Ankeny Chiropractors answer Why we do what we do

Philosophy of why we do what we do…

Really, why we do this is because we believe that everyone, regardless of age, social status, previous health conditions and insurance has the potential for greatness. Everyone who we see should be expressing the life force that is in them to it's fullest potential. Call it the spirit, chi, or life force, but it is what makes you different from everyone else. That life that God has given you should be flowing through your body at the highest expression that it can have. Anything less is unacceptable. We feel loss when patients discontinue treatment early, we mourn for those patients who don't reach that full expression and feel that they are "good enough." It's difficult seeing people all around this state who are barely functional or are less than 100% of their life expression. It's like an artist painting a picture and settling for "good enough." It's like watching your kid give 50% effort when you know that he can do so much better. It's like watching people die a little every day because they aren't living. What we do is important and it's sad to see people less than fully alive.

God has given us the ability to be healthy, all the time. The assaults of the world, prevents us from expressing that capacity to be healthy. Chiropractic is a method of health care which uses that "God given" ability to heal as a basis for promoting natural wellness, vitality, and wholeness. Chiropractors adjust subluxations, this relieves nerve interference and allows the brain to communicate with all functions of the body creating a state of health.

The Brain is the master power source for the entire body. Without a connection to the brain, the body dies slowly. If the connection is impaired, the body progressively deteriorates farther and farther into a state of deranged function and malformation. For a very good, detailed experience in researching basic nervous system functions use the following link. It’s a site for kids, but it gives great detail of information in a very understandable format.

The nervous system is divided into multiple parts and each part can be explained in detail. The basic concepts are that some nerves originate in the brain, send messages through the spinal cord out to the body. Some nerves originate in the body and send messages back through the spinal cord to the brain. If the spinal structures are altered or misaligned in any way, this can effect how nerves function. A nerve transmits a signal down its length by the exchange of ions across the membrane of that nerve through the fluid surrounding the nerve and within the nerve. As with any fluid dynamics, if the fluid is squeezed away from around the nerve, the ions won’t be present to conduct the signal, effectively stopping the signal from reaching its target tissue. This is one of many ways the nerve is affected by the subluxation.

Through adjusting the spine, working with muscles and soft tissues around the spine, stretching and strengthening the support structures, we are able to restore more normalized nerve functions through the area of impingement.

With nerve function restored, organs can work better, muscles can contract more effectively, ligaments are less likely to be sprained, and even blood vessels through the autonomic nervous system can direct blood flow more appropriately throughout the body. All organ systems have nervous system controls to them. The heart rate is controlled through the nervous system. Lung function, stomach function and acid secretion, intestinal functions, liver and kidney function, and sexual functions are all controlled by the nervous system. The nervous system even controls the functions within the brain itself. Some blood flows, hormone secretions, and ionic concentrations within the brain can all be affected by connections through the spinal cord to the brain. These connections are all proven through medical and chiropractic research.

I have heard people say, “I don’t believe in chiropractic”. To say this is to say I don’t believe in science, or biology, or anatomy and physiology. All of the principles we use in chiropractic derive from information readily available to any anatomy student. Much of the research which validates the chiropractic profession comes directly from medical literature. Anything that I have stated in this article can be researched in the best journals, text books, or references from the medical literature. The only difference is how it is applied and the thought processes behind the method of treatment. I am not trying to “prove” anything to you. I say, you do the research, ask questions about the anatomy, discover how the nervous system works, then make your own decisions. What I do ask is that you don’t just ask one source their opinion about chiropractic, make them support their opinion with fact, research, anatomy and physiology principles, and then gather data from other sources. Opinions vary from provider to provider. “Science seeks to discover the laws that God has already set in place,” said Albert Einstein. Chiropractic can stand up to research and objective discoveries from science, it’s a matter of finding, discovery, asking the right questions, and time before the truths of chiropractic are brought to light at all levels.

© 2007 Roy Lubkeman, D.C.