How does chiropractic work?
The brain coordinates everything in the body. It sends instructions down the spinal cord and out through the nerves, to all of your organs. Those organs send status reports through the nerves and back up the spinal cord to the brain. When this communication is working properly, the body keeps itself healthy and heals itself as needed, using the inner wisdom of the body, which we call "innate intelligence" in chiropractic. This is just a way of saying that the body knows how to heal itself. You don't have to tell a paper cut to heal - your body already knows what to do!
A misalignment in the spine can interfere with the communication between the brain and the rest of the body, since this communication occurs through the nerves and spinal cord. When this neurological communication is interfered with, we call the misalignment a "subluxation." Three things can happen when a subluxation is present:
Instructions from the brain might not reach specific organs, and as a result, those organs might not follow the most up-to-date instructions from the brain.
Status reports from the organs might not get to the brain, and as a result, the brain doesn't have all the information it needs to coordinate an appropriate response.
A little bit of 1 & 2 together!
Chiropractic corrects subluxations and restores the communication between the brain and body with an adjustment. The adjustment allows the instructions from the brain and status reports from the organs to get where they need to go so that the brain can coordinate the appropriate healing response. Getting adjusted helps the body heal itself!