I have been getting a lot of suggestions and requests from people about topics related to health and chiropractic lately and have addressed the ones that were most often given. I hope the information has been useful and interesting to you on those subjects. This week marks the anniversary of this column. I have enjoyed it immensely and will continue to write it as long as it is useful to its readers. Thank you for your feedback. I received a telephone message this past week from a patient of ours whose daughter has been helped tremendously with her anxiety attacks since she began care. The woman wanted me to write something to help others who might not know that chiropractic can help those with anxiety and a host of other disorders. I wish I could just say absolutely that chiropractic helps anxiety, but the story is a little more complicated than that. Some of what I will mention in this week’s column has been said here before, but I never get tired of the story and will gladly tell it again.
The very first chiropractic adjustment was given on September 18, 1895 by Dr. D.D. Palmer. It was delivered to a deaf janitor named Harvey Lillard who regained his hearing after his back was adjusted. Dr. Palmer found this to be quite a phenomenal occurrence, and the art and science of chiropractic was born. Since then many remarkable things have happened as the result of getting chiropractic adjustments. Some would prefer that chiropractors deal only with musculoskeletal disorders, but no one can deny that many ailments spontaneously disappear after treatment by a chiropractor. The question many have is, “How is this possible?”
The spine is the bony framework which was built around the soft, delicate tissues of the nervous system. The spine serves many purposes in the body, but the main two are that it is the basis of the skeletal system and it protects the nervous system. The nervous system controls and coordinates every function of every organ and tissue in the body. It is composed of the brain, spinal cord, and the pairs of spinal nerves which emanate from the spinal cord at every level. If one of the 24 movable vertebrae in the spine moves slightly out of place with the one above it, below it, or both, this creates a condition which is called a vertebral subluxation. This condition creates many problems throughout the body because if there is pressure on a nerve, the organ or tissue which is supplied by that nerve is not getting all of the information to and from the brain as it should. Think of it as a garden hose which is turned on full blast but someone is standing on it. Nothing can come out of the other end until the pressure is removed from the garden hose, thus allowing the water to move in the direction and with the force it was intended to move. The same holds true for the nervous system. If nerve function is restored to the organs and tissues in the body by removing vertebral subluxations, the body works much better than it did before.
Ask people who see chiropractors how much different their lives are now compared to how they were before they started care. In many cases you’ll hear of spontaneous remission from a host of conditions that were treated unsuccessfully otherwise. In some cases you’ll hear how hope was restored to an otherwise hopeless situation. You’ll find that not all help is on just the physical realm. Some people feel that their spirits are lifted and they feel less depressed and exhausted. Amazing things happen when the nervous system is free of interference. When people get in touch with their bodies and realize that they can take pro-active roles in their own healthcare, life becomes more fun. It is much more fun to play a game that you can win rather than being just a pawn in a game over which you feel you have no control.
How can chiropractic help anxiety? I don’t have a linear, cut and dried answer. In the words of our aforementioned practice member whose mother wanted me to write about anxiety and how chiropractic can help, “I feel much better – my chiropractic care has helped me get back to a normal lifestyle. I feel better about myself which helps me see other problems in a better light.” Treat your body and your spirit well.