The Nervous System is How They Get There
At some point early on in my professional career as a chiropractor I heard someone say that we "live our lives through our nervous systems". This statement has stuck with me for decades and it's what I have always told people when they ask why they need a chiropractor. And of course they always ask what that means.
Everything you do and everything you experience in your life goes through and comes from, your nervous system. It is the master control system for the functioning of your entire body. Not a single one of the 30 trillion cells in your body is untouched by the nervous system and most of the time you don't even know it's happening - we take it for granted.
Until it breaks down.
You may have heard the old saw about the 50 year old who has a heart attack one day seemingly out of the blue when in reality the factors that led up to that heart attack were building over time. Same can be said for many chronic diseases.
Truth is that you can be very "sick" and not have a single symptom.
This is also true with the nervous system and the aspects of it that chiropractors deal with and it's also the reason why chiropractors are so passionate about the need for children to have their spines checked by a chiropractor. We get their vision checked, their hearing checked and their teeth checked along with a bunch of other things.
Who is checking their spine?
You would think it absurd to neglect having your child's eyes, ears and teeth checked from a very early age yet so many parents never think about the importance of their child's spine. If a child has vision, hearing or dental problems that go unchecked they will no doubt suffer in many ways that may seem far removed from their eyes, ears or teeth but those parts of our anatomy affect other functions of our body - even our mental health. Think about it.
Same is true with a child's spine and it's not even about back pain, scoliosis or headaches - which a very significant portion of children suffer from even at early ages. It's about much more than that. It's about living a life that is clear of obstructions to the fullest expression of their potential.
Chiropractic is about removing obstructions and interference to the proper functioning of the nervous system and improving connections. These problems are caused by shifts in the bones
(vertebra) that make up the spine and these shifts can obstruct the nervous system. Because the nervous system controls and coordinates all functions in the body, obstructing it can have an effect on every function of the body - and it often does.
Imagine living your life with the lights dim. You might not even notice it because you got used to it, or worse - that's the way it's always been. Now imagine a child born into the world and subjected to all the physical, chemical and emotional stresses they experience from day one but they are doing it though a nervous system that is obstructed. The messages from the brain to their bodies and back again are not getting through because they are living with obstructions to their nervous system and don't even know it and neither do their parents because no one checked.
These spinal problems are referred to as vertebral subluxations in the scientific literature and adjusting them is how chiropractic helps people stay connected and healthy.
Matthew McCoy DC, MPH Editor - COHERENCE