by Dr. Michelle Irwin

Remember when grandma and grandpa nagged us about our posture? This is why chiropractors do what we do.

Chiropractors specialize in the spine, just like Dentists work with the teeth and cardiologists work with the heart.

The spine has two functions:

1. It supports and keeps us up right.
2. It protects the spinal cord

A healthy spinal cord is ESSENTIAL to our overall health. Here’s why. The way your body works is the brain controls all the functions of the body. It does that by sending energy down the spinal cord. The spinal cord is like a River carrying life energy from the brain, through the spine to all the vital organs and tissues of your body. Each and every organ is totally dependent on that energy to keep us alive and healthy.

Because of different physical, chemical, and emotional stresses in our lives, some sudden and some over time, the individual bones, or even whole sections and curves of the spine, can SHIFT out of place. The shifts in the spine are called subluxations. When subluxations occur, they block the energy to the organs at that level. It's like a dimmer switch on a wall. The energy gets turned down, it can't get through the nerves to the organs which will progressively weaken and degenerate over time.

Subluxated areas of the spine will also weaken the rest of the structure of our spine and distort our posture. When our posture weakens and distorts, it causes stress to the spinal cord. When our spinal cord is under stress it CAN’T move energy through the spine to all the vital organs of the body. When the organs don't get that vital energy they need, your OVERALL health will progressively weaken and degenerate overtime, and eventually lead to disease.

This is why we focus on posture so much, and like I have said before, there is a lot that we can learn from the wisdom of our elders because when they told us to sit up straight and look ahead, they really did know what was best for us!