Vertebral Subluxation
The vertebral subluxation is the cornerstone of chiropractic practice. It is the goal of chiropractors to find it and correct it, to ensure the fullest expression of innate intelligence in an organism. There is no bigger or more important job, that one could think of, to benefit his fellow man than to restore proper nerve flow. Chiropractic deals with the nervous system. The brain controls all cells of the body through an aggregated bundle of nerve fibers that exit the skull and pass through twenty-four freely movable bones called vertebra. This aggregated bundle of fibers is called the spinal cord and it sends peripheral nerve tissue exiting horizontally from between the vertebra as it continues its downward course. These peripheral nerves branch and supply every one of the ten billion cells of a human body, they also carry information from the cells back to the brain. This cycle of intelligent input and output is the homeostatic mechanism. It ensures adaptability of an organism within the normal ranges of its matter. If there is interference with this cycle, then proper homeostatic messages are disrupted and the organism experiences dis-ease. Dis-ease is defined as a decline from adaptability, the organism functions with decreasing efficiency or ease. If left alone this can lead to manifestations of the underlying dis-ease, namely pathologies and diseases. Chiropractors feel that dis-ease is always due to interference with intelligent mental impulses from brain to periphery or vice vs. Further more the manifestation of this interference is the vertebral subluxation. Vertebral Subluxation is defined by R.W. Stephenson as The condition of a vertebra which has lost it’s proper juxtaposition w...
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...years despite attempts by many organizations(chiropractic and non-chiropractic) to bastardize and defame the profession. Their definition also allows room for interweaving new ideas, or changing existing ones, without having to rewrite a new working definition every six months. It is a true foresight on their part to create a definition that could withstand the test of time.
The one question that I would like answered, to my knowledge, has never been addressed by any side. This is; which comes first, nerve interference or subluxation?
Bibliography:
References:
1. Stephenson’s Chiropractic Textbook, RW Stephenson, 1927, pp. 2-401
2. ACA, Basic Chiropractic Procedural Manual, 1977
3. ICD-10 classification for litigation and third party reimbursement
4. Webster’s dictionary, 1984, pp705
JVSR, Owens, Koch, Moore,1999, vol.3,pp98-103
The word “chiropractor” has two word origins, the Greek words cheir and praxis; meanwhile, cheir means “hand” and praxis means “practice.” Also, most of the work that chiropractors do is done by hand (Pike para. 5). In 2002, going to a chiropractor was found to be the most commonly used program for therapy. Seventy-four percent, about 4 million, of people that had back pain went to a chiropractor to get treated. Among that 74 percent of people, 66 percent of them stated that they got “a great benefit” (Pike para. 9). Many chiropractors work full time but 1 out of 3 chiropractors work part time. Chiropractors work whenever their patients need them, even on w...
Over the years, therapy has become a major factor in helping to cure diseases both mentally and physically. Today, a therapy used for both adults and children with Cerebral Palsy and Scoliosis is Hippotherapy. Hippotherapy is the use of a horse to fix the sensory motors and the structure of the spine. This therapy was first introduced back in the B.C era, but because of the lack of technology the research of the therapy was placed on hold until 1875 when Dr. Chassaign started looking into activities that can help improve things such as posture, balance, and joint movement. Hippotherapy helps improve the sensory motors and spine structure. This opinion is based on observations made at Heavenly Hoofs, which is a place that deals with therapeutic riding. Hippotherapy can help children and adult with both spine and mobilization problems by using the motion of the horse to slowly fix sensory motors.
D.D Palmer believed in a body’s’ ‘innate intelligence’, and believed subluxation to be the ultimate cause of all diseases, promising to be overcome through spinal manipulation. (Lantz, 1995). This theory cured the deaf janitor, and marked the birth of the chiropractic profession. The cause that led to the great schism occurred when Dr. Carver and enrolled students in Palmers Collage debated the techniques being taught, searching for evidence based theory, and structure for manipulations, moving away from the previous spiritual and innate intelligence grounded theory. (Rosenthal et al. 1981). Carver opened a new collage, rejecting and evolving from D.D Palmers one cure model, and introduced the search for ‘clarification’ of the chiropractic overall structure and function through scientifically based evidence. (Rosenthal et al.
The good news is poor posture can be easily corrected, which will redirect the forces applied to the intervertebral disc. The bad news is a lot of people have poor posture.
Posture Correction – Poor posture is a major issue involved in back pain. Poor posture is also unattractive and unhealthy to the body. Good posture helps the body maintain balance and stay aligned. Inversion therapy helps to realign your spine so you can enjoy the health benefits of good
The vertebral column of the body remains stable due to the isometric co-contraction of the erector spinae, rectus abdominus and the e...
The spinal cord is a major channel in the body where motor and sensory information travels from the brain to the body. It has white matter that surrounds a central gray matter. The gray matter is where most of the neuronal cells are located. Injury to the spinal cord will affect the conduction of information across any part of the spinal cord where the damage is located (Maynard et al., 1997). This will often result in permanent disability of a certain muscle or region of the body (Meletis et al., 2008) and a loss of tissue where the damage is located (Peng et al., 2009). As of now, there is no treatment for spinal cord injury expect for steroids. All steroids can do is provide protect of the spinal cord from secondary injury for specific patients (Peng et al., 2009).
Besides their other medical studies, osteopathic students get 200 hours of training in "osteopathic manipulative medicine," a hands-on technique for diagnosis and healing. Limited motion in the lower ribs, for instance, can cause pain in the stomach that seems a lot like irritable bowel syndrome. Identifying the muscle strain in the ribs through manipulation, and then treating it, can relieve the stomach distress. An osteopath learns to apply specific amounts of pressure on a body part, attempting to relax it or stimulate it. While such an approach might have raised eyebrows in the profession a decade or two ago, these days almost no one--except perhaps the crustiest old M.D.'s--dismisses it as New Age nonsense. Manipulative medicine is based on the not terribly heretical idea that structures in the body influence function, and that a problem in the structure of one body part can cause problems in the function of other parts.
Simple musculoskeletal back pain has symptoms of pain in the lumbrasacral area of the back (Jackson & Simpson, 2006). The upper thighs and knees are also known to be affected (Jackson & Simpson, 2006). This pain is usually described as a dull pain (Jackson & Simpson, 2006). Spinal nerve root pain is localised down the leg, and usually continues below the knee and into the feet (Jackson & Simpson, 2006). It has been d...
During the early 1900’s, William Sutherland, became fascinated with the design of the human skull. He believed that the bones in the cranium move in relation to each other. Through self-experiment, he was able to feel a certain rhythmic motion of the cerebrospinal fluid, which he called the craniosacral rhythm. (1) Based off of Sutherland’s work, John Upledger, an osteopathic physician, studied the craniosacral rhythm in depth. During 1975-1983, he continued to s...
through the Eyes of a Participant Observer." Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. Vol. 20, No. 1, 19 Jan. 2012, p. 1. EBSCOhost. 2017 October 25.
The Gate- Control theory conceives that the spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that either blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The spinal cord contains small nerve fibers that conduct most pain signals and larger fibers that contain most other sensory signals. When the tissue is injured, the small fibers activate and open the neural gate causing...
On the whole, science plays a major role in the realm of medicine, as it is the foundation for the creation of new treatments and education. Science is defined as “…research firmly based upon one or more past scientific achievements, achievements that some particular scientific community acknowledges for a time as supplying the foundation for its further practice” (Kuhn 70). The aspect of scientific research is important because as more diseases and medical conditions become recognized, scientists need to discover possible cures and develop medicine in order for physicians to treat their patients. For example, in A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness, neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran recounts how patients with “reflex sympathetic dystrophy”, also known as RSD, were research subjects in a scientific experiment to discover if there was a way to cure their unremitting pain (17). As a result of this experiment, a new and effective treatment for those in chronic pain was determined once it was discovered that the patients’ pain went away completely and mobility returned to limbs when mirrors were utilized (18). Through science, the answer to how physicians may prescribe a trea...
New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. eMedicineHealth.com - eMedicineHealth.com - eMedicineHealth.com - eMedicineHealth.com - eMedicineHealth.com - eMedicineHealth.com - 2013. The. Anatomy of the Central Nervous System. Pictures and Information on eMedicineHealth.com.