The Vertebral Subluxation

 It is important in a scientific endeavor to continually reevaluate your findings and your theories, to make sure that they are still valid. I believe it is also important that we continually reevaluate aspects of our chiropractic philosophy. The philosophical aspect of the subluxation is an important area to be addressed. It is important because it is a physiological phenomena. It deals with a physical bone and its relationship to a physical nerve. It is also a metaphysical phenomena inasmuch as it deals with factors that cannot be measured or evaluated empirically. The mental impulse may have a neurological component to it because it travels over the nerve system from the brain but it also has a metaphysical component to it, a message being conveyed by the innate intelligence of the body to the organs and tissues. It is more than just electrical energy.

While some have tried to force the Vertebral Subluxation Complex on us, most chiropractors in the straight community still adhere to B.J.’s definition as presented in Stephenson’s Chiropractic Textbook: “a vertebra that has lost its proper juxtaposition with the one above, the one below or both to a degree less than a luxation which occludes an opening, impinges a nerve and interferes with the transmission of mental impulses between brain and tissue cell.” I believe, however, that we have come to the point of recognizing another component of the subluxation. It may seem obvious to some but it should be stated. To be a subluxation, the vertebra meeting the above criteria must also be in a position where the innate intelligence of the body cannot move it back to the proper position. In other words, it is locked in the wrong position and the innate intelligence of the body cannot move it. This is a fixation from a philosophical position, not necessarily from a technique standpoint. There are techniques that use the term “fixation” which may or may not be the same thing.

Our role as chiropractors is very simple. We introduce a force into the spine, as specific a force as possible, in as close to the exact magnitude as is necessary for the innate intelligence of the body to utilize in order to correct the subluxation. The innate intelligence does not have or can not create sufficient force to move the bone from the subluxated position. It cannot do so because it needs the nerve system to convey the force necessary to cause the muscle to act in order to move the bone and correct the subluxation. The subluxation is interfering with the conveyance of that force. Ultimately then, it is the innate intelligence of the recipient’s body that will correct the subluxation and move the bone to the exact position where it wants it.  v18n1