How Chiropractic Really Works

Hello, I’m Dr. Matt Eiken at the Mauldin
Clinic. Today we’re going to discuss how
chiropractic really works and how it
affects your health. And we’re actually
going to start off at the very
beginning. And when we talk about the
moment of conception, we actually have a
fertilized egg that develops. And very
rapidly that egg begins to multiply very
quickly. And the first organ that
develops is actually our brain. And so
we can see nice brain begin to develop
like this. And then we will have the
brain stem and spinal cord that extend
down. And this is what’s known as our
central nervous system. And it’s central
to everything. It controls our health
literally from the moment we are born
until we die. And then what we start to
see is that nerves begin to extend down
from the brain and they start to form as
we go right down the spine just like
this. And we have several of them. just
millions of nerve fibers that extend
down all the way through.
And eventually, you can see that these
nerve fibers will eventually extend down
into what form our hands and our feet as
you see here. And all these nerves are
just continuous all the way to the end.
And then we start to have these cells
begin to differentiate and they start to
develop into our heart, which knows
right here. And we start to see our
lungs develop. We have our stomach and
digestive system. Everything is being
controlled by the central nervous
system.
In fact, the central nervous system,
that nerve tissue is so delicate that
the body starts to encompass it in bone.
And we begin to get a skull that
develops around the brain to protect it.
And then we start to see actual
vertebrae for the bones and the spine
begin to develop and they stack up one
on top of another as they extend down to
the spine just like this. Now these
nerves
over time will develop and when we look
at an actual spinal model as we become
adults we can see a fully functioning
spine. And in between these burgray, we
have a disc that helps support and
cushion the spine. And we have holes in
the side of the spine here where these
nerves exit out and extend down from the
neck into the shoulder all the way down
to the arm and the hands or they can
extend down through the lower back all
the way down through our hip and to our
feet. And the spine is supposed to be
flexible. So, as we bend and twist and
move, we’re supposed to be able to move
and flex with no problem whatsoever.
But as we go through life, as many of us
have had injuries or traumas, and maybe
it’s a fall down a flight of stairs or a
car accident, what often happens is the
spine gets twisted and it actually goes
beyond its normal range of motion and it
gets stuck. And that injury is what we
call a subluxation which is the medical
term or an injury to the spine where
those vertebrae get stuck beyond their
normal range of motion and they start to
pinch. And if we take a careful look at
that I can show you on this model we can
see that the vertebrae are stacked one
on top of another. We have that disc in
between the bones that’s filled with
fluid and you can see the spinal nerve
root here. And when the spine gets
compressed from an injury, it will
squeeze that disc and begin to swell.
And then we start to have the swelling
and inflammation. Of course, we start to
have pain and discomfort. It begins to
be difficult to bend and twist and move.
And then we know something has happened
and something is wrong. And what many
people will do to cover that up is they
might go to the store, get some
over-the-counter medication. It might
help mask the symptom temporarily,
possibly go to the medical doctor to get
some anti-inflammatories, some muscle
relaxers, but if the root cause of that
injury is a subluxation where the spine
has literally been shoved out of its
normal position, stuck, it’s just not
going to move on its own. And that’s
where chiropractic care is able to help
many patients with that problem. So, you
can contact our office and we will
schedule a consultation where we will
sit down to discuss your health history,
find out what brought you in or concerns
that you may have. We’ll do a thorough
spinal examination to find out what kind
of concerns, what kind issues you may
have with your spine, and then we’ll put
all that information together, report,
and we’ll sit down and discuss the best
way to approach your care through
chiropractic care here at the Maldi
Clinic. We look forward to meeting you
soon. Thank you so much.