There are three commonly recognized causes of subluxations, physical trauma, chemical toxins and emotional stress.

Physical Trauma  is what most patients blame their pain or condition on. “I slept wrong”, “I lifted something heavy or improperly”. There are many different physical stresses we expose our bodies too through out our life time. The first stress can be the birth process it self. If forceps, a vacuum or excessive pulling or twisting of the infants neck is initiated, this can cause significant damage to the upper cervical spine (or upper neck) which can compromise the infants health from day one. Then we learn how to walk, and I don’t know of anyone that was able to walk from the very first step and not fall down 1000 times, this process can jar and compress the spine. As we go through life we can have many slips and falls, car accidents, sports injuries, motor vehicle accidents, as well as work related injuries. Physical traumas may be responsible for your subluxations, and these traumas can add up and accumulate over time. If they are left uncorrected it can lead to degenerative changes or arthritic conditions.

Chemical Toxins  are often over looked as a cause of subluxations. Chemicals are a direct poison to our nervous system. Chemicals can interfere with or disturb the function of our nervous system just as easily as trauma. What many of us don’t realize is just how many chemical toxins we expose our selves to daily. The list includes but not limited to food dyes, sweeteners, preservatives, chemicals in the air, prescriptions, over the counter medications, cleaning chemicals the list goes on. Annually 4 billion prescriptions are consumed in North America, 70000 chemicals are used commercially, 3000 chemicals are added to our food supply, and 10000 chemicals are used in food processing, preserving and storage. We have become a chemically dependent society and these chemicals poison our nervous system resulting in subluxations every day!  

Mental and Emotional Stress is the most common cause of subluxations in the world today. Our nervous system filters and processes stress on a moment to moment basis. When our nervous system is overwhelmed by the constant or chronic stress that we endure on a daily basis it breaks down resulting in chronic subluxations. When we are worried, fearful, when we experience relationship, money or job problems, or when life just doesn’t seem to go our way it takes its toll on our nervous system. Mental and or emotional stress is inescapable in our society and a frequent subluxation producer. We will never completely get rid of all our stressors, but it is important to learn how to manage and deal with the issues so that it does not interfere with our health.