Immune Function
Helping Immune Function with Chiropractic Care
Your body is designed to protect itself from external invaders that cause illnesses, like viruses, bacteria, fungi, and toxins. Chiropractic care can help the body stay healthy by boosting the immune system and encouraging full-body well-being.
The spinal cord allows the nervous system to communicate with the rest of your body. When the spine is misaligned, your immune system may suffer from this blockage of nerve pathways, weakening your body’s defense mechanism against infection. This makes you more susceptible to everything from the common cold to life-threatening conditions. By taking care of your spine’s alignment and nervous system, your body can better detect and respond to external threats that can lead to illness or injury.
What is the Immune System?
The immune system is made up of cells and organs that work together to protect the body. The primary cells involved are white blood cells and the lymphoid organs of the body—the thymus, bone marrow, spleen, tonsils, lymph vessels, lymph nodes, adenoids, skin, and liver.
Causes for Weakened Immune Function
There are many reasons why someone has a weakened immune system, but they fall into two categories—primary and secondary immunodeficiency.
Primary immunodeficiency includes genetic disorders that may cause damage to the immune system. Others have an autoimmune disease, in which the body cannot distinguish the difference between its own cells and foreign cells, causing the immune system to attack itself.
With secondary immunodeficiency, the immune system weakens due to acquired factors, including environmental stressors, lifestyle choices, and age.
- Unbalanced diet or undernutrition
- High stress levels
- Immunosuppressant medications
- Viral infections
- Exposure to environmental substances
- Alcohol
- Smoking
Common Symptoms
- Frequent colds
- Frequent or repeat infections
- Mild fever
- Digestive upsets
- Unexplained weight changes
- Joint aches
- Tingling or numbness in hands and feet
- Fatigue or exhaustion
- Headaches
- Dry eyes
- Yellowing of eyes or skin (jaundice)
- Alopecia (hair loss)
- Patchy skin pigmentation
- Rash
- Sensitivity to sun exposure
Humans have three types of immunity:
- Innate immunity: Everyone is born with innate or natural immunity. This is a type of general protection. For example, the skin is a barrier preventing germs from entering the body. The immune system recognizes when certain invaders are foreign and could be dangerous.
- Adaptive immunity: Adaptive or active immunity develops throughout our lives. We develop adaptive immunity when we’re exposed to diseases.
- Passive immunity: Passive immunity is “borrowed” from another source and lasts for a short time. For example, antibodies in a mother’s breast milk give the baby temporary immunity to diseases the mother has been exposed to.
Help for Immune Function at Innate Life Chiropractic
Chiropractic clears interference in the nervous system. When the nervous system is clear of blockages, it can better coordinate all the body’s functions, including the immune system. At Innate Life Chiropractic, our chiropractor will perform an examination, InSight neurospinal scans, and evaluate your posture to discover where your body is out of balance. After analyzing the findings, Dr. Nathan will develop a care plan to help improve the health of your body, spine, nervous system, and quality of life expression.
Tonal Chiropractic Adjustments
This approach looks at the overall tone of your nervous system. Your body may be stuck in sympathetic overdrive or over-exhausted due to parasympathetic hibernation. Tonal chiropractic allows your body to find harmony between these two extremes while relieving abnormal tension on the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.
When the nervous system is running “fight or flight” mode at all times, the body’s normal functions can become compromised, including the immune system. Dr. Nathan uses a combination of MLS, Network Spinal Analysis, Biogeometric Integration, and MC2 to help your nervous system shift from stress to healing.
Zone Healing
Zone healing improves more than just immune function. It may positively affect all functions in the body. Every cell in the body falls into at least one of the six zones—glandular, eliminative, nervous, digestive, muscular, and circulatory. Dr. Nathan will determine which zone is either out of balance or needs a boost. He will adjust the vertebrae in the affected area to increase your range of motion and take pressure off the spinal nerves.
Chiropractic Studies
Dr. Ronald Pero, the chief of cancer prevention at New York’s Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine at New York University, measured the immune systems of people receiving chiropractic care compared to the general population.
In his three-year study, he found that the 107 chiropractic patients had a 200 percent greater immune competence than people who had not received chiropractic care. He observed a 400 percent greater immune competence compared to those who had cancer or another severe disease.
Further, he found that the immune system superiority of those under chiropractic care did not diminish with age. Dr. Pero commented, “I have never seen a group other than this chiropractic group experience a 200 percent increase over the normal patients. This is why it is so dramatically important.”
Specifically, the study demonstrated that the cells responsible for engulfing and destroying viruses, bacteria, parasites, and cancer cells are anywhere from two times to four times more active in people who get regular chiropractic care. Scientifically, the study demonstrated that the “phagocytic respiratory burst of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) and monocytes were enhanced in people that had been adjusted by chiropractors.
Other Statistics
- Chiropractic adjustments increased immune cell counts by 48 percent in AIDS patients. The immune cell counts fell 8 percent in the control group, which did not receive chiropractic care. (Chiropractic Research Journal, 1994)
- A study found that immune system cells were stronger in several ways after patients had their spines adjusted by a chiropractor. This immune system boost did not appear in patients who were physically manipulated but not adjusted, nor in those who just had their soft tissues worked on. (P. C. Brennan et Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 14)
Getting Started
At Innate Life Chiropractic, we focus on your innate ability to heal, grow, and thrive. Achieving your best health is rooted in your immune system. You can enjoy the immune system-boosting benefits of holistic chiropractic care. We will work on optimizing your spinal health and full-body function to unleash your true potential.