Nutrition
Chiropractic Treatment is undertaken by a health care professional whose treatment focuses on diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the problems of musculoskeletal system, and the effects of such disorder on the nervous system and general health. Many of the chiropractic treatments are only involved with spine and its manipulation. The main principle of such a treatment is that any spinal joint misalignment interferes with the nervous system that leads to lower resistance to diseases and many other conditions of diminished health.
Traditionally chiropractic treatment is applied on spinal column which consists of 24 vertebrae (spinal bones), 7 cervical, 12 thoracic and 5 lumber vertebral bodies. The spinal cord runs through the spine and spinal nerves go out through holes (known as intervertebral foramen) forms between adjacent vertebrae. These nerves carry messages from the central nervous system to all the muscles and tissues of the body. If these vertebrae get displaced from its normal position, which is known as ‘subluxation’, then the nervous impulse from and to the central nervous system gets interrupted. Chiropractic treatment is aimed towards treating these points of subluxation by manual adjustment or manipulation, so that the vertebrae regain the normal position and nervous impulses do not face any interruption in its transmission.
The chiropractic way of treatment gives stress on the patient’s overall health. Therefore, these practitioners give their advice on different aspect of the patient’s life including nutritional counseling. Sometimes, they would refer the patients to other health practitioners for some other complaints.
Nutritional counseling involves taking down the full history of the patient, physical examination and some laboratory tests. Blood samples are taken to carry out a functional lymphocyte assay to determine the amount of different nutrients in the body. These nutrients are Vitamins, metals like zinc, calcium, selenium, magnesium, and many others. On the basis of all these tests, different nutritional supplements are recommended for intake.
The most important factor which determines the selection of these nutritional supplements is the state of exrtracellular fluids and maintenance of homeostasis. Homeostasis means that all the bodily functions are working normally and they are not unbalanced.
Many chiropractic practitioner feels nutritional supplements are part of chiropractic treatment. This is because nutrition is required by any living being and proper nutrition is required by everybody to maintain good health. They say ‘Give your body the nutrition it needs and you will live longer, healthier life’. Some of them feel that proper nutrition would help the body to come into balance which is also the aim of any chiropractic practice.
