Q. Dear Dr Harvey,
Could you please explain how chiropractic heals? I know a number of my friends go to chiropractors for all kinds of different conditions. I don't understand how adjusting
the spine can cure anything.

A. In order to understand how chiropractic can help a certain condition, it is important to get a better understanding of how the body works. We know that the body's information and communication system is primarily the nervous system.

It is along the nervous system that the body sends messages to every cell in the body in regards to normal function, metabolism, reproduction, etc. The body has an intelligence that is far beyond any doctors' understanding at this point. In chiropractic, we call this intelligence "innate intelligence."

It is your innate intelligence which controls your body's normal functions: your heart rate, liver function, etc. It is also your innate intelligence that developed you from two cells to the over four-trillion cells you are today.

As an example of how far we are from understanding the intelligence of the body, you could take the greatest minds in science and give them the most advanced lab in the world and they could not make one red blood cell. However, your body will make thousands of them today and it can make them out of a tuna sandwich. This might seem like an unusual
example, yet this is how far we are from understanding the body.

Unfortunately, much of the practice of so-called "healing" today does not have much to do with healing at all. It is mostly emergency first aid such as setting broken bones, stitching up cuts, removing tumors, etc. There is also the taking of drugs to kill germs, numb pain or change the body's
chemistry in one way or another. In most cases this is not true healing; it is healing symptoms. It is not addressing the cause of the problem.

Does removing the tumor change the body that produced it in the first place? Does taking antibiotics raise the resistance or immune system of the person who is sick? Does taking blood pressure medicine change the malfunction that led to high blood pressure? How many people every day are taken to the hospital, get worse or even die because of a bad reaction to a drug they have taken? Chiropractic philosophy is based on the fact that the innate intelligence that created the body has far
more knowledge than any doctor. This wisdom of the body can and does work wonders if it is not interfered with.

There is a condition known as vertebral subluxation. The subluxation will interfere with normal nerve function, which results in decreased ability for the brain to communicate properly with the body, which could eventually result in some sort of condition or symptom. When we suffer from
disease, our natural healing ability is lessened, our resistance is lowered and we will get sick.

In answering your question - chiropractors do not heal anything. Your body is the healer! The chiropractors' job is to reduce the interference that is caused by the subluxation. This is done by adjusting the spine to return normal function to the nervous system. You cannot be truly healthy, reach your full potential or achieve your greatest healing ability if you have pressure on your nervous system.

There are, of course, a number of these factors that influence your healing ability: diet, exercise, stress, age, etc. However, if you have a condition or symptom that has not responded to traditional or other forms of treatment, remember that you haven't "tried everything to get better" until you have tried chiropractic. Keep in mind, the job of any doctor should be to raise the patients' natural or innate healing ability to its
highest efficiency.

Dr. Gregory D. Harvey, D.C., N.M.D., is the Founder/Director of the New Life Chiropractic Clinic in Solana Beach, CA, just north of San Diego. It is one of the largest clinics in Southern California.

©1999 New Life Chiropractic Clinic,Inc.
983 Lomas Santa Fe #G, Solana Beach,CA 92075
Phone:(619) 509-0800 Fax:(619) 509-9907

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