Get The Big Idea...and All Else Follows

Another summer almost over and back to school time! I hope that everyone has enjoyed the summertime fun! I thought it would be appropriate to get back to basics in this month’s newsletter.
Recently I was speaking with a woman who had some general questions about chiropractic care. She had been having some low back problems, and I was doing my best to assist her. She then asked me, “So, can you prescribe me a painkiller?” I responded with a “no, it’s against my licensure,” and she walked away disinterested.
I pondered on that for a while, and realized what went wrong. There were a few points in that conversation that were unable to be addressed, and I would like to share those with you. Chiropractic is based on many principles of philosophy and science, many that most of those who did not go to chiropractic school don’t even know of (even some chiro schools don’t teach these principles).
There is an energy that lives inside all life—plants, animals, and humans. This is called a spirit, or an Innate Intelligence, etc. An intelligence that, when you die, is taken from your body and your body is just matter—no innate intelligence controlling cells and tissues any more. Our bodies have an energy, a life force, that connects Intelligence to the matter of your body (to the cells and organs) and it flows along our spinal cord and nerves. Our brain controls this intelligence. If you cut the brainstem from the spinal cord, you will die (the spirit or intelligence will leave) and you will lose all intelligence.
Because of different stresses in our lives the bones in our spinal columns can shift out of place. These shifts are what we call vertebral subluxations. When a subluxation occurs, it blocks the life force or energy from going to the organs at that level. It’s like a dimmer switch on the wall in which the energy is turned down, and the organs are not going to get that vital energy they need to stay healthy. So a subluxation is a bad thing. If you have a subluxation, you may get organ symptoms, such as frequent nausea, heart palpitations, constipation etc., because all of the organs are totally dependent on the energy from your spine.
One of the first principles that I learned in chiro school was about “symptoms.” Chiropractors do not treat symptoms. This is the practice of medicine. This is why that woman asked if we prescribe painkillers. That is medicine to treat a symptom, and that is what most of us have been raised with is medicine. Chiropractic is a completely different theory and philosophy. One that was derived back in the late 1800’s—early 1900’s by the Palmer’s, the founders of chiropractic. And in my opinion is a genius theory.
Many don’t realize that some symptoms may actually be a good thing. Say you ate some bad fish and had flu symptoms of nausea, vomiting etc. Is it better to take medicine and cover it up? Or should you get the bad fish out of you due to your symptoms? Your body has reached a crisis state and cannot adapt to the bad fish, so your innate intelligence says, “We better get rid of this stuff!” It is the same with a fever. A fever is a good thing. What does it do? It kills virus and bacteria. You get an infection and innate intelligence says, “Let’s turn up the body temperature to kill everything!” Often times, we take medicine to get rid of the fever; that is not a good thing,

except the bacteria and virus love it.
The focus of chiropractic care is to remove subluxations in the spine. You may have different symptoms due to vertebral subluxations, or you may not. Many don’t even know that they have a subluxation. By the time you’re in pain, it means that the nerves are inflamed and your body is in a crisis mode. Symptoms may or may not be manifested from subluxations.
That is why if you came in with some low back pain, we also check the rest of your spine. You probably have subluxations throughout that aren’t manifesting as “pain.” However, you may have different organs that are being affected by it, and have other symptoms such as high blood pressure, acid reflux disease, etc.
Chiropractic care is one of the best ways to treat for back pain, neck pain, etc. You can get fast results. However, is this medicine? Just to relieve from pain (symptoms) is a pure medical model. Our goal as a chiropractor is to not only get your body out of crisis mode (relieve the pain and follow a medical model) but continue to remove subluxations in your spine until your body is able to express itself at an optimal level, whatever that level may be. Who doesn’t want that?
The last thing that I want in my body are vertebral subluxations. I understand that nutrition, exercise, water, supplements, are all important. But if you have a subluxation in your spine that is blocking the energy to your organs that control hormones, digestion, muscles etc., are you going to be able to process those nutrients, exercise at your optimal level, utilize oxygen and water like your body is supposed to, or even process a supplement? How can it? The information from the brain is not getting to those vital organs! It’s like a computer system that is gone crazy. “Garbage in=garbage out.” Whatever you put in is not going to be processed properly. A subluxation is a bad thing.
That is why we say “Chiropractic first...and all else follows.” We adjust subluxations, and that’s all. You want your body’s nervous system functioning at an optimal level, then you will process nutrients, water, etc. like you are supposed to, and that intelligence inside of you will express itself at it’s optimal performance. So the next time you get adjusted, which may be right now after reading this, remember, more energy is flowing to your organs that ever before after the adjustment, and watch your health improve and thrive!
Dr. Carter