History of Chiropractic

Chiropractic Therapy is a health care profession dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders related to and derived from the Neuromusculoskeletal System.  Chiropractic focuses mainly on the use of manual therapy, including the adjustment and manipulation of the vertbral spine alone with extremity joints in conjunction with soft tissue therapies.  Many chiropractors also implement exercises, health and lifestyle counseling along with their treatment regiment. Chiropractic philosophy embodies the idea that a Vertbral Subluxation interferes with the body's Innate Intelligence.

D.D. Palmer discovered Chiropractic in the 1890s. Following in his path was his son B.J. Palmer, and his son B.J. Palmer helped to expand it in the early 20th century.

Chiropractic is well established in the U.S., Canada and Australia and is the third largest of the doctored health professions. Chiropractic has developed a strong political base and sustained demand for services; in recent decades, it has gained more legitimacy and greater acceptance among the medical community. Manual therapies commonly used by chiropractors are effective for the treatment of low back pain, treatment of lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy,neck pain,headache,and extremity joint conditions. 

How Chiropractic Helps

Chiropractic is a natural healthcare system.  There are no foreign substances that are needed to allow the body to heal. Chiropractic unlocks the body's own power to adapt and thrive. Chiropractic has a main focus of restoring and maintaining motion of the spine and all other joints of the body.

How Chiropractic Works

One of the most important organs in the human body is the brain. To maintain a healthy functioning brain, constant stimulation and input is required.  The greatest source of input to the brain is afferents from muscle spindles and proprioceptors in the spine.  When these spinal joints are not moving smoothly the muscle spindles and proprioceptors are not reaching maximum capacity and therefore decrease the neuronal firing of the brain.  As a result, the spinal pathways that these impluses travel through begin to degrade. Furthermore, this loss of motion and input allows other pathways to take priority. As a consequence the pain pathway begins to override the existing pathways causing a large spike in pain sensitivity.  When the brain is constantly bombarded with pain signals, 2 things happen.  First, that pain pathway becomes plastic and less stimulus is needed to experience greater levels of pain.  Second, the area of the brain that corresponds to the pain sensation slowly and progressively reduces in size due to neuron death.

Chiropractic specifically targets those muscle spindles and proprioceptors so that healthy afferentation can reach the brain.  The activation of these pathways over time improves the brain's volitional control of muscles as well as nonvolitional control of autonomic functions such as controlling the sympathetic nervous system. Keeping the sympathetic nervous system regulated allows functions such as digestion, reproduction and healing to occur optimally. When these pathways are strengthened, there is a lesser degree of nociception that reaches the brain and therefore less pain is felt.

Chiropractic and the Future of Medicine in Healthcare