Do Chiropractic Adjustments Improve or Strengthen your Immunity?

The power of the chiropractic adjustment is very profound.  However, I often caution patients and the public I encounter to believe any claims that chiropractic adjustments can help treat ear infections, improve immunity, improve digestion, decrease stress and anxiety, and so forth.  This is simply because there is no way to prove that a chiropractic adjustment can have an effect on the structures and physiology of the body in order to achieve this desired result.  If chiropractic adjustments were that effective in treating the above conditions and more, then it would be recognized as a sure-fire way to effectively take care of them and it would work every time — you adjust, and the stress, indigestion, or ear infection is gone.  It doesn’t necessarily work that way.

Each person’s body is “wired” similarly, but not identically.  The network of autonomic plexuses that are strewn across the visceral organs of the body differs from person to person, and the influence of a chiropractic manipulation to the joints of the spine and other areas of the body is unpredictable from person to person.  Simply put, what may work for one person does not necessarily work in the same fashion or with the same effectiveness in another.  That’s why I never really know what the effect of an adjustment is going to be on someone I see for the first time.  For some, when I adjust their neck, their daily headaches vanish or diminish, while for others the same adjustment done in the same way in the same places makes their headaches worse.

There is ample research to prove that chiropractic can be effective in reducing pain and inflammation through the manipulation of the joints, but the research on the effectiveness of chiropractic with other systemic and autonomic functions is not as solid and the evidence is largely lacking.  While chiropractic manipulation can have a systemic effect on the body and normalize unconscious function, predictability is lacking.

This is why in my own office I will certainly entertain the idea of adjusting the spine to regulate and normalize the overall function of the body.  The idea is that by manipulating the spine, we promote normal movement and range of motion in the joints, which then allows the structures which have a relationship with the spine to function as ideally as we can (through manipulation).  For example, if your joints are moving freely with a full range of motion, then it reduces the likelihood or presence of muscle strain and tension, which then reduces the likelihood or presence of inflammatory chemicals, which then reduces the likelihood or presence of irritation to the nerves and the structures they innervate.  So, if we happen to reduce the likelihood or presence of irritation to the nerves that are involved with immune function and your immunity is improved, so be it.  But we cannot predict that adjusting certain areas of the spine is going to lead to improved immune function.

My own personal recommendation is that if you wish to improve and strengthen your immunity, your approach should be multi-faceted and as comprehensive and holistic as possible.  There is no way to prevent yourself from getting sick by improving your immunity.  However, the idea is to have a strong immune system so that when infectious agents enter your body, its own immune defense mechanisms and agents can quickly neutralize and/or eliminate it from the body as quickly and as effectively as possible.  You may get sick, but the intensity and duration may be affected.

A strong immune system starts with proper nutrition and supplementation, to provide your body with the materials it needs to perform its daily functions, eliminate wastes, carry out immunity, detoxify harmful substances, and so forth.  It continues with making sure you get enough sleep, so that your body can repair and recover and dedicate its energy resources to maintenance and protection.  Stress relief is imperative, employing meditation and mindful practices to reduce anxiety and overwhelm, which depletes the immune system and its agents, leaving us vulnerable to infection.

Above and beyond these approaches and practices, employing a team of practitioners to regulate and normalize body function is very helpful.  When you are getting chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture treatments, and massage therapy, you are proactively and preemptively keeping your body function balanced and normalized.  While the conclusive evidence is far and few between that states that these therapies will bolster your immune system, the idea is that you are making sure your body is as free from irritation, stagnation, depression, over-stimulation, restriction, and inflammation as possible.  This allows your body to function as close as it can to its ideal and most efficient state, thus enabling your body to do what it was designed to do — ward off and eliminate harmful infectious agents that are continually bombarding your body each and every day of your life.

If you have any specific questions as far as what supplementation you can use on a daily basis to make sure that your body has what it needs from a nutritional standpoint to perform at an ideal level of functioning, please feel free to reach out to me any time, whether it’s a phone call (920-286-6240), a text (at the same number), a message on Facebook, or by email (victor@animityhealth.com).  I’m always here to help you!