Chiropractic has been evolving over the past century, but its roots go back to ancient China and Greece. Ancient writings in these cultures mention manipulation of the spine and maneuvering of the lower extremities to ease low back pain. Even Hippocrates, who lived from 460 to 357 B.C. published texts detailing the importance of chiropractic care. He wrote, “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.”
Modern chiropractic emerged near the end of the 19th century when health care was a conglomeration of competing theories, practitioners, potions and schemes. Except in urban centers, doctors were scarce, and most health care was provided in the home by family members. Hospitals were even scarcer than doctors and were seen as places where the terminally ill went to die. Heroic medicine was the most prevalent form of “orthodox” medicine in the first half of the 19th century. Heroic practice involved the notion that the harshness of the doctor’s remedies should be in proportion to the severity of the patient’s disease. This meant that the sickest patients were at risk of dying from the treatment since most doctors used things such as mercury and other toxins as well as lancets for letting of blood.
Against this backdrop of heroic medicine, the Native American and Thompsonian traditions of herbal and other botanical remedies grew popular, and were joined in the early part of the 19th century by homeopathic medicine (promoted by Samuel Hahnemann, M.D., of Germany) and the magnetic healing methods of Franz Anton Mesmer, M.D. It was during this era of medicine that the founder of modern chiropractic, Daniel David Palmer, was born. Daniel David (known as D.D.) was born in 1845 in rural Ontario, Canada, but his family relocated to the Mississippi River valley near the end of the Civil War. It was here that D.D. took up the practice of magnetic healing.
After nine years of clinical experience and theorizing, D.D. had decided that inflammation was the essential characteristic of all disease. With his sensitive fingers, Palmer sought to locate inflammation in his patients. By late 1895, Palmer began theorizing that inflammation occurred when displaced anatomical structures rubbed against one another, causing friction and heat. So Palmer started trying to manually reposition the parts of the body so as to prevent friction and the development of inflamed tissue.
The first recipient of D.D. Palmer’s new strategy of treatment was a janitor in the building where Palmer operated his 40-room facility. Patient Harvey Lillard reported in the January 1897 issue of The Chiropractic that: “I was deaf 17 years and I expected to always remain so, for I had doctored a great deal without any benefit. I had long ago made up my mind to not take any more ear treatments, for it did me no good. Last January Dr. Palmer told me that my deafness came from an injury in my spine. This was new to me; but it is a fact that my back was injured at the time I went deaf. Dr. Palmer treated me on the spine; in two treatments I could hear quite well. That was eight months ago. My hearing remains good.”
Pleased with his results with Harvey Lillard, D.D. Palmer extended his new work as a “magnetic manipulator” (Palmer 1897) to patients with a variety of other health problems, with reportedly good results. In the summer of 1896 he sought and obtained a charter for the Palmer School of Magnetic Cure, wherein he would teach his new method (Wiese 1896). With the assistance of his friend and patient, Reverend Samuel Weed, D.D. adopted Greek terms to form the word “chiropractic,” meaning done by hand. His school became known informally as Palmer’s School of Chiropractic (PSC), and he trained a few students, several of whom were allopathic and osteopathic doctors.
D.D.’s son B.J. took over the running of the Palmer School while D.D. went on to open two other schools. D.D. passed away in 1913 of typhoid fever in Los Angeles, California. D.D. left the legacy of a founding a form of healthcare that has helped millions of people over the past century.
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Asthma is one of the fastest growing chronic conditions in the United States with over 15 million Americans affected, including four million children. According to U.S. News & World Report, the death rate from asthma has increased more than 66% since 1980, with a record 6,600 annual deaths attributed to asthma. Worldwide, an estimated 300 million people suffer from asthma, with 250,000 annual deaths attributed to the disease. According to the American Lung Association, both the number of cases and deaths due to asthma are surging. Cases nearly doubled from 1994 to 2009 with the biggest increase among people ages 18-44.
Americans spend $6.2 billion annually on asthma treatment and over $1 billion on medications. Adults with asthma lose over $850 million in lost wages from work and parents with asthmatic children lose over $1 billion by staying home from work to care for their children. Asthma is the #1 cause of hospitalization for children in the United States.
So you can see, asthma is both a deadly and expensive disease. So what causes asthma and why is it on the rise? An asthma attack is caused by an inflammatory response which causes constriction of the bronchial tubes in the lungs. During the attack, the lining of the airways also becomes swollen and thicker or more than normal mucus is produced. Symptoms of an asthma attack include difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, and difficulty performing normal daily activities.
The exact cause of asthma is not known. Researchers think some genetic and environmental factors interact to cause it. These factors can include: an inherited tendency to develop allergies, certain respiratory infections during childhood, and contact with some airborne allergens or exposure to some viral infections in early childhood.
An asthma attack can be triggered by different types of irritants including dust, pollen, ragweed, aspirin, cockroaches, perfume, stress, dust mites, pet hair, food additives, and occupational vapors. Although these things may trigger an attack, they are not the primary cause of the attack. Research has shown that there are several factors that contribute to asthma, including the recent increased use of antibiotics and vaccines.
Several studies have shown that the incidence of asthma and allergies tends to rise in countries where childhood immunization rates are high. This has prompted some researchers to suggest that certain infections may trigger immune changes that protect children from developing asthma and allergies later. Preliminary studies have shown a protective effect of measles and infections with intestinal parasites.
According to Newsweek, “With the rise of vaccine and antibiotics, people in developed countries have experienced fewer serious childhood infections than ever before and scientists suspect that an immune system with no serious work to do is likely to become a renegade army, attacking whatever irritant it encounters. Research needs to continue to explore the causes and contributing factors of asthma.
More By drcase 28 Feb, 2014 Chiropractic Care chiropractic, Chiropractic Wellness, chiropractor, Doctor Of Chiropractic, Health, Longevity, Optimal Health, spinal adjustment, vertebral subluxation, Wellness 
Chiropractic is a health care system that is founded on the premise that a properly functioning nervous system is essential to overall health and function of the human body. Doctors of Chiropractic detect and correct vertebral subluxations by physically adjusting the spine. This restores the nervous system to an optimum level of function, which maximizes the body’s inherent healing potential.
Chiropractic adjustments restore normal nerve function; improve spinal biomechanics, range of motion, reflex arcs, and posture, all of which are essential to a properly functioning nervous system. Doctors of Chiropractic are experts in spinal structure and body mechanics. Chiropractic adjustments restore and maintain the structural integrity of the body by correcting spinal subluxations. Chiropractors emphasize the importance of posture to overall health, a concept that has been often overlooked in traditional methods of health care.
Health care is slowly changing from a symptom, disease-based system to a function, and performance-based system in which the structure of the human body is restored and maintained. Correction and maintenance of the structure of the spine is of paramount importance in the pursuit of optimal health and longevity.
In his book, “The Wellness Revolution” economist Paul Zane Pilzer predicts that wellness will become the next trillion-dollar industry. According to Pilzer, wellness is “not about a fad or trend, it’s about a new and infinite need of infusing itself into the way we eat, exercise, sleep, works, save, age, and almost every other aspect of our lives.”
Wellness incorporates all the elements for preventive health care — nutritious diet, aerobic conditioning, good posture, strength training, rest and periodic spinal adjustments. Wellness really involves all aspects of your life. Although millions of people have experienced relief from back and neck pain through chiropractic care, the focus and intent of chiropractic is far beyond the elimination of symptoms, but rather is in the correction of subluxations in order to ensure a properly functioning nervous system.
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The vertebra of the spine protects the central nervous system. Because the spinal column is moveable, it is also susceptible to various stresses and forces, which can cause them to lose their proper structural position. These minor misalignments of the spine, known as “vertebral subluxations” inhibit normal spinal movement, which causes nerve interference resulting in decreased nervous system function, improper healing and accelerated aging. Subluxations also alter the optimal structure of the spine, which weakens it and increases degeneration. Vertebral subluxations are often referred to as the “Silent Killer” because they can be present for long periods without any evidence of pain or symptoms. This is similar to a cavity eating away at a tooth. Any force that the human body cannot adapt to can cause a vertebral subluxation. Such examples include auto accidents, work related injuries, stress, sports, and repetitive movements even the birth process.
Vertebral subluxations are devastating to a person’s health and longevity and are well documented by leading health authorities. According to Chang Ha Suh, Ph.D., “Subluxation is very real. We have documented it to the extent that no one can dispute its existence. Vertebral subluxations change the entire health of the body by causing structural dysfunction of the spine and nerve interference. The weight of a dime on a spinal nerve will reduce nerve transmission by as much as sixty percent.” Dr. James Woodersee, a neurosurgeon, also stated, “Subluxations of vertebra occur in all parts of the spine and in all degrees. When the dislocation is so slight as to not affect the spinal cord, it will still produce disturbances in the spinal nerves passing off from the foramina.”
More By drcase 01 Feb, 2014 Health Aging, Aging Process, Body And Health, Genes, Genetics, Health, Health Decisions, Longevity, Longevity And Health, Stress, The Aging Process 
Americans are living longer than ever before. The human life expectancy is increasing and barring unforeseen circumstances, we can expect to live to a ripe old age. Though our life expectancy has increased, the quality of our lives and our health has not. The United States continues to be one of the un-healthiest nations in the developed world.
Most of us do not want to live to be 90 if the last 30 years are filled with illness, disability and dependence on family and nursing homes. We want to be able to play golf, take long walks and enjoy our families. Longer lives do not mean much if they are not active lives. The quality of our later years will be dictated by the choices we make in the preceding years, choices designed to stave off the aging process.
Assuming that a person’s entire life is “written” in the genes that they are born with has been a major mistake in recent health care philosophy. The more we learn about genetics, our biological inheritance, the more we realize that for the most part, our lifestyle decisions and behaviors have far more impact on longevity and health than does heredity. A person’s genes define their basic biology, but health decisions and habits control the way genes will affect the body and health in general.
It used to be thought that aging is the ticking away of some internal clock to a predetermined plan laid down in your genes. Dr. Leonard Hayflick, a noted research scientist, grew human cells in tissue cultures and showed that they could subdivide to create new cells only a limited number of times. Latest research shows that this is not the case, the death of the cells were determined by the nutrients they took in and their environment.
Aging can best be defined as the gradual loss of the body’s ability to respond to the environment.
The Human Body is an amazing collection of synergistic entities controlled by what can only be described as innate intelligence. The body is designed to be totally self-functioning and self-healing. It was born with the ability to adapt to chemical and physical stresses put on the body in order to survive and thrive.
We tend to think of healing when we suffer a cut on our arm or have broken a bone, but healing is a constant process of replacing old cells with new cells. For example, red blood cells are replaced at a rate of about 100 billion a day, with one trillion total red blood cells in constant circulation.
The body is constantly analyzing what is happening within the body and what is happening in the environment outside the body and makes adaptive changes as necessary.
Aging is not just the effects of chronological time, but also the abnormal stress we place on our body, which gradually breaks it down. This is caused by a number of things by including inactivity, chemical pollution and neurological and postural stress.
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Chiropractic has been evolving over the past century, but its roots go back to ancient China and Greece. Ancient writings in these cultures mention manipulation of the spine and maneuvering of the lower extremities to ease low back pain. Even Hippocrates, who lived from 460 to 357 B.C. published texts detailing the importance of chiropractic care. He wrote, “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.”
