Structure and Function

What is chiropractic and what to doctors of chiropractic do?  That is a really good question.  Chiropractors believe that the structure of your body greatly effects how it functions.  Not just how you move around or how fast you can run and those types of things but how you function overall.  We are talking joints, muscles, nerves, ligaments, organs, and everything else.  Your brain controls every cell and organ in your body.  Its nerve signals are sent downward from the brain to the spinal cord and then out to the nerve roots which eventually branch out to innervate everything.  The spinal cord is housed within the bones of your neck and back called the spine and the nerve roots exit from the spine through little holes called IVF's.  When the structure of your spine is altered, bad things start to happen.  First of all, because the structure is altered, joints start to have dysfunction.  They don't move correctly and become restricted.  This in itself is enough to cause cellular breakage, inflammation, and pain.  A recent study showed that joint restriction and immobilization caused joint surfaces to start degenerating within just 72 hours!  Altering structure causes stresses to be taken up unevenly.  Bones form according to the stresses placed on them and uneven stress leads to uneven bone growth.  Whenever I see a bone spur on a X-ray I know right away that there is a structural problem.  I always think of the car alignment analogy here - If the alignment on your car went out one day you might not really even notice anything at first.  Drive another couple of thousand miles with a bad alignment and I can guarantee that you will start noticing that things are not right.  What might start as just an irritating wobble at first could end up becoming a big problem later when you start to mess up tie rods, ball joint, and other expensive parts.  Your spine structure is like this.  Bad alignment left untreated will eventually lead to much worse problems later on such as arthritis, disc problems, nerve problems, joint problems...the list goes on and on.  Structure effects function.  It is as simple as that.  Chiropractors are the very best healthcare professionals that address the structure of your body without invasive procedures or drugs.