Vertebral Subluxation Complex The vertebral subluxation is the cornerstone of chiropractic practice. It is the goal of chiropractors to find it and correct it, to ensure the fullest expression of innate intelligence in an organism. There is no bigger or more important job, that one could think of, to benefit his fellow man than to restore proper nerve flow. Chiropractic deals with the nervous system. The brain controls all cells of the body through an aggregated bundle of nerve fibers that exit the skull and pass through twenty-four freely movable bones called vertebra. This aggregated bundle of fibers is called the spinal cord and it sends peripheral nerve tissue exiting horizontally from between the vertebra as it continues its downward course. These peripheral nerves branch and supply every one of the ten billion cells of a human body, they also carry information from the cells back to the brain. This cycle of intelligent input and output is the homeostatic mechanism. It ensures adaptability of an organism within the normal ranges of its matter. If there is interference with this cycle, then proper homeostatic messages are disrupted and the organism experiences dis-ease. Dis-ease is defined as a decline from adaptability, the organism functions with decreasing efficiency or ease. If left alone this can lead to manifestations of the underlying dis-ease, namely pathologies and diseases. Chiropractors feel that dis-ease is always due to interference with intelligent mental impulses from brain to periphery or vice vs. Further more the manifestation of this interference is the vertebral subluxation. Vertebral Subluxation is defined by R.W. Stephenson as The condition of a vertebra which has lost its proper juxtaposition with the one above or the one below, or both; to an extent less than a luxation(complete dislocation); which impinges nerves and interferes with the transmission of mental impulses.(1) There has been an unr...
