Subluxation: the next household word By Peter Joffe, D.C. Twenty years ago, if someone said the word cholesterol,most people would have said,"What is that?"But today cholesterol is a household word.We all know that cholesterol and monitoring our cholesterol levels is vital for maintaining the health of our heart, since heart attacks are the No.1 killer of people today. But there is also another condition that many people suffer with that affects our lives.This condition is not known by most people and it is believed to be the next household word.That word is subluxation. What exactly is subluxation? Your brain, spinal cord and spinal nerves are responsible for controlling everything in your body. All of your muscles, organs, tissues and cells are controlled by your nervous system. Your spinal cord, which is also known as your lifeline, is protected by 24 moveable spinal bones, or vertebrae. In between each vertebra there is a pair of nerves branching off the spinal cord,extending to different parts of your body. A subluxation occurs when spinal bones become misaligned. This could cause potentially dangerous pressure on the nerves. It can also make it difficult or impossible for the nerves to function normally. You can't really feel a subluxation, but you can definitely feel the effects. These effects could be things like numbness, tingling, headaches, neck pain and lower back pain. But these effects can also include more serious conditions. If your nervous system isn't working the way it should, then your body can't work like it should either. What causes subluxation? There are many situations in life that could cause subluxation. Things as common as a car accident, sports injuries, slips and falls, poor posture, childhood falls, gravity, and even the birthing process for both the mother and the child are causes. How do people know if they have subluxations? A doctor of chiropractic can properly examine and check you for subluxation. By undergoing a thorough evaluation, which may include posture check, physical exam of the spine, orthopedic and neurological tests, and X-ray examination, a chiropractor can determine if you have spinal misalignments. Your chiropractor can also establish how serious they are, how many you may have and how long they have been present. If subluxation is found, what are the treatments? Treatments for the correction of subluxation are spinal adjustments. These spinal adjustments are the way a chiropractor can begin to restore the spine to its proper position. Adjustments over time could remove the stress that is being placed on the nervous system. By correcting and maintaining a proper alignment of the spine through regular adjustments, a wellness chiropractor can help patients achieve optimal health. This can include pain relief, increased energy, and increased range of motion of muscles and joints. There are a number of techniques used by chiropractors to adjust the spine. Those techniques differ according to the type of stress affecting the spine. Chiropractors believe there is quite a difference between simply being "alive" and actually "living."Chiropractors focus on keeping your nervous system functioning as optimally as possible, so you can live and enjoy life to the fullest extent. Dr. Peter Joffe will be giving a lecture about subluxations at his office on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. His office is located at 61 Pease Road in Manalapan. Seating is limited to the first 10 callers. To reserve, call (732) 536-9191.