:: Chiropractic First - The Leader in Chiropractic Care ::

Dr. Matt Kan Wai Ming (International Plaza) D.C. FASA, B.Eng
What is Chiropractic?
	Is based on the scientific fact that the nervous system ( brain, spinal cord, and millions of nerves ) controls the function of every cell, tissue, organ and system of the body. Many everyday activities can cause spinal bones and joints to lose their normal position or motion. This can result in nerves and joint dysfunction and ultimately, ill health - pain and sufferings. Many people experience chiropractic as a natural , drug free way to get healthy. For example, a little boy who no longer suffers from ear infections may tell you : " Chiropractic is for my ears." A young woman may tell you," Chiropractic is for menstrual problems." Others may tell you that chiropractic is for digestive problems, asthma, back or neck pain, colds, headache, sciatica, neurological problems, colic, bed-wetting and many more conditions to which the flesh is heir.
But it won't be only talk of disease. People also visit their chiropractor? for more energy, for improved sports performance, for feeling more alive, for better resistance to disease and to help ensure drug-free lives for themselves and their families. What do chiropractors do? Chiropractors remove a serious interference in your life and health- vertebral subluxations-which prevent you from functioning at your best. Free of vertebral subluxations, you are more balanced with less stress on your nervous system and body structure. Free of vertebral subluxations, you can better tune in to your inner resources of life, health and healing.
History and Philosophy of Chiropractic
	The founder of Chiropractic, D.D. Palmer in 1895, restored his janitor's hearing with a single alignment of the janitor’s bone. Majority, are not yet aware about real chiropractic and its true value. Chiropractic is not really just another version of medical care, nor is it a branch or specialty within medicine! Chiropractic is absolutely different from many other disciplines. Its science, philosophy and art, and yes it is an art to practice Chiropractic, are based on three core principles As Dr. Palmer postulated: A. Human body is a self-healing machine. If you cut yourself and you are bleeding, the blood does stop and the body heals itself. No medication is needed unless it is a large cut (then you need stitches). If you fall and break your leg your body does not need medication to heal the broken bone! The bones in the foot will heal by themselves. If you have regular flu symptoms (not SARS). You do not need antibiotics. Leave the body alone and it will fight the infection by itself!

Dr. Palmer thought of many other examples to describe the self-healing properties of the body, too many to list in this chapter. There are some exceptions however when the body cannot heal itself efficiently and fast ?enough. So some powerful medications were invented in the 1940’s to block the disease processes temporarily.

	B. The body knows (with certain exceptions) exactly what to do to heal itself, directed by the internal intelligence of the body system. Once you are dead you are dead. No motion, no life, no feelings. All gone, right? You do not get sick or tired when you are dead! Dead people move only in the movies What is gone from a dead body is the internal intelligence. A young child grows. How do the cells in the body and the bone know how to grow and?divide? What is the factor to motivate the growth? The same idea, Palmer thought governs?these processes as well, the internal intelligence!
Dr. Palmer rationalized that if the body has ability to: (A) Heal itself and it has the (B) Internal Intelligence to deal with the health issues, then there must be some system that governs it all! And the system is your and my brain and the spinal cord, plus the billions of nerve networks that spread through out the body!

	C. The coordinating power of our body to heal itself is in our nervous system. The system that controls it all in your and my body is residing in our spine and our skull. The Nervous System is not when you are nervous; it is much more than that. It is the system of the body that controls all of body functions, such as your food digestion, stomach pain, headaches, arm movement etc… The nervous system even affects your blood. I other words the supremacy of the nervous system cannot be described in simple terms and short sentences!!
Such a complicated system though has its difficulties and hardships, as Dr. Palmer hypothesised. Something must be causing the nervous system to overwork and create sensations of pain in the body. What was it? The answer came to Dr. Palmer by accident. Dr. Palmer’s had a janitor, whose hearing was gone due to unknown reason. The janitor could only hear very loud sounds. As he was working with magnetic healing on his janitor’s spine, he felt that one of the bones in his back was protruding backward. He gently pressed on the bone and heard a faint clicking sound. Harvey, which was the janitor’s name, stood up from the treatment table and told Dr. Palmer that he could hear the noises on the street. The street was a few stories below and the noise was very faint, but yet Harvey could hear it!!! Dr. Palmer began research on the alignment of the bone structure which protects the spinal cord and the nervous system. He realised that when one or more of the vertebrae (bones) is misaligned, the nervous system begins to hurt our own body instead of healing and coordinating our body! An aligned system of bones and protective covering of the spinal cord allows for the perfect function of the nervous system. Chiropractic discipline was borne: “Chiro” – hand, “practic” - done by. Or simply “done by hand”.