Dr Abhinav Gupta
Human intelligence is a paradox. It is at once too simple and yet too difficult to describe. But, I think we can all safely agree that human intelligence exists. It is all around us and we’ve all felt it – just like a fish has felt water. That is why we sometimes call human intelligence innate i.e. inborn in us.
The following article is an attempt to very briefly discuss what this innate intelligence is and how its disruption or degeneration can cause diseases in the human organism. Then, we’ll discuss how Chiropractic care can help provide relief against such diseases by simple manipulations of the spinal column.
Chiropractic science – the science of manipulating the human spinal column- has an old guiding premise from 1927 regarding innate intelligence. It states – “A Universal Intelligence is in all matter and continually gives to it all its properties and actions, thus maintaining it in existence (source: Chiropractic Textbook by Ralph Stephenson)” So in effect, we humans, who are also matter, possess this universal intelligence. And this universal intelligence maintains our human existence.
Now, who creates this innate intelligence in us is a matter of philosophy and theology. Let’s assume there is a “higher power” that grants us this gift and proceed from there. The purpose of this innate intelligence, summarised in the 33 principles of Chiropractic science, is to keep all parts of the human body co-ordinated and in harmony. It does so by generating a thing called as – force. This force, in turn, works on the human body or matter. So we can see there exists a three tier structure. A flowchart going from: innate intelligence – force- matter. This is also known colloquially as the “mind-body” connection. Innate intelligence is the mind and matter is the body. And what’s force? That is the link. That is what creates this connection.
So far so good. We have agreed that an innate intelligence in us creates force and this force operates on our body. Now begins the Chiropractic hypothesis, that – if there is a disruption in this chain caused by external factors, diseases will arise. And these diseases can be controlled and sometimes even cured with chiropractic treatments. This hypothesis, is now a scientific fact, based on decades of clinical trials and research in reputed medical institutions all over the world including Denmark, Switzerland, USA, Turkey New Zealand, Australia etc.Officially, this hypothesis is formulated in Chiropractic Principle no. 31 -Interference with transmission in the body is always directly or indirectly due to subluxations in the spinal column.” (Subluxation simply means dislocation.)
So in effect, we’ve now learned that according to Chiropractic science – a dislocation in our spine can cause severe imbalances in our body and thus result in diseases. These diseases (and plenty of research now backs this up) can be treated by correcting those subluxations. A chiropractor does this by using his hands to palpate the spinal column of the patient and then using his hands or machinery adjust the vertebrae or parts of the patient’s spine. This is called as chiropractic spinal manipulation.
Let us discuss some real world examples.
The international journal Brain Sciences has plenty of articles on chiropractic spinal manipulation and its effects on patients with chronic lower back pains and necks. Logically speaking, this is not that impressive, since it is natural that manipulating the spine will help with the pain in the back and the neck region.
However, there is now sufficient data to see that, surprisingly, spinal manipulation significantly improves sleep stages along with enhanced overall quality of life post 4 weeks of treatment. This also includes significant reductions in anxiety, depression, fatigue, and pain.
Similarly, there are studies that reveal that spinal manipulation performed by trained chiropractors can improve the sense of elbow joints in injured patients. Furthermore, it was observed that ankle joints positioning is affected by spinal manipulation and patients reported improvement after 12 weeks of care.
Another example is of pain relief in the upper limbs (specifically hands and the thumb muscle- abductor pollicus brevis) and in the lower parts of the legs (tibialis anterior muscle) of patients. The source of these studies can be easily found with a simple google search, if you’re interested.
Other benefits of spinal manipulation are relief from migraines, sciatica, scoliosis, stenosis and lots more. How these spinal manipulations can cause pain relief in our hands and legs is beyond the scope of this article. For now though, we can say that spinal manipulation somehow changes our nervous system and improves the signalling in our body thereby causing pain relief. This is sometimes referred to as neuroplasticity – a sort of rewiring of the brain.
Let us now summarise Chiropractic Principles – Innate human intelligence is linked to force and that in turn is linked to matter i.e. the human body. A disruption in this intelligence-force- matter chain, otherwise known as the mind-boy link, will cause diseases and chiropractic spinal manipulation will ameliorate these diseases.
This is how (or rather what) Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation, which is a safe, drug-free, WHO certified, non-invasive procedure works. It employs our human body’s own innate intelligence against diseases. As the textbook says – The chiropractor does not treat matter with matter, in order to cure dis-ease; but calls upon the only power that can cure it-the inborn intelligence within the matter. In other words – human intelligence can heal itself, and this is what AI is desperately trying to emulate.
(The author is Physiotherapist and Chiropractor, GMC Jammu)
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