Absolute Beginner's Guide to Alternative Medicine

■ Structure and function exist in intimate relation with one another.

■ Structural distortions can cause functional abnormalities.

■ The vertebral subluxation (misalignment) is a significant form of structural

distortion and leads to a variety of functional abnormalities.

■ The nervous system plays a prominent role in the restoration and mainte-

nance of proper bodily function.

■ Subluxation influences bodily function primarily through neurologic means.

■ Chiropractic adjustment is a specific and definitive method for the correction

of vertebral subluxation.

Chiropractic addresses the application of this knowledge to diagnose and treat struc-

tural dysfunctions that affect the nervous system. Since the nervous system is highly

developed in humans, it influences all other systems in the body, thereby playing a

significant role in health and disease.

The Limits of Misalignment

Chiropractic believes that health is a state of balance, especially of the nervous and

musculoskeletal systems. When the spine is fully aligned, nerve energy flows freely

to every cell and organ in the body. This free flow of energy nurtures the innate abil-

ity of the body to work effectively and coordinate normal body functions.

134 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Spinous

process

Transverse

process

Transverse

process

Disk

Vertebral body

Facet of inferior process

FIGURE 10.1

The bones in

your backbone:

Structure of the

spinal vertebrae.