Friday, December 21, 2007

Chiropractic Promotes Tissue Healing



Getting Adjusted Can Help Affect the Body’s Ability to Heal Itself


A landmark study published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, a peer-reviewed scientific journal devoted to subluxation-based chiropractic research, helps answer that question. The study reported on a group of chiropractic researchers who collaborated with the University of Lund (Sweden) and found that chiropractic care could influence basic physiological processes affecting oxidative stress and DNA repair — in other words, how the body heals itself.


In this study, “Surrogate Indication of DNA Repair in Serum After Long Term Chiropractic Intervention — A Retrospective Study,” authors Campbell, Kent, Banne, Amiri and Pero compared the effect of 21 subjects under short-term chiropractic care, 25 subjects under long-term chiropractic care and a control group of 30 subjects with no chiropractic care.


The researchers measured serum thiols levels, which are primary antioxidants and provide a surrogate estimate of DNA repair enzyme activity, or how the body heals itself.


The results were a statistically significant difference in the serum thiol levels of the three groups. The levels were lowest in patients with active diseases and in the short-term chiropractic care group. The levels were highest in the long-term care group. Symptom-free or primary wellness subjects under chiropractic care demonstrated higher mean serum thiol levels than normal wellness values.


Dr. Christopher Kent, one of the authors, explained, “Going through life, we experience physical, chemical and emotional stress. These stresses affect the function of the nervous system. We hypothesized that these disturbances in nerve function could affect oxidative stress and DNA repair on a cellular level. Oxidative stress results in DNA damage and inhibits DNA repair.”


Chiropractors apply spinal adjustments to correct disturbances of nerve function and chiropractic care appears to improve the ability of the body to adapt to stress and therefore heal itself faster and to a greater degree.

Dr. Zach's Comments:


  • Since it's inception, Chiropractic has contended that the purpose of a Chiropractic Adjustment was much more that simply structural alignment, and FINALLY data is beginning to shed some light on the global effects of what chiropractic adjustments can do.

  • However, the intent of an adjustment is certainly not to increase serum thiol levels. The intent of the Chiropractic adjustment is to remove interference to normally functioning body systems such as the nervous system, the musculo-skeletal system, immune system, vascular system, etc.

  • The Human Body is truly a miracle of creation, and we were given the ability to be fantastically healthy as long as we give our bodies what they need to thrive and avoid the things that impede or interfere with normal function.

  • Serum Thiol levels were not elevated by chiropractic adjustments in this study, but more likely simply returned to "normal". Normal just happens to be higher than the levels recorded by most people in society because of our lack of sufficient nutrients, exercise, rest as well as the presence of toxins, mental stress, and as this study shows vertebral subluxation (spinal misalignments).

  • So what can you d o to help your body heal faster? One part of the equation for health is to get adjusted. See your chiropractor today!