ARE YOU SICK OR HEALTHY?
Chiropractic is a holistic health care system. As such, it does not aim to treat pain, symptoms, conditions or diseases. Instead, it is more interested in keeping your body functioning as well as it can so that it can regulate and take care of itself as it was intended to. Right now, there are thousands of chemical reactions taking place in your body as well as the production of hormones like insulin, adrenaline, melatonin and thyroid hormone. Your heart is beating, you are breathing, muscles are keeping you sitting (or standing) up right. Your head is being balanced, your eyes are sending signals to your brain which is interpreting these words as something meaningful, your digestive system, immune system and elimination system are all doing their job to keep you alive and healthy. Things are going on automatically without you ever having to think about them.
It would boggle your mind to realize what has to take place to keep you alive minute to minute. This, in scientific terms, is called homeostasis. The miracle of it all is that we are born with an INNATE (inborn) ability to keep our bodies safe and well. Our programming wants us to be healthy and in balance with our environments both external (stress, weather changes, protection (fight or flight), Etc.) and internal (our internal temperature, digestive acid pH, heart rate, breathing rate, hormone balance and so on). The brain and brain stem (most important!!) controls all this and the software to run these processes comes as part of the gift of LIFE. The signals from the brain and brain stem have to physically travel through the body in the living wires we call the spinal cord and nerves. When there is an interference to the signals traveling through the wires (a subluxation), your body cannot express itself as it was designed to. This causes improper function and eventually disease and a break down of that delicate balance (called homeostasis) that keeps us going in the direction of health. See the picture below to understand the damaging effects of a spinal subluxation when it compresses a nerve and decreases the nerve impulses traveling from the spinal cord to the body.
Brain Stem Pressure Good Nerve Transmission Spinal Nerve Compression
When you are "SICK" and have a condition (like the flu), and you have symptoms like a high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, chills and body aches; are you really sick or is your body doing what it is supposed to do? A fever kills the germs, the vomiting and diarrhea cleanse your system and saves energy that can be directed to the immune system instead of eating, the chills and body aches slow you down to further conserve energy. So actually, you are expressing a HEALTHY response to an invading bug. Not having these responses is actually a sickness because you will not be able to effectively fight off the germs without them. If you were not functioning properly (sick) you may get a fever, but it may be erratic or last for days on end.
Now lets take the opposite, lets say you feel great, but go for blood work and are found to have a condition (cancer). You obviously are not healthy even though you feel good and have no symptoms. The American Cancer Society estimates that 84% of people that currently have cancer do not know it yet. Another example is someone in prime physical shape that has a heart attack. Obviously, their body was not functioning properly even though they felt great. There are many examples of star athletes in the news that had this happen to them. So as you can see, your health should NEVER be based on how you feel, but instead, how well your body is functioning.
Chiropractic care is by definition a health care system that does not treat your symptoms, but rather focuses on helping you function to your very best by allowing the innate signals from your brain and brain stem travel uninterrupted throughout your body. Don't focus on treating your body when it is sick (has symptoms), but keep it healthy and well by doing the things necessary for real vitality. It is easier to stay well than to only address problems when you express the outward signs of an inner illness. Proper Exercise, Rest, Nutrition, Attitude, Posture and a Properly Functioning Central Nervous System are all necessary to keep your body optimally healthy.
