Does the Mind Create Disease and Can Chiropractic Help?

In search of the reason why I am heading into Chiropractic I have been reading an interesting older book called, "Mental Health and Chiropractic".  It was written by Herman S. Schwartz DC, the author of "The Art of Relaxation".  Dr. Schwartz has an interesting history of working with mentally ill individuals.  His claim to fame is how he used Chiropractic as a general Tx for mental health conditions in insane asylums.  He would adjust the patient and work on tense muscles while the psychotherapists would take patients through counseling sessions.  Supposedly, Dr. Schwartz had great success using Chiropractic with these individuals, restoring some 70% of all severely mentally ill patients he treated/co-treated.  

I hate to say it but I am digging this idea.  What I have read in regards to neurological changes in the autonomic nervous system through Chiropractic adjustments and muscle work is pretty darn convincing.  If you take the common psychological ailment of anxiety and look at what is going on in this condition, you'd see the person is stuck in the fight-or-flight response.  Fear manifests itself into a readied-state and there is no action being taken through physically moving the body.  The cycle isn't broken and muscle tension is stored up leading to structural misalignment's and chronic inflammation.  The cycle goes on and on and stays hidden when psychological stress is absent and present when stress is heightened.  

The idea is that by giving the individual an adjustment to correct the misalignment or by addressing soft tissue tension, the Chiropractor breaks the cycle and relieves the fight-or-flight response, hence the neurological tenants Chiropractors adhere to.  Now, that doesn't mean there is any evidence of visceral involvement or the whole garden hose analogy, but if one were to think about organ systems, the muscular system is an organ, so if mental health issues effect our muscular system, couldn't other organs be affected too by the same mental issues?  My guess is yes.  Is it that simple?  Probably not.  Does this idea have anything to do with subluxation theory, absolutely not.  We mustn't overlook the power of touching a person with absolute care.  Contacting another person sends a message to the brain saying everything is going to be alright.  This shuts off the sympathetic drive and turns on the parasympathetic.  Resting and digesting versus flight-or-fight.  Cool stuff huh!  And think about the amount of trust you have to have in a person to do an adjustment on you - merely okaying an adjustment speaks loudly particularly for people who don't trust anyone.

We can't forget that we will be treating patients from all walks of life with crazy experiences.  There is a definite need for humans to feel cared for and loved.  The age-old story of orphans being left in foster care who died not from nutritional deficiencies or abuse but the lack of affection and love.  Everyone we come into contact with needs this simple human quality and one advantage we will have as DC's is that we have to touch them to address their problems.  Other HCP's don't have this luxury, they treat their patients like lab rats explaining results and handing them pills.  We can provide what people seek in their life by simply understanding what they want from us.  They want a partner they can trust for their health care decisions and treatments.  They want to know we truly care for their well being.  If this message is sent and understood we will be their doctor for life and they will buy into our methodology for health and wellness more readily.

What would be interesting to find out is if there are any blood tests showing exactly what occurs from an adjustment.  Is it the brain that shuts the system off or is it our therapeutic treatments or both.  Probably a little of both but if I had to guess, I'd say the brain is more powerful than any therapeutic treatment.  I think we have been thinking too simply in how we will be helping people with our new found skills in Chiroland.  I don't think my prior statements in regards to pigeonholing DC's into non-invasive orthopedic specialists is a wise idea.  It might push us into being physical therapists and less holistically oriented.  Although, I do think we need evidence to back up our work.  Linking mental health with physical health is tough to do.  It seems obvious though.  We know there is orthopedic evidence backing our work but if we can show evidence with decreases in anxiety or depression that would be kind of cool.

I know whenever we have a bunch of tests on the horizon my back starts hurting more, my left ilium goes into an anterior/superior position affecting my SI joint and my right knee starts hurting.  Weird stuff.  Do you think we change our biomechanics during times of increased mental stress?  I do.  I think that is why people start hurting chronically.  

Even though I have been looking into other green pastures I still think I belong in Chiropractic.  Naturopathic will probably happen in my future as a second degree so that I can address things from a biochemical perspective (IV therapies, etc.) but I am beginning to form my own style of medicine through this education.  I had to take a step back and dive into some quality reading and find associations with what we are learning.  

If we focus entirely on becoming specialists will we lose our ability to make significant change in our patient population beyond pain relief?  Will we simply alleviate pain for the sake of suffering or will we find the root cause of the individuals manifestations (i.e., mental health).  

Good stuff.  Very good stuff.  

Good night