What Is Chiropractic Anyway?

I had this idea last year that the body uses itself as its own point of reference. I didn't quite know how to word it, and I still don't, actually, but we press on.

As a consistent and contained organism that self regulates, self heals, self creates and self recreates, the body must have some point of reference to work from. In other words, to draw a straight line with specific purpose and direction, one needs two locations - two points of reference - not just one. Otherwise the line can be drawn anywhere and probably won't be straight.

Now it just so happens, like all the animals that boarded the ark two-by-two, our bodies are kind of symmetrical: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two arms, two legs, two cerebral hemispheres, two cerebellar hemispheres, and spinal cord, which if you were to cut through the middle and fold in half, would look like... a butterfly.

In karate we used the expression, iron sharpens iron. Referring to the fact that in order to get better and progress, one would need another to train with and improve skill and stamina. Each man was the other's point of reference for support. Two points. And the phrase came back to mind when I began noticing the symmetry of the nerve system. Each half works synchronously with the other. Globally it would appear as a single unit, but in its harmony - as an example - one side of the brain would halt firing of certain nerve cells on that side of the body so information might readily be transmitted to the opposite half of the brain. Thus each side labours with the other. A decrease in optimum function on one side therefore lowers the function of the other. Conversely, when new, growth-promoting information is received on one side, this will improve the function of the other. Iron sharpens iron. This is also a good reason to hang out with the right people.

To coin one of my favourite quotes by Baz Luhrmann: Sometimes you're ahead. Sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself. You are your own point of reference. The only comparisons which need ever be drawn are between the you of yesterday, the you of today, and the you of tomorrow.

posted by Neil Bossenger  # 3:59 pm