Chiropractic and Imbalance

by Dr. Lyle Norton

Many patients have asked me, "What did I do that caused this pain? I can't think of anything I did." The answer is imbalance. An imbalance caused your pain. What do I mean by that? There are many types of imbalances, all of them detrimental to your health. In the large categories there are four basic things to be balanced: the spiritual, the mental, the emotional, and the physical. If any of these large categories become imbalanced it is detrimental to our well being.

Within the physical category there are many subcategories. There are nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, enzymes, calories, essential fats, and amino acids or proteins to name a few. There are also waste products (byproducts of metabolism) that need to be balanced or eliminated from our systems. There are chemicals that come into our bodies through food products, hygiene or makeup products, environmental products like plastics, paint, insecticide, combustion, etc. There are also biomechanical forces that must be balanced, nerve energy that must be balanced, hormones and prostaglandins, etc. etc. etc. Anyway, you get the idea.

Any of these subcategories can become imbalanced very quickly or very gradually depending on the circumstances. If we fall from a horse the onset is rapid, but if we are sitting at a computer the onset may be gradual. All of these affect our nervous system and most of them ultimately affect our joints, particularly our spinal joints because of their close proximity to the spinal nerve roots. When a nerve becomes irritated from a buildup of waste products or toxic chemicals that the body is trying to isolate by sending it to an area with no blood supply (i.e. your joints), the result is the same as falling off a horse. Pain and interruption of that nerve function to all the areas and organs it supplies! I don't mean that the entire nerve signal is interrupted, just a significant portion of it. Studies have shown up to 40% reduction of nerve energy without even direct compression of the nerve root.

Chiropractic is a method of removing that nerve interference and irritation. It is just as effective when there is a buildup of waste products in a joint as it is if you have damaged a muscle and ligaments around a joint. In the case of the waste products, by restoring motion to the joint it increases the exchange of waste for nutrients through the facilitated motion. In the case of overt injury, it releases the tension, stretches, and mobilizes the structures thereby decreasing inflammation, accelerating healing and facilitating the remodeling process. In both cases it turns down the nerve irritation and facilitates healthy, balanced nerve conduction. By doing this, the balance of the entire body is improved because nerve energy is what provides the body with balance. These are just two examples of how chiropractic helps restore balance.