscle. So let’s discuss a few different definitions of subluxation.

We’ll start with the medical definition, which is the most limited. In Western medical terminology, subluxation means a partial dislocation of the joint; it’s not totally popped off track, but it’s a little bit out of place. Although Western medicine recognizes that there is a misalignment, it doesn’t seem to address all the consequences of that misalignment.

In chiropractic, historically, we’ve defined subluxation mechanically and physically as a vertebra’s loss of juxtaposition with its neighbor above or below. This loss of alignment means that the hole the spinal nerve comes through is closed off a little bit, so that the nerve is either choked or chafed to the point where it’s not functioning properly and the body starts to break apart.

An updated version of the subluxation model is the vertebral subluxation complex, which is a 5 component model based on science that’s been around for a long time. Over 500 scientific papers are devoted to defining this complex. The five components are:

1. Spinal Kinesiopathology: First, the spine isn’t moving right; it’s either stuck and can’t move the way it’s supposed to or it’s hypermobile and it moves too much.

2. Neuropathology: Second, when the spine isn’t moving properly, it means that the spinal nerve is impinged upon to the point where the brain and body are not communicating properly. In other words, there is a partial disconnect between brain and body.

3. Myopathology: Third, obstructed nerves cause abnormal function in the spinal muscles, so that they are either working too much and are in a state of spasm or hypertonicity or they are working too little and are partially paralyzed. Since their physiology is affected, some permanent scar tissue will appear within the muscle and we have a sick muscle.

4. Histopathology: Sick muscles lead to sick joints because, like the muscles, they are either not moving enough or they are moving too much. Over time, the bones actually start to remodel themselves to fit the misalignment of the spine. What we have now is the body trying to heal itself, but because the bones, nerves and muscles are off-kilter, it goes about it in a destructive way.

5. Pathology: When nerves stop functioning properly and the nerve energy can’t reach organs such as the heart, lung or stomach, then those organs get sick too and we start to see the symptoms of disease. So when a chiropractor adjusts you, the problems in the bones, nerves, muscles and organs will begin to resolve simultaneously.

A more evolved way of looking at subluxation includes the concept of the life energy field.  From this perspective, you are more than just your physical body; there is also the energy field that makes your body go. So technically, subluxation (literally “less light”) is a diminished expression of life energy.

What causes a diminished expression of life energy?  When you encounter stress, which is anything that causes your body to change, you are essentially encountering physical, chemical and emotional energy and information. If your body is overwhelmed and not capable of immediately processing this information and energy, it stores it, first in the nerve tissue and then in the muscles, bones and organs for later retrieval. It’s the body’s way of saying, “I can’t read all this mail right now, but I’m going to hold on to it and I’ll read and process it later.”

Holding on to this unexpressed information over the long term amounts to a biological hazard! What a chiropractic adjustment does, then, is release the energy and information so that the brain can process it and the body can learn from it and heal and grow.

To wrap it up, subluxation is the thing that people go to chiropractors for. Whether they realize it or not, it’s the one thing that chiropractors are trained and licensed to address. It’s something that no other profession is dedicated to addressing, even though everybody has some degree of it and we would all be better off without it.

To fully answer this question, we first need to define health and then discuss how the expression of life energy (what chiropractors call innate intelligence) affects your health. I am then going to describe how subluxation impacts the expression of life energy and tie it all together by explaining how chiropractic care works to maximize this expression.

Chiropractors define health as normal function and the ability to adapt constructively to most of the stresses you face each day. Stress is anything that causes your body to change and since the body is always changing, the net outcome at the end of the day is that all your cells are either a little more organized or a little less organized. So, if they are working in a more and more organized fashion, you are more whole so you naturally deal better with stress.

So how do you get stronger or more whole? You have to have nerve system integrity, which is just another way of saying that the brain and the cells have to be connected properly through the nerve system so that the brain can monitor the cells, monitor the environment and direct the cells to respond in an intelligent way.

But, for all this to happen, the nerve system has to be…alive. We are alive because we have innate intelligence or life energy. This energy is present in every living thing and it is what differentiates living matter from non-living matter. Both forms of matter are organized by some kind of intelligence in the universe, but there is a subset of this intelligence you can call innate intelligence or life energy that is present in every living thing. Being alive, then, is not a chemical phenomenon; it’s a function of the life energy that’s expressing itself into your body.

So how does subluxation affect the expression of life energy? Subluxation literally means less life energy. Subluxation occurs on two major levels. In the physical realm, subluxation means that the vertebrae have lost their normal alignment to the degree that they impinge upon spinal nerves. This causes accelerated aging locally in the spine and globally in the body. In the metaphysical realm, it literally means less light. Because life energy holds the body together, when there is less of it, the body breaks apart. You become less able to adapt constructively to stress. Body functions start to break down and eventually we start to see symptoms and diseases. Diseases are not entities; they are simply specific cell, tissue, organ and system derangements caused by subluxation/lack of life.

So where does chiropractic fit into the story? Well, when the body experiences an overwhelming amount of stress, the spinal column stops moving properly or subluxates. Spinal or vertebral subluxation is a serious health problem that only chiropractors are properly trained and licensed to address. Chiropractic care is about getting the spine moving properly again to allow the nerve system to work better. A better working nerve system expresses more life energy and it tells all the cells what their responsibilities are to each other. A properly functioning nerve system allows you to adapt better and better to stress, so that you get stronger and healthier every day, every week, every month, every year and throughout the rest of your life.

Ultimately, chiropractic is about allowing more life energy to show up in your body, which is a major and indespensible cause of better health!

On a very basic level, life energy is the energy that is present in living things and absent from nonliving things. Bodily functions occur because life energy drives those processes, not because of interactions between the chemicals that compose it.

A light bulb provides a good analogy. We can study all the parts of the light bulb, but we can’t really understand how it works until we add in the energy that makes the bulb light up. Just as there are dimmer switches for light bulbs, there is a dimmer switch for our life energy.

The dimmer switch in our body is the backbone. Life energy enters, accesses or communicates with the body over the nerve system, a big part of which is housed in the spinal column. So if the spine isn’t functioning properly, if stress has caused it lose its normal alignment or function, it’s going to put stress or strain on the nerve system and some of the life energy isn’t going to get through to tissues and the body will begin to break apart.

Life energy isn’t just a metaphysical or mystical concept. It also has a scientific basis. In the 1980s, Robert Becker, one of the first scientists to talk about this concept, wrote a book called The Body Electric. He was trying to discover why salamanders and frogs can grow their limbs back while humans can’t. He found that the energy fields of the animals were enabling them to grow their parts back.  At present, humans don’t do it probably because our field isn’t big or strong enough relative to our size. Or that something is blocking the expression of the field into the body.

Other scientists have also talked about energy fields and magnets are a great illustration of that. If you’ve ever played with a pair of magnets, you can feel the electromagnetic forces pushing and pulling depending on how you’ve positioned the magnets. If you cover them with a piece of paper and throw a handful of iron filings on them, the particles will align themselves according to the shape of the field.  So if we change the field, we change the arrangement of the particles.

Western medicine works with the parts without respect to the power that aligns them. Is this why medicine has become the leading cause of preventable death in America? 780,000 deaths occur each year because of the mistaken belief that we can change the parts more effectively than the inborn intelligent field which causes their natural, normal function.

So, how does chiropractic work in this whole thing? Chiropractors have always known that if a spinal bone is misaligned it interferes with the function of nerves and the body can not going to work normally. Our sole purpose as chiropracTORs is to help move the bones into proper alignment so that normal function can be restored. The “structural” techniques work really well. And, chiropractic practice is evolving. Today, with “tonal” techniques, we can access the energetic field of the body to find out precisely what the body needs to perform better. We can work with the intelligent field, allowing the body to adjust itself in the right place, time and sequence for the most efficient return to health and beyond.  Tonal adjustments are very gentle, comfortable and powerful and cause realignment without “cracking” the spine (BTW, it’s just air, it can’t hurt you).

The importance of this field in the healing process cannot be underestimated. Albert Einstein said “the field is the sole governing agency of the particle.” In chiropractic, that translates to “change the field, change the body.”  When you receive chiropractic care, you reconnect with your life energy field and let it express itself better through your body, which ultimately causes you to heal and evolve.

1. You are more than your body.

Your life energy is what makes your body go and your body is just a vehicle for the expression of life energy. “You” are not your body; you are an intelligent energy field causing your body to be animated and alive. In other words, life is not a chemical phenomenon. When you are dead you have the same chemistry, but nothing happens: you don’t digest food, you don’t grow, you don’t breathe, and your heart doesn’t beat. So, when you are alive, it is because of life energy and not chemistry.

2.  Everything is the universe is continually changing, including your body.

Your body is always in the process of becoming weaker or stronger.

3. The level of health is the direct result of the degree of life energy expressed in your body.

Maximizing your life expression, then, automatically results in better health and more. A good way to visualize this is to imagine that your body has a dimmer switch, where the brightest setting means that you are expressing full life energy. Most people lose faith when they realize that their bodies have enough life energy to heal a little cut, but not enough to heal cancer. To re-establish faith, you have to understand that it is not the body doing the healing but the expression of life energy. So the question then is: if my dimmer switch is down, how can I turn it back up again so that I have more energy?

4. The three things you need to maximize life energy and keep you growing healthier and stronger are a deliberate positive mental focus, a healthy life style and a clear connection between your brain and your body.

• A deliberate positive mental focus: The way to cultivate this is to observe your thoughts and only think about what you want to see.  Think about it with feeling; get excited about what you want to see in the world.
• Healthy lifestyle habits: You have to eat foods that will nourish the cells and give them the material energy they need to grow. Another great habit is spending time in nature and being in the energy field of living things that are functioning well.
• A clear neurological connection between the brain and the body: It is necessary to ensure that the brain remains aware of what each cell is doing and that the cells are properly reporting their status back to the brain. If the cells aren’t following the brain’s orders, your body starts to break down.

5. A correctly aligned and functioning spine is necessary to maintain the integrity of the nerve system.

A spine that works the way it is designed to work moves when you move and maintains proper tone and tension on the nerve system. This allows the maximized life expression of the body.

Chiropractic care is about adjusting the spine because it houses the nerve system, which is the conduit of life energy. It is the connection between the physical body and the non-physical body. We live our lives through the nerve system. Everything we do, think or say goes through the nerve system. That’s why, of all the body systems, it has got the most protection around it. That’s why the cells of the nerve system are the first to differentiate in the embryo. That’s why when you are brain dead, you are all dead!

The first thing you need to know is that everything in the universe, including your body, is always changing. Thousands of things happen in every cell of your body at every moment and at the end of the day, the body is either working a little better or a little worse. In other words, your body is a little stronger or a little weaker every single day.

In order for the body to get stronger consistently, the brain has to communicate clearly with all the cells in the body. Think of it this way: the cells are like musicians in an orchestra before a concert. While each member is very talented in her particular instrument, collectively they just produce a bunch of noise until the conductor steps in, taps the baton and starts the performance. In controlling the pace, pitch, volume and other aspects of each instrument, the conductor orchestrates all the different parts of the score to make a beautiful symphony. In our body, the brain acts like the conductor.

The brain’s purpose is not just to think, but also to monitor every single cell in the body all the time. The brain listens to the body and tells it what to do next. It also perceives the environment constantly so that it can tell the cells how to best adapt to the environment every second of the day. In order to get stronger, we need a clear connection between the brain and the cells.

Now you know the relationship between the brain and the cells. But how do they actually talk to each other? Through the nerve system. When the integrity of the nerve system is sound, communication is clear.

The main part of the nerve system lives inside the backbone and this is the starting point for chiropractic care. If the spine is in proper alignment and moves the way it is supposed to, it sets the proper tone or the proper amount of the mechanical tension on the nerve system. The nerve system is just like a guitar string because if it’s in tune, it plays properly. The nerve system is also sensitive to the right pressure and a properly aligned spine always sets the right tension on the nerve system. The end result is that the brain and the cells establish a clear connection, your body continually heals and you adapt to stress well.

But if stress overwhelms the system, the nerve system gets confused and puts the wrong amount of tension on muscles, which then pull the spine out of place. The spine gets stuck, further impeding the function of the nerve system and creating a disconnect between the brain and the cells. The body stops working perfectly.

Over time, you can start to accumulate more and more cells that stop “listening” to the brain. Eventually, you get to the stage where you might start to feel symptoms. If the symptoms persist and you get a diagnosis from an allopathic doctor, then you have dignified this lack of normalcy with a name. Anybody who has ever raised an animal knows that once you name it, you’ve got it for life. You’re not going to eat it! It’s the same with disease; it’s not good to get too attached to it.

From the chiropractic perspective, you didn’t get a disease. Your system simply lacks organization. Your cells aren’t working the way they are supposed to because stress is preventing your brain from properly conducting the score. Instead of treating the symptoms, a chiropractor aims to get the brain and body talking again and they use a lot of different methods. Through chiropractic spine adjustment, we can repair the lines of communication between your brain and cells, which kickstarts your body’s healing process.

That’s what chiropractic care is all about! It’s not about your back. It’s not about your pain. It’s about your life.

The amount of information we can find about anything keeps on increasing at astounding rates.  A while back, it was said that the amount of information we receive will double every 35 days.  Well, holy cow, how do we keep up with even one topic of interest?

Suppose you had a health concern and wanted to find out about your “condition.”  You could go online and find piles of information, professional and otherwise, stories from people with similar situations, medical advice, alternative medical advice, and on and on.  So many conflicting opinions.  And we have begun to lose faith in our news sources, the government, big businesses…

Frustrating?  Could be.  Or it could be a great way for us to get in touch with the source of all information.  Inside.  We really do have all the answers inside and maybe the overwhelming amount of DATA can drive us to look within.

How do we trust the inner wisdom?  Practice.  Little things first, then bigger things.

Also, a clear nerve system allows you to trust that the inner voice is “speaking “ clearly.

“Cancer Sucks”?? When the first cancer czar was appointed in the 1980′s, 1 in 8 americans was expected to get cancer. Now its 1 in 2 or 3. How we doin’ with that cancer war?
Cancer is not what you have been lead to believe. We all make stupid cells and when our body works right they get taken out. The ONLY cure for anything(mind you, no “disease” IS a thing, its a lack of something-NOT a semantic difference), the ONLY cure is normal function of the body. So far, the only health care professionals/doctors that I have heard speak about how to make that happen are chiropractors. Health is NOT the absence of disease, disease is the absence of normal function. Normal function has one fundamental cause-the expression of life energy in the body. See? No life, no function, reduced life, reduced function:looks like disease-which it ain’t. How to reduce function-interfere with the nervous system/tweak the spine out of alignment and…presto! Less neurological connection, less life expression, less fun. Until “medicine” catches up with this reality people will contine to die, suffer, spend and cry needlessly. The paradigm has shifted, baby, catch the wheel.

An article in the September 30, 2008 issue of the scientific periodical, the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research reviewed multiple previous studies to correlate the effect chiropractic care has on the immune system. The article goes into detail explaining the numerous scientifically shown connections between the function of the nervous system and the immune system.

The study authors report that, “Recently the focus of science has shifted from viewing the nervous and immune systems as separate entities to recognizing that the brain utilizes specific pathways to the immune system for the purposes of guiding, controlling and modulating the immune response.” In essence, the study authors note that many authorities consider the nervous system and the immune system to be actually one system in the body.

The article documents that many connections between the nervous system and every aspect of the immune system, including discoveries made back in 1945 when it was noted that even the bone marrow, which creates important cells for immunity, has a rich and vast nerve system supply.

Study authors note that nervous system dysfunction can cause immune system dysfunction. This is the avenue that allows chiropractic to have a significant impact on immunity. They note, “Subluxations are disturbances in the nervous system, which can cause increased or decreased activity of the sympathetic nervous system.” They added, “Chiropractic adjustments correct subluxations which are disturbances in the nervous system.”

By describing in detail the various mechanisms the nervous system controls and coordinates the immune system, the study authors conclude that interference to the nervous system in the form of subluxations will have an adverse effect on immune function. They stated in their conclusion, “The nervous system and the immune system have such a multitude of connections that they could correctly be referred to as a single system. The nervous system senses damage, infectious agents and foreign bodies with the help of chemical releasing immune cells and deals with these problems by deploying different types of immune cells to carry out specific procedures. Disturbances in the nervous system (subluxations) diminish the ability of an individual to sense and repair damage and combat infection, cancer etc. directly, resulting in diminished health.”

We all want healthy, happy, vibrant kids.

You probably visit your pediatrician to help ensure this. They weigh your child, measure height, and listen to their heart and so on. Maybe they’ll give shots to help nature’s perfect immune system.

Remember when the umbilical stump healed? That happened because of the expression of life force. Every cut, scrape, bruise and rash heals because of this all powerful life energy within every living thing. We are amazing aren’t we?

The thing is, this life power is not either all on or all off. There is a dimmer switch. We get sick or don’t, heal and grow right when the power is lowered.

This innate intelligence flows over nerves to every cell of our bodies to stir them ever toward wellness and wholeness. Unless stress causes a neurological short circuit. The “dimmed-light” state called “subluxation” happens when stresses knock the backbone out of whack. Even a little tiny bit.

Our biggest stresses happen in life’s transitions, right? What bigger stress has your child experienced than being born?
See? Children deserve to be their inner best. Chiropractic can help ensure that legacy like nothing else can.

Be smart, make the call.

Safe | Natural | Effective