For those of you who are familiar with chiropractic this will not come as a surprise – chiropractic is different. And what I would like to talk about most is how chiropractic has a completely different way of looking at the body compared to a traditional medical approach. I hope that by giving you a different perspective you will see why chiropractic is so much more than just for back and neck pain, which is the medical way of viewing chiropractic.
Chiropractic History
Let us start with a little history about chiropractic. Chiropractic as we know it today started in 1895, though adjusting the spine has been used by a number of different cultures for thousands of years. In fact Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is attributed as saying “Look well to the spine for the cause of disease” which sounds much more in line with chiropractic than modern medicine. In 1895 D.D. Palmer gave the first chiropractic adjustment to Harvey Lillard which helped to restore Lillard’s hearing. That’s right, the first modern chiropractic patient had lost his hearing after an accident when working where he felt a ‘pop’ in his back and it was restored after a chiropractic adjustment.
Mechanism vs. Vitalism
Modern medicine and chiropractic are fundamentally different because they are based on two different philosophies: mechanism and vitalism. So when it comes to the body, what is the difference between mechanism and vitalism?
Mechanism
Mechanism looks at the body as a machine: a very complex mechanical, electrical, chemical machine. The idea is that the whole is the sum of its parts, or in other words, to understand the body we need to continue to break it down into smaller and smaller parts. A purely mechanistic approach would say that emotions and consciousness are the result of a series of complex chemical and bioelectrical events and nothing more. This is what medicine is based on, that some ‘part’ breaks and the medicine will correct the problem from outside in.
Vitalism
Vitalism, on the other hand, is a holistic approach that says the whole is more than the sum of its parts. That there is a vital force that is not necessarily a ‘part’ of the ‘machine.’ That every part is affected by the whole and the whole is affected by every part. There is more to the body than just the physical. There is a vital force within the body that heals the body. This is what chiropractic is based on: that chiropractic adjustments help to release this vital force so the body heals.
Chiropractic and Medicine
The mechanistic view has been very helpful in understanding many of the processes in the body and has been valuable to our understanding of the body. However, it also leads to treating illness or disease by drugs and surgery, trying to ‘fix’ the part that is not working. Drugs are given to stimulate or suppress a specific action within the body because it is not working right, and if that doesn’t work replace the ‘part’ through surgery. Now I completely believe that there are times when the medical approach is needed, however, I think it overused in situations where it is not necessary.
Chiropractic takes a different approach. Chiropractic is based on the fact that the body is designed to heal itself. I as a chiropractor do not ‘fix’ or heal your body. If there is any ‘fixing’ or healing, it is your body that does it. However, this ability to heal and function properly, I call it ‘innate intelligence,’ is transmitted through your body’s nervous system, which controls all functions in your body. Now this innate intelligence can be interfered with if the nervous system is not functioning at its best. So from the chiropractic point of view, illness manifests when this innate intelligence is unable to express itself fully. When there are misalignments or improper movement of the bones of the spine, it interferes with the normal functioning of the nerves – this is what we call a subluxation in chiropractic terms. So when we have subluxations our bodies are unable to fully express their innate intelligence and in turn are unable to heal as they are designed to.
What I Do As a Chiropractor
My job as a chiropractor is to identify these areas of subluxation and through specific chiropractic adjustments help the body to restore proper functioning to the nervous system. Now I say ‘help’ the body because even with my years of training to be as specific as possible, it is the patient’s body that really knows what needs to be done. In my personal approach, I do not try and overpower or ‘force’ the body to do what I think it needs to do. I try to work with the body. I think it is pretty cool when I set up to give an adjustment and the fixation releases with just the little bit of pressure without giving a typical adjustment. Sometimes that is all the body needs to help correct itself.
Now with an understanding of innate intelligence and the function of the nervous system, to say chiropractic is just for back and neck pain is really missing the point of chiropractic. I see the purpose of chiropractic as to help the body to function at its best by allowing that innate intelligence to express itself unhindered. This is why a healthy lifestyle is so important in chiropractic because that allows your body to function at its best and helps prevent subluxations.
A Chiropractic Lifestyle
You see, the three basic causes of subluxation as expressed by D.D. Palmer the founder of chiropractic are “thoughts, traumas, and toxins.”
Thoughts
How we think and see the world affects our body and our health and can either prevent or lead to subluxations. When we are constantly thinking negatively and are stressed we become subluxated.
Traumas
Traumas are probably the most obvious causes of subluxation. When we take falls, bumps, jolts, or have even minor repetitive physical stresses, they can lead to subluxation. This is also why it is important to have children checked because they are constantly having little falls and accidents which can lead to subluxation, but pain may not develop until months or years later.
Toxins
And finally toxins – what we eat and expose our bodies to also has a big impact on health. When we eat healthy and minimize our exposure to harmful substances we give our bodies the best chance to stay subluxation free.
I hope this has given you a bigger perspective of chiropractic. If this makes sense to you, don’t delay and get in to be checked and start on the path to a healthier and more fulfilling life.
