The Body’s Communication System

Many experts agree that the key to a successful marriage is communication. If there is a breakdown in communication, a breakdown in the marriage soon follows. This same principle can be applied to other aspects of our everyday lives, including your health.

Your brain must be able to communicate with the rest of the body. Likewise, the body must be able to communicate with the brain. The brain must constantly be aware of the activities of the body to enable it to coordinate body functions efficiently. The brain relies on nerves to relay specific information on how, when, and what to do. If the brain does not receive a message then it cannot make the corresponding adaptations, and the body part sending the message will not function correctly.

In the early 1900’s, a fellow by the name Louis Pasteur, a microbiologist (think pasteurization of milk) believed that disease was caused by the presence of germs. Louis had a friend named Henri Bushant, also a microbiologist. Henri thought for there to be disease, you had to have fertile ground for the disease to grow, meaning your body had to be run down so much so that the body could not defend itself. According to Bushant’s thinking, germs proliferate because the body has become a hospitable host. Like with most concepts, a marriage of two ideas tends to be the truth. I don’t believe anyone would argue that you want to keep things as clean as possible and exposure of germs to a minimum, but there is a reason why everyone in the office does not get sick when one comes down with the creeping crud. Our body off the creeping crud everyday with regularity, but we do not get sick everyday.

If there is any impairment to the communication system of the body, the nervous system, the body is unable to make the proper adaptations and will function at less than 100%. Functioning at less than 100% may manifest itself as minor problems such as slight indigestion or a minor ache or the problem can manifest as tense unrelenting pain, or maybe there are not symptoms at all. Chiropractors strive to find these areas of messenger dysfunction and repair them. Technically speaking this messenger dysfunction is called a vertebral subluxation and chiropractors correct subluxations.

Once a subluxation has been corrected, the messenger system is able to resume its normal function and, then the corresponding body part can resume its correct function. Hence, it is clear that good communication between the brain and the rest of the body is essential for a health and happy life. After all, you could function with 1/3 of a liver, but who would choose to do so? Communication makes for smooth sailing in the world of human physiology, just as good communication makes for smooth sailing in the sea of marriage. This may be a bit of a stretch between marriage and chiropractic, but you get my drift.