Subluxation (Pinched Nerve)- Back on Track

Subluxation

What is Subluxation?

Subluxation is a term used by Doctors of Chiropractic to describe the misalignment of the spine resulting in nerve pressure or irritation. (commonly known as pinched nerves) Subluxations of the vertebrae of the spine are by far the most common type. Even the slightest misalignment can produce pressure and irritation upon nerves, effecting improper communication of vital nerve impulses to the organs, cells, and tissue of the body. The greater the misalignment, the greater the possibility of its affecting a nerve, and to a more severe degree. The more severe the subluxation, the more discomfort, pain, and often disabling illness that can result.

Spine and Nerves

The skull, which houses and protects the brain from which most nerves originate, rests atop the spinal column. From the brain, the spinal cord extends downward through a vertical canal, formed by the vertebrae of the spinal column, which houses and protects the spinal cord.

Thirty-one pairs of nerve roots emerge from the spinal cord through openings between the vertebrae. Each nerve extends to, and ultimately controls, a specific area of the body.

Causes of Subluxation

A minor subluxation may occur from the ordinary, everyday stresses and strains of normal living, even from such simple acts as twisting or turning. If left unattended, it may become chronic, resulting in severe, painful conditions. A fall or injury often causes major subluxations. They can be produced by any type of shock that overloads the nervous system's protective mechanism. Even the unavoidable and ever present downward pull of gravity on the upright body often overcomes body balance and produces poor posture, and misalignment of the spinal vertebrae may result. Abnormal function of the cells, tissues, and organs may be caused by the ensuing nerve irritation produced by this condition of subluxation.

Subluxations Affect Your Health

Research has proven that the slightest pressure on the spinal nerve root as it emerges from the spine can reduce the function of that nerve by 60 percent in a matter of minutes. Through research it was also discovered that by exerting, for a period of one to three hours, the same degree of pressure that chiropractors find in the average patient's spine, many of the nerve fibers and nerve roots rupture, producing poisons which spread to the surrounding tissues. When absorbed into the nerves, the poisons will, in time, progressively destroy them.

What Are The Danger Signals

If you are suffering from headaches, stiffness of neck, pain between shoulders, backache, pain in arms or legs, numbness in hands and feet, or general nervousness, you are suffering from one of the eight danger signals that indicate possible nerve pressure or irritation by subluxation or subluxations. Persistent headaches, for example, may be a warning signal of impinged nerves at the base of the head. These eight danger signals are the body's way of warning you that something is amiss. Left uncorrected, the symptoms will undoubtedly continue to increase and produce even more severe conditions.

Correcting Subluxations

The Doctor of Chiropractic locates subluxations through orthopedic, neurological, physical, kinesiological, and spinal examinations, as well as X-ray pictures. By spinal adjustments, in which vertebra is skillfully and carefully moved back into normal position, the chiropractor is able to remove the interference to the body's normal nerve control.

Acute subluxations can be corrected with just a few adjustments while chronic subluxations take frequent adjustments to retrain the misaligned vertebrae to hold their normal, non-irritating position.

The chiropractor's goal is to allow a normal flow of communication to and from the brain and every cell, tissue, organ, and system in the body - a prerequisite to health. Through spinal adjustments, body balance is restored, spinal misalignment is corrected, and the condition caused by the subluxation is relieved and eliminated. When the correction is completed and the nervous system is restored to normal function, the body will cure itself: that's the chiropractic premise. It has worked for nearly 100 years on more than 100 million people. Nature usually needs no help - it just needs no interference within the nervous system.

How Can You Stay Healthy?

By eliminating nerve interference, chiropractic care can not only correct numerous health problems, but also may prevent many conditions from developing. This enables the body to maintain its natural, inborn resistance to illness and disease. For continuing good health, the best answer is preventive health care.

In conjunction with a program of regular spinal adjustments that will improve the nerve function of your body, and therefore your overall general health, chiropractic advocates the basic formula of proper nutrition, adequate exercise, sufficient rest, good posture, and a positive attitude.

For you to live a longer, healthier and happier life, it is imperative that you be aware of the fact that subluxation is truly a disease that occurs in epidemic proportions. It is a serious condition in itself and can easily develop into conditions affecting every part of your body.

Chiropractors are the only professionals specializing in the detection and elimination of vertebral subluxations. Take your whole family to visit your chiropractor and let him or her detect and correct any subluxations you may have. For it is these mal positioned vertebrae which may impair nerve function and ultimately stifle human potential. Don't wait for health-threatening, or even life threatening, conditions to develop.