Patients under regular chiropractic in our office care don’t catch colds or flus as often. When they do, they are usually over it in 1-3 days.

The REASON:

The nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system are inextricably linked, like a three-legged stool. Numerous research studies have shown that chiropractic care positively impacts immune system function. Below are a few articles giving some insights into how this happens.

The nervous, immune, and endocrine systems share tiny messenger molecules

that mediate communication between them. One of these messenger molecules, IL-2, used to be classically thought of as an immune system molecule; however, studies published within the past decade have clearly shown IL-2’s presence and activity in the nervous system (click here for more information). One recent pioneering study, “Enhancement of in vitro interleukin-2 production in normal subjects following a single spinal manipulative treatment”(click here for the article) clearly demonstrated an increase in IL-2 levels and also in the function of T-cells, which are key players in the immune system’s army of cells, following chiropractic adjustment. The authors concluded that chiropractic adjustment could influence the biological immune response.

Interleukin-2 is so important for your immune system a synthetic pharmaceutical version was approved in 1999 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and in several European countries for the treatment of cancers (malignant melanoma, renal cell cancer) in large intermittent doses and has been extensively used in continuous doses. This version can cost $1,000’s of dollars. Your body makes more of it after every adjustment.

A series of studies published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT) by Brennan and Triano showed that several types of immune system cells, including phagocytes, neutrophils, and PMNs, showed increased biological activity after chiropractic adjustment. Links to the PubMed abstracts can be found here and here. These studies all suggest that chiropractic adjustment can enhance immune system function.

And let’s not forget that the endocrine system is the third leg in the stool of neuro-endocrine immunology. The endocrine system’s main players are epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), nor-epinephrine, and cortisol. These molecules are produced in the adrenal glands, endocrine glands that have direct connections with the nervous system by way of a division called the sympathetic nervous system. Cortisol in particular is a stress hormone that inhibits the immune system (which is why stress really can make you sick!) So if the sympathetic nervous system is too “turned on” due to stress and subluxation, it can increase the adrenal glands’ synthesis of cortisol, in turn affecting the immune system. Subluxation promotes this exact situation (click here for and article abstract and here for an full article describing this). Chiropractic care is the only way to detect and eliminate subluxation. If you or someone you know always seems to be sick all the time, subluxation could be at the root of the problem – the only way to find out, is to have your spine checked! Call or email for an appointment at Ocean Chiropractic Center of Aventura @ 305-932-3773 or oceanchiroctr@gmail.com so we can help you to determine whether subluxation is interfering with your immune system.