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Dr. Marcia S. Kesten |
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Chiropractor, Constitutional Homeopath |
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Why and how
Living in the computerized world that we do, we know the performance of the computer is only as good as the program. The same is true in our bodies. For us, the brain is the hardware. The sensory nervous system is the software. To explain, the sensory nervous system picks up information from the environment. Externally, the special senses, i.e. seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, bring us much of our information. There is also sensation from our internal environment. The cells in the body give constant feedback to the brain as to their "present state of affairs." The brain intakes this information from both external and internal environments, processes it after a filtering system censors some of it, and the body responds. Every byte of sensory informaton has a specific response through the motor nervous system. Calling the response motor is simplistic since not all response is muscle movement. The response could be "secrete Hydrochloric acid" or "dilate pupil," etc. If your back hurts, or your neck is stiff, or your ankles are swollen, or whatever your present expression (symptom pattern) is, it is that way for a reason. Your brain received some information from the internal or external environment through your sensory nervous system that was less than perfect...or your brain has lost its ability to process information. Usually it's the former. The chiropractor's job is to alter the information going into the brain to make it more perfect. Across every joint in your body is a neurovascular bundle, i.e. a nerve artery and vein. If trauma has caused enough misalignment in the joint to disturb any of the bundle, health problems occur. The trauma to the joint will cause the sensory nervous system to feed the brain abnormal information. If that joint is a knee and the nerve is affected, the muscles around the knee will not function properly causing pain or weakness of the leg. If the artery is affected, blood circulation to the calf would be decreased, causing coldness, tingling, etc. If the vein is affected, venous stasis could occur, i.e. pooling of blood, causing swelling and pain. In the joint is located between two vertebrae, all regions in the body innervated by the spinal nerve exiting at that point would be affected. The spinal artery and spinal vein function similarly to the arteries of the knee joint and can also cause swelling, pain, tingling, etc. at that particular vertebral joint and beyond. A misalignment that could cause this much dysfunction is called a vertebral subluxation complex. It is a complex because there are five components to it. 1. nerve pathology, e.g. pain, numbness. 2. abnormal movement pathology, e.g. stiffness. 3. muscle pathology, e.g. weakness, spasm. 4. tissue pathology, e.g. swelling. peripheral body pathology, e.g. poor digestion. To reiterate, when vertebral subluxation complex exists, the brain is continually receiving less than perfect information from the surrounding tissue. It therefore dictates less than perfect expression, i.e. the program becomes faulty. Unfortunately, there is one main difference between our brain and a computer. With a computer, once you no longer have a need for a file or program, you can delete it from the hard disc. Our brain holds memories forever! There is no delete button. Therefore it takes repetitive reminding to change a program. At some point, the new input information is stronger than the old memory, and the new pathway is established. Once the internal feedback from the sensory nervous system returns to normal, the expression will also be normal and tends to stay that way unless you retraumatize your body. In terms of your chiropractic program, this explains why is is important to receive many adjustments in the beginning phase of care. Also, after you complete this phase, if you notice any signs of vertebral subluxation complex returning, see your Chiropractor immediately. Don't give this new pattern a chance to take hold in your brain! |
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To contact us: |
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Phone:570-596-7600 E-mail: drkesten@npacc.net web: www.drkesten.com Main St. PO Box 66 East Smithfield, PA 18817-0066
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