The WooHoo of Chiropractic
How Adjustments can benefit more than just the bones, joints and muscles. The most common time for a patient to seek out a Chiropractor is when they are in pain or have just been injured.
We as a profession are known for our ability to treat Headaches, Neck pain and Low back pain. For optimal health of the back, neck and head, it is suggested to get adjusted at least twice a year. We get our teeth checked twice a year but we never really think about the spine and how the nerves are affected when a spine or muscle isn’t functioning properly. The common objection people have against seeing a chiropractor is: “if I start going, I will always have to go”. The answer is, “Yes, if your body would only be so lucky to see a chiropractor all the time!”. The actual answer is NO, you will not have to keep coming back week after week. We ask that you get checked two times a year to make sure you are maintaining proper function. Every function in your body is determined by the nervous system as a whole and we know that the nervous system protector is the spine. When a nerve is affected because your body is misaligned in the spine, we can measure that its electrical output goes down, meaning whatever that nerve controls will have a decrease in function.
Based on research, an adjustment of the L4 vertebra in athletes will strengthen the quad muscle. We can measure this and see an improvement after an adjustment. Do we know exactly how this happens?? “No” this is the WooHoo factor. We also see that babies with constipation getting adjusted will suddenly be able to poop more effectively; we can observe it and measure it but we haven’t exactly been able to explain it yet and until our understanding of neurology expands in the medical profession we may not know, we have ideas but no proven mechanism.
- In our office I have also seen where adjusting the T9 vertebra will improve someone’s stomach pain and because I am a bit of a skeptic myself I always try this as a last resort looking for more organic and more explainable causes first. But we are now taking a more holistic approach if someone comes in with stomach pain or a cough we will treat those symptoms and disease classically through oral supplementation as well as to adjust the patient, because there is no known way to tell by examining a patient externally if the nerve and interference to the nerve are part of that problem or not. So we always make sure the spine is aligned so that we remove nerve impingement as part of problem, leaving other issues to be treated and dealt with. Here is a short run down of what nerves innervate what organs:
Heart T1-T8 - Lung T3-T9
- Esophagus T5-T6
- Stomach T5-T9
- Doudenum T6-T10
- Jejunum T8-T11
- Large Bowel T8-L1
- Appendix T9-L1
- Liver T6-T11
- Spleen T7-T10
- Gallbladder T6-T11
- Pancreas T7-T10
- Kidney T9-L2
- Ureter T9-L2
- Testis/Ovary T10-T11
- Prostate T10-T11
- Uterus T12-L1
Before you go too long between your next adjustment remember two things; first, your nerves affect your organs and misalignments don’t just come from falling down but simple repetitive activity like sitting at a desk in front of a computer. Second, a joint that is unmoving for as little as one month will begin to show and develop arthritic changes (meaning that arthritis can develop from simply sitting at a desk and allowing a joint to remain stuck for long periods of time).