Dear Joe,
“A patient asked this question: ‘How do you know that by … adjusting the spine you are actually improving nerve supply from the brain.” Dr. R.B. One of the difficulties that we have as objective straight chiropractors is that we are performing a service that does not necessarily have noticeable benefits. Sometimes it does, often it does not. While that seems to be a problem unique to what we do, there are many procedures in which no immediate results are perceived. People take nutritional supplements not because they make them feel better or because they see an immediate change but simply because they know they are better for it. The same holds true for drinking bottled water. People who exercise regularly do not necessarily notice positive changes. In the medical arena, routine check-ups often reveal serious problems in asymptomatic people. For example, by-pass surgery may be recommended for someone who, on a yearly exam, was found to have blockages in his arteries. People such as this, who do not feel bad to start with, may undergo major surgery often to feel no different afterward (minus the recovery period, of course). Yet, in all of the above, there are people who notice immediate and dramatic changes as well. The same is true for the person under chiropractic care. Some people do not notice changes immediately but notice them gradually over a long period of time. They do not notice changes even though they have occurred. Many people have returned to our office after discontinuing care only to tell us how much better they were feeling when they were getting adjusted regularly. They did not notice the improved function when it was occurring. However, after not getting adjusted for a while, they suddenly realize the difference having a good nerve supply made. This same principle holds true for exercising and eating well. I have seen it in my own life in those areas on many occasions.
So, how do you answer the practice members who ask the above question? I suppose a possible response might be “Well, why don’t you stop your chiropractic care and see what happens?!” Of course, you would follow up that bit of sarcasm with an explanation of why that is foolish, explaining some of the information that I just presented. I believe, however, it is also important to use this opportunity to explain a chiropractic principle. Chiropractic relates to a law, the law of life, which, because it is a law, works all the time. It may not be evident all the time but it is working. We see the law of gravity working when we drop our car keys. (I apologize to all of you Life students and graduates for the example.) We do not see the law of gravity working when the car keys are sitting on the kitchen table but it is working just the same.
When a subluxation is corrected, force, what we call in chiropractic a mental impulse, is restored to the body. That mental impulse cannot be measured with the technology that we have today just as an individual’s blood pressure could not be measured 500 years ago. Yet we have seen enough evidence to know there is a cause-effect relationship. When a spinal bone is dislocated there may be death (hanging). When a spinal bone is fractured and puts pressure on the spinal cord, there may be major paralysis. These are the principles of spinal bones putting pressure on the cord, manifesting itself in the perceptible realm. A principle that is true in the perceptible realm is also true in the imperceptible realm (gravity and the keys). Therefore, a spinal bone out of place, even if misaligned by only a few millimeters, disrupts the proper function of the nerve system. That would be my response to this question. v18n1