The majority of Americans have come to understand and accept
that chiropractors can help relieve back pain. This limitation of chiropractic
was created by those who fear the truth inherent in the principles of its
discovery. As long as the medical and pharmaceutical establishments control the
governing bodies that dictate health care, the truth about chiropractic will
remain one of the best kept secrets on earth.
In 1895, in Davenport, Iowa, chiropractic was born. While
examining Harvey Lillard, a deaf janitor in the building in which Dr. Palmer
worked, Dr. Palmer noticed that Harvey had a vertebra in his back that did not
line up with the others. As legend has it, Dr. Palmer “wracked” the vertebra
back into position. When Harvey rose from the table, he could hear the clacking
of horse’s hooves on the cobblestone street below the open window. His hearing
had been restored. Shortly after Harvey’s relief from deafness, Dr. Palmer had
a similar case involving a heart condition. Two diseases, so dissimilar, that
were improved after spinal manipulation must have a common ground. This common
ground was found to be nerve tension and the cure was created through the
chiropractic adjustment.
Our nervous system is comprised of the brain, spinal cord and
nerves that stem from it. These nerves branch and weave their way through our
entire body. Our brain runs the business of our life by sending and receiving
messages through this network of nerves to and from all the organs, tissues,
joints, and assorted parts of our body. It is the role of our nervous system to
coordinate, control, and regulate EVERY
function of the human body. A severed nerve creates paralysis. A pinched or
stressed nerve creates “half” paralysis or dysfunction.
The squeezing of the intestines to move along the digested
matter, the collapsing of the diaphragm which allows air to rush into our
lungs, the release of bile from the gall bladder, insulin from the pancreas,
and adrenalin from the adrenal glands is all under direct supervision of the
nervous system. Without our nervous system our stomach does not work, our liver
does not balance cholesterol, and our muscles do not contract to allow us to
put our arms around our children. Our body cannot regulate blood pressure, open
the bronchial tubes effortlessly, create antihistamines, cortisone, or new bone
cells to mend a fracture unless our nervous system is operating properly. It is
nerve tension that is the basis of functional activity and the difference
between health and disease. By manipulating the bones of the back, or any bone
of the body for that matter, a skilled chiropractor can influence the tension
on the nerves and restore their innate function.
The AMA’s Home Medical Encyclopedia states “The overall
function of the nervous system is to gather information about the external
environment and the body’s internal state, to analyze this information, and to
initiate appropriate responses.” Inappropriate responses equate to
dysfunction and disease. So why hasn’t medicine put more focus on the state of
the nervous system as a factor in health?
Now I must ask, can headaches be related to the ability of the
nervous system to regulate some bodily function? Why do some suffer from
headaches and others do not? Is it because some people are deficient in Ibuprofen?
Did they not get their RDA of Tylenol? Wait! There is no RDA for Tylenol. Why
does my body adapt to changes without producing a headache and yours does not? Can
it be that the nervous system is under stress and therefore it cannot create
the proper functions in the body that are needed to adapt to change? Could it
really be that simple? Yes it can!
That spark of life, originating in the hands of God, flowing
from above to down and from inside to outside is consigned to the structures we
call the nervous system. This very framework enables us to hear the purr of a
kitten, view a rose bedecked with dew, and feel the wet sand from the shoreline
slip between our toes. The nervous system is the greatest magician on earth as
it can recast a green pepper into human life by merely tickling the digestive
system with action. This anatomy we call the nervous system is responsible for
accepting the Creator’s inspiration for perfection and transforming it into
physical existence. We hold this anatomy accountable for directing the orchestra
of our lives. It tells our heart to beat, our kidneys to filter, and our blood
vessels to constrict and dilate. It tastes the sour berries and feels the
warmth of the sun on our faces. It sparks our legs to ambulation. This precious
entity that we call the nervous system is the interface that moves human
experience.
Chiropractic is a healing art that dances with the part of our
anatomy in which the very force of life is transformed into matter. It is our
breath, our thoughts, our passion, our life. As all of nature is bound by
certain cycles, patterns, and laws, so too is our existence and that existence
is controlled, coordinated, and regulated by our nervous system. The
chiropractic adjustment is about removing the barriers that inhibit our
physical expression with its true source. The adjustment will liberate the
nervous system, and therefore our spirit, from the stranglehold of dis-ease
(not being at ease with one’s self) and allow our body’s innate intelligence to
once again manifest through our flesh and blood. Our nervous system is the
metaphor that binds spirit and heaven into matter and earth. It is said that
our life is God’s gift to us and what we do with it is our gift back to God.
Don’t let nerve stress interfere with that.
The chiropractic adjustment is a telescopic connection to the
Big Picture. Removing nerve stress restores life not by replacing with
implants, controlling with machines, or chemically altering with drugs, but
rather by allowing, freeing, and innately accepting the ability of the body to
regulate itself. The chiropractic philosophy is hopeful of possibilities and
pursues what is right within the body, not fearful of probabilities searching
for what is wrong within the body. Chiropractic exercises the body’s wisdom in
contrast to exorcizing the body’s failures. Chiropractic moves by experience,
intuition, and spirit, not by scientific dogma and outdated tradition, for the
miracle of life cannot be truly explained scientifically. One cannot dissect
love, grow the breath in a laboratory, or capture the sunshine in a test tube.
Chiropractic focuses on health not disease, the whole body not parts, and
promotes life rather than avoids death.
The proof that
chiropractic is a legitimate healing art can be found in the fact that it
exists and continues to do so in spite of the overwhelming opposition by the
medical community. Chiropractic has stood in the flames of slander and libel
for over 100 years and has lived to tell its own story. What established
chiropractic as the largest natural healing art in this country was not its
relatively small lobby groups or its national associations but rather its
ability to create clinical success stories out of medical failures. By adhering
to the tenets of nature’s perfection, the patient heals what was once declared
incurable. Chiropractic is not part of medicine and was never meant to be. It
is a philosophical approach to life that is bound by the laws of nature. Now do
you still want to relegate chiropractic healing to relieving back pain?
