We are glad you asked! Chiropractic care is the world’s leading drug-free, non-surgical approach to healing and wellness. Chiropractic care can relieve pain, restore health, and help prevent injury by improving the structural integrity of the body, primarily the spine.
Here is a brief explanation of how the nervous system works and how it relates to chiropractic care. The brain controls and coordinates all of the systems and functions within the body. The brain communicates with the rest of the body via the spinal cord and nervous system. When functioning perfectly, this communication is uninterrupted, and the messages go to and from the brain without interference. The nervous system serves as the body’s wiring. If this wiring is inhibited, the signal does not reach the intended body part clearly, and illness may result. This inference is caused by subluxations or misalignments in the vertebrae of the spine.
The spine is composed of 24 moveable bones called vertebrae. This movement is good and completely necessary for virtually every task throughout life. However, just like any other moveable object, our vertebrae can move into improper positions, as little as a one-millimeter shift out of position can cause discomfort or interference within our nervous system. Such interferences can manifest anywhere along the spine. For example, pain in the arm or hand may actually be caused by a problem in the neck, where the nerves connecting to that hand originate. Only a qualified chiropractor can examine the spine for such interferences and remove them through controlled adjustment techniques.
Chiropractic adjustments are very light, controlled impulses that are applied to specific vertebrae within the spine to correct subluxations, and relieve pressure on the nerves. Chiropractic adjustments are the only way to remove subluxations. If left untreated, these subluxations can cause degeneration, arthritis, nerve damage, and even muscle atrophy. If pain symptoms are ignored for too long and the degeneration becomes too great, surgical intervention is the only other treatment. These surgeries are performed by orthopedists, once so much time has passed that the nerves begin to die.