What is Chiropractic?

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The science and art of healing through touch is one of humanity’s most ancient practices. Even though the modern chiropractic profession has only been around 125+ years, physicians have been manually adjusting the spine for thousands of years in countries all over the world (1). Hippocrates described some of these techniques in his first book on joints in ~400 BCE (1), which indicates these practices had been in use long before that.

These practices have endured the test of time because they work.

In 1895, Daniel Palmer performed the first modern “chiropractic adjustment”on a man who had become deaf following a back injury. After his second adjustment, Harvey Lillard’s hearing permanently returned. This result profoundly affected Palmer, and he and his son dedicated the rest of their lives to develop their chiropractic practice and theories.

The first theories of chiropractic were based on the concept that the nerves emerging from the spine could be pinched, and that the organs that communicated with those nerves would receive suboptimal life force. An adjustment was thought to relieve the pressure from those nerves and allow organs to resume optimal function. As it turns out, this theory is actually correct for certain cases.

However, 125 years of neuroscience research has taught us a lot. We now know that bones are not usually pinching nerves. So why do we still get such good results with spinal adjustments? The story is more elegant than Palmer ever imagined, and we are only just scratching the surface of this knowledge. 

For more detail, delve into Dr. Heidi Haavik’s incredible research. For a greatly abbreviated version, read on.

When you place a pebble into a pond, a ripple spreads out and affects the whole body of water. The pebble is localized to one small spot, yet the entirety of the water is given motion. It is activated and changed.

With proper training and experience, chiropractors learn where and how to “place the pebble”, or introduce an adjustment, so that the “ripples” of such an input can be optimally received and integrated into the whole. With this integration comes improved function and performance.

In an adjustment, the spinal joints, muscles, nerves, fasciae, etc are activated and neurologically fine-tuned, and the brain receives this information and adapts its output, biochemistry, perception of reality, connection with your muscles, and more (2), (3) (4). The brain is essentially given a more accurate map of its internal & external environment, and is thus able to coordinate body functions more accurately. The scientific evidence is now very clear that changes in the prefrontal cortex occur in an adjustment, and that these changes affect sensorimotor integration (2).

Since the brain has communication with literally every cell of the body, it is thus no surprise that we see dramatic changes everywhere in the body as a result of an adjustment. There are countless stories of significant improvements in digestion, autoimmune issues, sleep, mental clarity, sports performance, female monthly cycle issues, and on and on and on. Just ask Harvey Lillard, or the 35 million Americans who get adjusted every year.

Basically, chiropractic, when done well… is awesome!