The intelligence in your brain runs every function of your body. Every cell, every tissue, every gland, and every organ is connected to the brain through the nervous system.

When a bone in your neck or back is out of alignment, meaning out of its proper place, it chokes or irritates the nerves as they exit the spine. The organs and tissues connected to these nerves receive decreased messages from the brain. Over time, this decreased nerve supply leads to symptoms, sickness, and disease.

The chiropractor’s job is to move the bone back into proper alignment so that the nerve is no longer choked and the interference is removed. The organ or tissue is then able to properly communicate with the brain and is able to regenerate and heal itself.

IN OTHER WORDS....

"You live your life through your nervous system. Absolutely every aspect of your life, physical, chemical, emotional, and spiritual is interfaced and integrated with your nervous system.

If you put a stress on your nervous system, you are going to have less of a life.

Distortions or distractions on the nervous system interfere with your expression of life. If you do anything to clean out your nervous system, chances are you’re going to better."

          -Dr. David Fletcher

The Chiropractic Story

In 1895, DR. D.D. PALMER performed the first chiropractic adjustment of the modern era. Dr. Palmer had been practicing as a magnetic healer in the 1880’s in Davenport, Iowa. One day Dr. Palmer was talking to Harvey Lilliard. Mr. Lilliard described an incident, which occurred while working. He bent over and he heard a sudden snap in his neck. He suddenly became almost deaf and had remained that way for 17 years. Dr. Palmer examined him and found an obvious lump or a malpositioned vertebra in Mr. Lilliard’s neck. After considerable discussion and cajoling,  Mr. Harvey Lilliard let Dr. Palmer attempt to put the vertebra back in alignment. Dr. Palmer reasoned that the cause of Mr. Lilliards’ deafness was due to a vertebra that was out of alignment and if he put the vertebra back into alignment then his hearing would be restored. Three days after the first chiropractic adjustment, Mr. Lilliard’s hearing returned.

An excited Dr. Palmer was sure that he had found the cure for deafness. He announced to the world, in 1895, that along the banks of the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa he had found the cure for deafness. Deaf people came from all around in search for a cure. Unfortunately, most of those who came without hearing also left that way. What Dr. Palmer did discover is that they were often times healed of other ailments and disease processes. He realized that he was on to something much bigger than a cure for deafness.

Spinal misalignments (or as Dr. Palmer referred to them, "subluxations") are a major contributor to the cause of ill health in a large number of people. Today, we know that every aspect of life and health is presided over by the nervous system. We have discovered that nerve interference is a major factor in the body’s innate (inborn) ability to express itself to its full potential.

WHAT ABOUT SYMPTOMS

Symptoms are obvious danger signals. They serve as a very important function and should NOT BE IGNORED. All symptoms, regardless of where they occur or how they occur are signs that your physical and emotional self is in jeopardy. They indicate that the actual demands on your machinery are on overload with regard to the stresses you have created. Also, in a deeper sense, they indicate that you are, to some extent separated from your inner source of power, inspiration and wholeness. There are 4 choices available to you:

1.  IGNORE THE WARNING SIGNS

Continue placing the same stress on your body and mind despite the danger signs ("live with it").

2.  TREAT THE SYMPTOM

So that you are no longer annoyed by the warnings. Examples: Taking pain-reducing pills, muscle relaxants, antibiotics, tranquilizers, etc., in order to feel better. In this fashion you keep yourself within the danger level, without knowing it. You continue applying the same stress, which produced the overload in the first place, but you now have the illusion of health thinking that you have done something to improve your function.

3.  REDUCE YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS

(Chemically, physically, and mentally). Examples: getting sufficient rest, avoiding emotional upset and eating more sensibly will obviously reduce stress on your system. This choice is constructive. However, with this choice, little has been done to correct the diminished quality of life available to you as a result of prolonged imbalance, but you have at least achieved a reduction in stress placed on a failing machine. When you reduce stress you often reduce symptoms.

4.  CORRECT THE PROBLEM

You see the symptom as a warning. You recognize that you are functioning within the danger level of your human organism, and strive to improve the function by addressing and dealing with the underlying cause of the problem. Instead of ignoring or treating the warning sign, or changing the environmental stress, you improve the ability of your human machine to function and adapt to its environment by becoming aligned physically and mentally, by correcting the cause of the symptoms. With this choice, your body does not have to warn you of overload. You can now function within the safety limits of your being, experiencing an increase in productivity, efficiency, and ease.

 “Sleeping On Your Stomach”

A common bad health habit we see is the habit of sleeping on your stomach. When people sleep on their stomach, they usually have a favorite way of facing, either to their left or their right. They spend the majority of their sleeping posture the same way night after night. Over time, the vertebrae of the neck and upper back rotate the opposite way they are facing which, in turn, causes a compressive syndrome to develop with the nerves as they exit the neck and upper back. These nerves form what we call the brachial plexus, which travels down across the shoulder, chest, and down to the elbow to the hand. Often, people who sleep on their stomach wake up during the night and change positions because they experience hand numbness and arm and neck pain or stiffness. Often, during an examination, when we have a patient turn their head to both left and right we notice they can turn their neck farther one direction.

Sleeping on your stomach also sets up an accelerated degenerative process of the joints and discs of the upper back (arthritic changes). I have had patients who experienced the numbness in the arms and hands who have undergone surgery for carpal tunnel, elbow, and neck in an attempt to decrease the numbness, tingling or pain they were experiencing. They were never asked, “Do you sleep on your stomach?”

I know that it is a habit, and that habits are sometimes tough to break. I should know. I used to be a stomach sleeper. It took me a long time with considerable diligence in order to break this habit. There are many ways of changing this habit. First and foremost is deciding that you in fact want to change.

There are many aids that a person can use to break the habit and also to support their neck and upper back all at the same time. 1. A proper bed that provides support and is comfortable. It is a myth that a bed needs to be rock hard. It has been my experience that a bed needs to be comfortable and not sag. It can be firm or soft; it is a matter of personal preference. 2. A cervical support pillow is specifically designed to support your neck and back. As a general rule, it is best to have the smallest pillow possible. A pillow that is designed with a place to fit your head and neck with stabilizing support is ideal.

We have several styles of support pillows available for your purchase. You can also buy other types of pillows at major department stores, such as Dillards or a specialty-bedding store. Walmart, Target, and K-Mart also provide a variety of pillows such as the buckwheat hull pillow and some of the foam pillows that we see advertised on TV. It should be noted that the best pillow for you may not necessarily be the most expensive pillow on the market. It is important that you find a pillow that supports your neck. The best way to determine the optimal pillow is to have a chiropractor examine your x-rays and to specifically look at your spinal joints to determine what kind of support pillow would be beneficial for your specific needs. I’ve seen patients spend hundreds of dollars on various pillows that were not proper for them in an attempt to relieve discomfort.

If you have a specific question regarding pillows, sleeping postures, or would like to come in for an evaluation please call the office and set up an appointment.

If this applies to you, then we need to discuss it in person to get you started on the path of good health. Chiropractic adjustments are a key part of allowing the damage done by the habit of sleeping on your stomach to be assessed, slowed, or even stopped.

BOOSTING YOUR IMMUNITY THROUGH CHIROPRACTIC

                In 1975, Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York's Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine in Environmental Health at New York University, began developing scientifically valid ways to estimate individual susceptibility to various chronic diseases.  Pero and his colleagues found strong evidence that susceptibility to cancer could be gauged by the activities of various enzymes involved in metabolic and genetic changes due to exposure to carcinogenic or "mutagenic" chemicals.  An individual's immune system responsiveness, or "immune competence," also was directly linked to DNA repairing enzymes, which provided an objective way to assess disease susceptibility.  Lack of those enzymes, Pero said, "definitely limits not only you lifespan, but also your ability to resist serious disease consequences."

            Pero was also fascinated by various hormones' synergistic relationship with other cancer-inducing agents to promote the disease.  For example, thyroid hormones affect the early phases of radiation- and chemically- induced cancers.  If the thyroid produces too much of either thyroxine or thyroid-stimulating hormones, cancer risk greatly increases.  And since the nervous system regulates hormonal balances, it too can influence susceptibility to cancer.  Along these lines, various kinds of spinal cord injury are accompanied by a high risk of developing cancer, particularly lymphomas and lymphatic leukemias.  This connection led Pero to consider chiropractic as a potential alternative for reducing the risk of immune breakdown and disease. 

            In 1986 Pero collaborated with Joseph Flesia, D.C., chairman of the board of directors for the Chiropractic Basic Science Research Foundation, Inc.  With a hefty grant from CBSRF, they began a research project at the University of Lund, Sweden.  Using Pero's tests to gauge resistance to hazardous environmental chemicals, they hypothesized that people with cancer would have a suppressed immune response to such a toxic burden, while healthy people and people receiving care should have a relatively enhanced response.

            Measuring 107 individuals who had received long-term chiropractic care, Pero's team turned up some surprising findings.  The chiropractic patients were "genetically normal" -that is, they had no obvious genetic reasons for increased resistance or susceptibility to disease.  Any difference, therefore, had to be accounted for by environmental or therapeutic factors.  The chiropractic patients also had 200 percent greater immune-competence than people who had not received chiropractic, and 400 percent greater immune-competence than people with cancer or other serious diseases.  Surprisingly, despite a wide range of ages in this study, the immune-competence did not show any decline with age - it was uniform for the entire group.

            Pero concluded that "chiropractic may optimize whatever genetic abilities you have" so that you can fully resist serious disease.  "I'm very excited to see that without chemical intervention...this particular group of patients under chiropractic care did show a very improved response," he told CBSRF.  "These changes occur from chiropractic treatment." 

            One shortcoming of this study, however, was its failure to distinguish the effects of dietary practice, which were also part of the treatment.  When questioned on this point, Pero conceded that this would have to be answered in the next phase of the study.  But he was unaware of any research showing that such differences could be accounted for by nutritional changes alone.  Pero, who was published over 160 papers in peer review journals, firmly believes that chiropractic care was the critical factor in this study. -M.N.M.

REFERRING OTHERS: WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

Oftentimes patients ask me about a particular friend or family member who they know would benefit from care and they ask how to get that person to make that initial call or appointment to determine if they can be helped.

Clyde W. Zerba, D.C.

Glossary

Acute
A condition that comes on suddenly and usually remains a short period of time, and is usually associated with a trauma.

Adjustment
The repositioning of the vertebrae with a gentle force to remove nerve interference from the nervous system.

Atlas
The first cervical vertebra in the neck.

Axis
The second cervical vertebra in the neck.

Cervical Vertebrae
The first seven moveable bones in the neck.

Chiropractic
Chiropractors remove nerve interference thus restoring proper nervous system function so that the body can heal itself.

Chronic
A condition that comes on slowly and persists over a long period of time, or occurs over and over again, sometimes causing osseous changes in the spinal column.

Coccyx
Commonly known as the tailbone. The last bone of the vertebral column, formed by the union of four vertebrae.

Degeneration
Deterioration which causes some degree of loss of original function.

Disc
A cartilage (cushion) which separates spinal vertebrae. Their function is to distribute forces and to protect the nervous system.

Health
A state of optimal physical, mental and social well being; not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Innate Intelligence
The intelligence that is inborn in all living things. The body’s natural intelligence that regulates normal body functions. This intelligence travels from the brain, through the spinal cord, branches off to the rest of the nervous system, out to the organs, and then back to the brain.

Interference
Interference to the nerve system always results in malfunction of the body and reduces the expression of the body’s true health potential.

Intervertebral Foramina
The opening through which the spinal nerves exit the spinal column.

Key to Health
The key to health is function. If you can keep the parts of your body free from interference and functioning at 100% of their potential, you’ll have the best chance for optimum health. While one needs good nutrition, proper rest and exercise, the primary control of body function is the nervous system. Only when the nervous system is free from interference will you have a chance for optimal health

Ligaments
Tissue attaching bone to bone.

Lumbar Vertebrae
The biggest and most massive vertebrae. Found in the lower back, these support the weight of the entire spine.

Nerves
Cordlike fibers that connect the body organs to the central nervous system and carry nerve impulses to and from the brain.

Nervous System
The nervous system controls and coordinates all the cells, organs and the systems of the body. It also adapts the body to its environment. The nerve system is made up of the brain, spinal cord spinal nerves, peripheral nerves and sense organs.

Dr. B. J. Palmer
D. D. Palmer’s son. B. J. is known as the developer of chiropractic. He dedicated his life to the research of chiropractic.

Dr. D. D. Palmer
Founder of Chiropractic in 1895 when he repositioned a vertebra in the neck of Harvey Lillard. Mr. Lillard’s hearing returned over the next three days.

Palpation
Examining the spine with your fingers; feeling by hand.

Sacrum
A curved triangular bone composed of 5 united (or fused) vertebrae situated just below the fifth lumbar vertebra.

Sciatic Nerve
The largest nerve in the body, which originates from the lumbo sacral plexus and runs hip to toe.

Spinal Column
24 bony segments (vertebrae) plus the sacrum, coccyx and ilium. The spinal column houses and protects the spinal cord. The bones, 33 total, form a line from your skull to your tailbone that support your weight and allow movement.

Spinal Curves
Looking from the side there are 4 spinal curves found in the normal human spine. The curves are found in the neck, thoracic (shoulder area), lower back, and hip areas and are essential for proper spinal function

Spinal Nerves
Bundles of nerves that branch from the spinal cord and exit the spinal column: 31 pairs consisting of 8 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral and l coccygeal.

Spinous Process
The protruding part of the vertebrae that can be seen or felt when examining the spine.

Subluxation
A subluxation is a bone (a vertebra) in the spine that has slipped out of its normal position. Eventually a subluxated bone will begin to choke, then irritate, and finally interfere with the spinal nerves that carry the mental impulses from the brain to the body. The result is improper function, weakness, and eventual disease.

Symptom
The manifestation of an abnormally functioning organ. One’s perception that something is not normal or right.

Tendon
Tissue serving for the attachment of muscles to bones.

Thoracic Vertebrae
The 12 spinal bones which make up the mid-back area. They are located from the base of the neck to the waistline.

Vertebra
One of the 33 bones forming the spinal column.