Technic and Practice of Chiropractic

by Joy Maxwell Loban

IN CONCLUSION

The vertebral subluxation is the primary cause of all truly pathological conditions. Through its existence the action of a large number of secondary causes becomes possible. Upon no other hypothesis can we explain the remarkable percentage of cures of all known classes of disease through the specific vertebral adjustment.

THE PROCESS OF CURE

Nature is the only real curative agent. Neither suggestion, manipulation, adjustment, nor any other known method applied by Man for the eradication of disease has in itself any power to heal. No man possesses power to do more than so arouse the vital energies of the patient that the body heals itself.

We contain within our own bodies the possibilities of perfect normality. Unless interfered with by powerful outside force we should continue normal from birth to death and death itself would only occur through the simultaneous wearing out of all the parts of the human mechanism. The Chiropractor, insofar as his work succeeds in its purpose, assists the body by adjusting displaced structure and affording the body a free and unhindered opportunity for the exercise of its own self-healing powers. It may be interesting and instructive to analyze the process of cure and to study the exact effects of vertebral adjustment as we have studied the exact effects of vertebral subluxation.

Cure of Simple Subluxation Disease

An acute subluxation—that is, one resulting entirely from concussion of forces within twenty-four or forty-eight hours prior to the moment of adjustment—rarely produces a condition which could be named as any particular disease. The symptoms are those of “wrenched back,” if any. A single adjustment usually suffices to correct such subluxation just as a single movement might correct a dislocated humerus within the same period, and any symptoms promptly disappear. This is probably the maximum benefit to be derived from adjustment and the best time for its administration, because it leaves the spinal column in an exactly normal condition and no more susceptible to further jars or shocks than before the injury. All disease which might have resulted from that subluxation has been fully prevented.

Older subluxations must be dealt with differently because they present a different condition. Adaptative changes have taken place in the shape of the vertebra itself and of every surrounding tissue as they prepare to make the best of their situation. But a vertebra once displaced has lost its poise and broken or modified the reflex arcs through its nerves so that it becomes more likely to respond to further forces applied, or to muscular contractions within the body, by further change of position. Such changes are always followed by further adaptation of the surrounding parts.

The degree of nerve impingement must change to keep pace with the developing malposition and thus, by gradually successive steps, disease develops in the area of peripheral distribution of the nerves. The nerve is under a thumbscrew gradually tightening.