Chiropractic has been my main health care system for over 30 years, and I’m happy to report that at nearly 77, my energy level is bouncy high, my body moves smoothly, my brain still functions, and my overall sense of well-being is close to euphoria, just about off the charts. Having no ailments, I take no medication, not even multi-vitamins or other supplements. However, advised by my chiropractor, I eat twice daily 13 different organically grown green vegetables and 13 different organically grown fruits – all in capsule form. Not to be bragging, just setting the stage for what comes next.

I regularly see my chiropractor for adjustment - at least once a month, sometimes twice. And because I am a low-income-senior, we barter our services. For example, I built and maintain his website, as well as doing other computer chores for him in exchange for the adjustments he gives me. Our latest project has to do with making a video to introduce to his new patients the advantages and importance of a regular wellness program. We meet tonight to script the final version. And this is why I’m writing this hub. Sort of getting my ducks in order.

Working on this project, I’ve learned a great deal about the nervous system, which I want to share here.

A Bit of Body History

Fertilization occurs, as everyone knows, when the sperm meets the egg. Immediately, the cells begin to rapidly divide without differentiation until the eighteenth day. At this stage, the beginning of the nervous system is formed. Henceforth, the budding nervous system determines the roles each of these cells will take on. Some become liver cells, some become tissue cells, and so forth. The nervous system builds and regulates the body for a person’s entire life. It never stops doing this job. It is the conduit of the life force that allows us to be alive. And of course, the nervous system includes the brain.

45% of the nervous system controls the motor operation allowing one to move arms and legs, and so forth. Now, I always had this idea that the brain and nervous system sent something like electrical signals But it turns out there is more to this process. The signals are better understood as being a vibration that stimulates the action. More about this further down.

45% of the nervous system operates the autonomic system that regulates those functions you don’t have to consciously think about, the heart pumping blood, the stomach digesting food and so forth.

This leaves 10%, and this is the part of the nervous system that allows you to register sensations, and to feel pain.

Crisis Oriented

This means that your autonomic system may not be functioning properly, and you won’t be aware of this until you feel pain. In other words, if your nervous system is not working at its tip-top best, some part of your body is not getting enough of the life force feeding it, and you won’t be aware of this condition until the organ or the gland or the muscle or the joint effected has deteriorated to the point where you finally register the pain. This is when a person feels compelled to seek medical help. Generally, your doctor will prescribe medication to ease the pain and/or stimulate the organ to work harder so that it seems the body part is getting well. This approach – waiting for the pain to get so bad that you decide to do something about – is known as crises oriented health care. And this is the most widely used method people employ for their health care. It is the most expensive way to go, and more often than otherwise, the least effective. Our mainstream health care system – doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical and insurance companies – are embroiled in this crisis style, although lip service and some action are given to ‘wellness’ programs.

 Chiropractic Approach To Wellness

 If, instead of seeking allopathic help, you go to a chiropractor, he or she will assist your body’s natural healing ability by freeing up the pressure, irritation and/or tension affecting your nervous system. A healthy nervous system means a healthy body. The body naturally heals itself when the nervous system is fully functional.

With a healthy nervous system, your energy levels are high; your immune system is high, your body movement supple, no aches and pains, no frequent colds and other such type ailments.

What causes pressure, irritation, and tension to the nervous system? Your spinal cord, which is the main nerve connecting your brain with the rest of you, is housed in the vertebrae bone structure. When there is a misalignment of the vertebrae, pressure on the nerve happens. At each of the vertebrae, a nerve branch – called the dorsal horn – grows out of the spinal cord, just like the branch of a tree. Depending on which vertebra is affected, that nerve, feeding life force to the cells in a particular part of the body, due to pressure, irritation, and/or tension, is dampened down. Vibrational information coming from the brain that regulates the cells affected is much less than it should be. It only takes very little pressure to cause the nerve to lose as much as 60% of its effectiveness. To get an idea of how little pressure is involved, just feel the weight of a dime on the back of your hand.

This condition, the pinched nerve, is called a subluxation. You might be suffering from several subluxations without knowing it. This means that messages from the affected cells are not being clearly transmitted to the brain. Thus, the brain, misinformed, sends back inappropriate messages. Back and forth, miscommunication is happening. In time, the affected cells fail to function properly, that part of the body suffers. It may be a gland, a muscle, a joint, an organ, the result being disease and pain.

Individuals live with subluxated nerves for years. They attribute the gradual deterioration of their bodies to old age, not realizing that their subluxated condition is speeding up their aging process. They believe their aches and pains, their arthritic condition and other ailments are simply due to a hard life and/or old age.

The crisis oriented person is then of a mind to do something about the problem and seeks the help of a doctor. If that person goes to a chiropractor, s/he has a good chance of becoming healed…not cured…healed.

The chiropractor will break up the subluxation using various methods. By adjusting the spinal vertebrae, by applying counter pressure through the bone to the nerve, thus stimulating a signal to the brain, which then resets the vibrational tone, sending clear signals to the cells, with clear signals returning to brain from the cells, the natural healing process reasserts itself.

 Sounds Like Magic, Doesn’t it?

The key to understanding this magic is in the concept of ‘vibration’ or what the chiropractor calls tone. Quantum physics tells us that the universe is really vibration. In other words, vibration is life, the life force, and the agent of intelligence. Nothing magical at all. It is this aliveness that is available to all of life, including you and me. Other animals seldom get sick, given normal circumstances, which maybe are becoming abnormal considering the state of our planet’s health. Life stays healthy given a chance.

But we humans live unhealthy lives. More often than not, we are the cause of our subluxated bodies.

How Does This Happen?

The three causes of subluxations are physical actions, emotional actions, and chemical actions.

Physical

Some physical actions are unavoidable. You might slip on the ice and have a serious fall that throws the spinal column out of adjustment. Such occasions are not totally one’s fault. Bad posture, however, can be avoided. If your work is mostly sedentary, you may have gotten into bad sitting habits. Or you may be holding your head the wrong way. Persistent bad posture of whatever sort results in a chronic subluxated condition.

It is important to keep your body supple by movement and exercise, walking, dancing, and such like activities in addition to maintaining good posture. One leg may be slightly shorter than the other, causing the body to be out of alignment. Your chiropractor will inform you of what you can do to get into proper balance.

For example, I wear orthotics in my shoes specially designed to my feet. Thus, my hips are level, my spinal column is straight, preventing subluxation.

Emotional

When you have a strong emotional reaction to something, your body reacts, muscles contract, nerves to the muscles seize up thus pulling a vertebra out of alignment resulting in pressure on a nerve that comes out of the spine. Again, the pressure can be ever so slight, but the damage, if the emotional reaction becomes persistent, can be great.

Being submerged in a chronic negative state: fears, anxieties, and animosities cause the body response to irritate the nerves. Somewhere in your body, a nerve or many nerves are irritated or stretch too much.

To avoid emotionally caused subluxations, one needs to cultivate an even temperament, not have violent emotional outbursts. Dwelling on happy thoughts, such as gratitude for life, appreciation of others, reduced judgmental reactions – all these positive emotional actions help to maintain a healthy nervous system.

 Chemical

Negative chemical conditions abound in our environment, which need to be avoided as much as possible. Toxic air, pesticides in food, food coloring, all sorts of artificial substances in processed foods are all to be avoided.

Cigarette smoking, alcohol, over eating, too much sugar – all exacerbate the nerves and cause subluxations.

For a healthy nervous system, eating whole foods and lots of fruits and green vegetables, drinking lots of good water, breathing deeply good air is the way to go.

The proactive wellness life is up to you. You have the power to move away from crisis health care, which is really no health care at all.

Investing in regular chiropractic care costs very little. One visit a month is adequate, particularly after your had sufficient visits to overcome your symptoms. My chiropractor charges a mere $45 a visit, a little over $500 a year. Compare that cost to the cost of a crisis illness that can amount to many thousands of dollars.

It’s up to you. You have a choice.