According to the National Institutes of Health, chiropractic is a health care approach that focuses on the relationship between the body’s structure—mainly the spine—and its functioning. Although practitioners may use a variety of treatment approaches, they primarily perform adjustments to the spine or other parts of the body with the goal of correcting alignment problems and supporting the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

Key concepts of chiropractic include:

• The body has a powerful, innate ability to heal itself.
• The body’s structure (primarily that of the spine) and its function are closely related – this relationship affects health.
• Therapy aims to normalize this relationship between structure and function and assist the body as it heals.The practice of chiropractic is based primarily on the subluxation

The practice of chiropractic is based primarily on the subluxation. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines subluxation as the “partial dislocation (as of one of the bones in a joint)”. The primary connection between the brain and the body is through the spinal cord and the numerous nerve branches that exit the spine between the bony segments. When these bony segments, called vertebrae, are misaligned they put pressure on the spinal cord and nerve branches causing interference with the brain-body communication. The primary goal of chiropractic is to correct subluxations, removing nerve pressure and restoring the brain-body connection.