Sub- lux -ation

For those of you who like trivia: sub (original Latin for “suspected” or “somewhat”) + loxos (Greek for “bent to the side”, “slanting”) +ation (“the process or action of doing something”).

A subluxation is any joint in the body that is not in its normal position, in other words, it has become misaligned. The more mobility a joint has the less stable it is. Less stability means more vulnerability to injury.

Chiropractors look specifically at the spine and refer to misaligned vertebrae as subluxations. A spinal vertebra that is out of place will interfere with the nerve communication between the brain and the rest of our body, since our spinal cord (which consists of nerves and messenger cells) is surrounded by these vertebrae.

The upper cervical spine is most vulnerable to injury because it has the greatest mobility of the spinal column. The upper cervical spine alone accounts for fifty percent of all the movement in the cervical spine. The greatest accumulation of nerve fibers is found at this level where the upper spinal cord intertwines with the lower section of the brain stem.

Subluxations may not necessarily cause you to feel any pain because only ten percent of the nerves in our body have the job of letting us sense pain. However, subluxations will always result in decreased function in the body’s systems because the other ninety percent of the nerves are responsible for all these functions.

Can we avoid becoming subluxated? No, day-to day life causes subluxations: anything ranging from looking down at your cellphone for too long to an injury sustained in a car accident. The only way to correct a subluxation is to keep up a regular adjustment schedule with your Chiropractor.