This paper is a fascinating example of just how powerful a Chiropractic adjustment can be. When most people think of Chiropractic care they think it is good for neck and low back pain but not much else. Yes it is true we Chiropractors help people with musculo-skeletal pains very successfully, however Chiropractic care is about so much more than that.

The essence of Chiropractic care is that adjustments to the spine allow the nervous system to function properly.  And the nervous system is the master control of everything that happens in your body. Every part and function in your body relies on the free flow of information through the nervous system to work properly. Misalignments in the spine, or subluxations, impinge on the nerves and reduce the information flow though them.

In the case of a patient suffering with neck or back pain a misalignment of the spine could be irritating the nerves causing pain. A Chiropractic adjustment will correct the misalignment and reduce the inflammation of the joints, reducing the pressure on the nerve, relieving the pain. But nerves do much more than just transmit pain signals. The nerves transmit all of the signals in our bodies that our joints, organs, and systems need to function properly. A subluxation of a spinal joint could be affecting the nerves that control the heart or digestive system or any organ system in our body. So you can see Chiropractic care is really about making sure your body is functioning at its peak. Not just pain relief.

In this published case report a 4 year old boy with Down’s Syndrome was brought in not for pain but for a general check up and because, since birth, his eyes did not look directly forward but both were turned inward about 15 degrees. (The fancy term for this is bilateral convergent strabismus, if you want to impress your friends.) He had seen his medical doctor and one of his eyes were surgically corrected to look directly forward in an attempt to give him better vision.

The Chiropractor evaluated his spine and found a subluxation, or misalignment, in the first bone in his neck, called the Atlas. The Chiropractor set up a plan of care and the boy was seen a total of 12 times over the course of 2 months being adjusted as needed. By his 12^th visit the boy’s eye that was turned in was now looking straight forward and the one that had been surgically corrected now pointed outward by 15 degrees!

So what happened? Did the Chiropractor fix one eye and make the other worse? No of course not. Chiropractic is about making the whole body function properly. There isn’t a left eye or right eye adjustment. Once the spinal subluxations were corrected his body was able to send the correct signals to the muscles that control the movement of the eyes. With proper nerve supply the muscles that position the eye were able to balance and repositioned the eye properly. The eye that was surgically corrected was done by cutting and shortening one of the muscles that positions the eye, forcibly pulling the eye to center. The chiropractic adjustment restored normal nerve signal to the muscles of this eye also. With proper nerve flow the eye muscle on the inside of the eye relaxed and functioned properly the one that was surgically shortened was now too tight and pulled the eye outward.

This is a great example of the power of the Chiropractic adjustment beyond just pain relief. An adjustment restores normal nerve function allowing the body to function properly. Who wouldn’t want to function at their peak?

It’s as simple as that.