Can An Unhealthy Spine Affect Internal Organs?
Henry Winsor, M.D. questioned Chiropractic. “Chiropractors claim that by ‘adjusting’ vertebrae, they can relieve stomach troubles, ulcers, menstrual cramps, thyroid conditions, kidney disease, constipation, heart disease, lung and other diseases-but how?” He decided to conduct a study of his belief: he dissected human and animal cadavers to see if there was a relationship between any diseased internal organs discovered on autopsy and the vertebrae and nerves that went to the organs.
The University of Pennsylvania gave Dr. Winsor acquiescence to carry out his study. In a series of three studies he dissected a total of 75 human and 72 cat cadavers and found 221 structures other than the spine were diseased. He found a nearly 100% correlation between “minor curvatures” of the vertebrae and diseases of internal organs. Let us examine some of these disease categories.
Heart Disease- All 20 cases with heart and pericardium conditions have the upper five thoracic vertebrae misaligned.
Lung Disease-All 26 cases of lung disease had spinal misalignments in the upper thoracic area.
Stomach Disease-All nine cases of spinal misalignment in the mid-thoracic area had stomach disease.
Liver Disease-All 13 cases of liver disease had misalignments in the mid-thoracic area.
Gallbladder-All five cases with gallstone disease had spinal misalignments in the mid-thoracic area.
Pancreas-All three cases with pancreatic disease had spinal misalignments in the mid-thoracic area.
Spleen-All 11 cases with spleen disease had spinal misalignments in the mid-thoracic area.
Kidney-All 17 cases with kidney disease were out of alignment in the lower thoracic area.
Prostrate and Bladder Disease-All eight cases of prostrate and bladder disease had the lumbar vertebrae misaligned.
Uterus-The two cases with uterine conditions had the second lumbar misaligned.
Despite the continued research and literature correlating the maintenance of health with the maintenance of the spine and the nervous system, chiropractic is the only modern health profession that takes this approach toward health. An unhealthy spine and nerve pressure will cause the body to function at less than 100%. When the body is not functioning properly, it is more susceptible to disease. A chiropractic spinal check-up and adjustment can help in the care and prevention of sickness and disease through a properly functioning nervous system.
“221 structures other than the spine were found diseased. Of these, 212 were observed to belong to the same sympathetic (nerve) segments as the vertebrae in curvature. Nine diseased organs belonged to different sympathetic segments from the vertebrae out of line. These figures cannot be expected to exactly coincide…for an organ may receive sympathetic filaments from several spinal segments and several organs may be supplied with sympathetic (nerve) filaments from the same spinal segments. In other words, there was nearly a 100% correlation between minor curvatures of the spine and diseases of the internal organs.”
Dr. Winsor’s results were published in The Medical Times. Other researchers have confirmed his discovery. Today medical literature contains many experiments proving chiropractic’s theory and effectiveness. Dr. Henry Winsor’s insights and research were prophetic indeed.
For more information I would urge you to speak with your Minnesota Chiropractor.
