A Metaphysical Approach to Explaining Chiropractic.
Health is an interesting paradox. It is probably the most desired possession in the world, yet is also one of the least understood. If you were to ask anyone if they wanted to possess health, they would definitely answer “yes.” However, if you were to ask that same person to give you a definition of health or tell you what it means to be healthy, they would probably say they never gave any thought to the subject before. Eventually, you would get an answer something like, “Health means feeling good.”
That is the concept of health to most people…feeling good. Yet, there are many people who feel good right now who are very sick. Some of them may even die in the near future and we will be shocked because some poor old Joe was “feeling so good” just yesterday. There must be something more to being healthy than just feeling good.
As a matter of fact, if you were to look up the word health in a dictionary, you would find it defined as “wholeness; a condition in which all the parts of the body are functioning properly.” Dorland’s Medical Dictionary gives us the most interesting definition of all: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” That means that there is much more to being healthy than simply feeling good.
This is whole basis behind chiropractic. Chiropractic is a healing science designed around health-optimization. Maintaining health is much easier than treating disease.
LIFE ENERGY. If you were to think about yourself and how your body works, you would soon come to the realization that within all living things there is a power or energy which flows through them and allows their bodies to function in state of “living.” It is not really complex to understand that all living things consist of both matter and energy…and the human body is no exception. We have a shell of matter (the body with all its organs and parts) which is kept alive and functioning by energy. Let us refer to the energy within us as life energy because that is its function…to give you life.
Let us carry that further and state that the only difference between a living body and a dead one is the presence of this life energy. After all, is there any physical distinction between life and death? If you were to pass away in the next hour or so, would there be any physical difference between you now and what you would be when dead? None. In death, you would still have a heart, lungs, kidneys, all of your organs and parts. The one thing you would be missing—the one thing that is absent in death is this LIFE ENERGY.
YOUR BRAIN IS THE POWER SOURCE OF LIFE ENERGY. Since we can see that we do have energy in our body, we must have a source of energy. We have a portable generator in our body that produces all of the LIFE ENERGY needed in order to keep us functioning. We call it the brain. The brain is your source of Power…it generated LIFE ENERGY needed in order to keep you alive. This is why the brain is considered the most important organ.
All of our bodily functions, such as digestion, heartbeat or breathing receive mental impulses or nerve energy from the brain.
These mental impulses flow down the spinal cord and exit out between the spinal bones to carry these vital mental impulses or nerve energy to all parts of our body. The spinal bones or vertebra are located very close to these nerves and when bones lose their position they irritate the nerve thereby disrupt the nerve messages.
NERVE SYSTEM…THE CARRIER OF LIFE ENERGY. In order for the life energy to get from the brain to all of the organs and parts of the body, it needs something to carry it. Just as electrical energy travel over wires, life energy travels over the wiring system of your body..your Nerve System. Life energy flows from the brain, down to a thick master cable called the spinal cord which carries it to the trunk of your body and then the energy travels out to the whole body over the spinal nerves. These nerves are the “wire” of your body and they divide until they travel throughout the entire body…to supply it with life.
If someone were to deprive you of all the life energy that your brain generates, you would be dead. Total loss of life results in total death of the body.
By the same token, if we derive a portion of the body of its life energy, that portion would die.
To carry this to its logical conclusion, you should be able to see that if any part or parts of the body receive a decreased flow of life energy…not total loss, just a decreased amount…the parts will still be alive, but they will not function properly. They will be weaker than normal and more easily subject to breakdown.
SPINAL BONE POSITION IS VITAL TO FEELING GOOD. Now, in order to understand just what happens that would reduce the amount of life energy flowing into any portion of the body, we must briefly explain how the brain and spinal cord are protected. Nature surrounded the brain with solid bone that is called the skull. The brain is the only organ protected in this manner…with solid bone. However, the spinal cord—the extension of the brain which runs down the back—is also vital to life and health. It is a thick cable consisting of billions of delicate nerve fibers that carry the life energy from the brain to the body. Obviously, the spinal cord must also be surrounded by bone for protection. However, if the bone surrounding the spinal cord were solid, we wouldn’t be able to bend or twist or turn or have any of the free movement that we need in order to function. Thus, nature provided us with a series of bones which stack on top of each other (24 bones called vertebrae) to surround and protect the delicate spinal cord, yet still allow free movement.
Any of the 24 moveable spinal bone can be moved out of place by many of our daily jolts, bumps, twists or jars. We all do dozens of things every day that can knock or wrench one of these spinal bones out of place. When that happens, that bone will irritate the neighboring nerve, and thus, interfere with the transmission of life energy from the brain to the body. This misalignment is defined by chiropractors as a subluxation.
SUBLUXATION—A MINOR POWER FAILURE.
A subluxation occurs when a bone in the spine has slipped out of its normal position, and has gotten stuck out of position. It is not broken, fractured or dislocated…just stuck out of place.
Subluxations act like short circuits in that they deprive parts of the body of full energy
CHIROPRACTOR’S JOB—CORRECT SUBLUXATIONS.
It is the job of the chiropractor to check the spine for subluxation (misalignments) and then gently replace the bone to its normal position by applying gentle pressures. This is called an adjustment. This allows you to maintain a full flow of life in your body. By maintaining the full flow of life in your body, you will increase your own inherent healing ability and enable your body to work the way that nature intended.
When a subluxation occurs and portions of the body become weak and function improperly, it may be months or even years before that weakness shows any symptoms. It doesn’t make any sense to wait until a crisis occurs (throwing out your back), and then do something about your lost health. A much simpler and more logical way to maintain your health is available. This is the true purpose of Chiropractic.
-Adapted from Dr. Larry Markson’s writings.
