Vertebral Misalignment and the Corresponding Organ's Degeneration

Chiropractic care is not just for pain in your back or neck. Regular chiropractic treatment ensures that any minor misalignments in one's vertebrae are quickly corrected so that the nerves which pass through them to various organs do not have any pressure on them. Pressure on a nerve curtails the signals being transmitted from the brain to that organ, and that in turn causes the organ to degenerate.

Subluxations: Chiropractors call these minor misalignments in your vertebrae “subluxations.” You say, "But I don’t have any pain there." Well, the reason is because many of these nerves are not designed to register pain or transmit a pain message to the brain but are to control functions of the body. Even slight pressure on the nerve as it passes out from the spinal column will reduce the signal going from the brain to that organ, and result, if not corrected, in organ damage and even possibly death.

96% Correlation Between Subluxations and Organ Degeneration: Dr. Henry Winsor did autopsies to determine if there was any connection between minor distortions of the vertebra and diseased organs, or whether the two were entirely independent of each other. The studies were performed at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Winsor carefully examined any diseased organs, the nerves that supplied that organ, and the vertebra that protected that nerve.

He discovered that 221 structures, other than the spine, were diseased. Of these structures, 212 were observed to belong to the same sympathetic [nerve] segments as the vertebrae in the distortion. This is a 96% correlation. 96% of the nerves that supplied the diseased organ came from the damaged vertebral level. Accounting for the 9 organs that were not directly related, Dr Winsor stated, "The nerves entering and leaving the cord traveled up or down the cord for a few segments, accounting for all the apparent discrepancies." He indicated that there was nearly a 100% correlation between 'minor curvatures' of the spine and diseases of the internal organs, realizing that the connection between the spine and the organ is through the sympathetic nerves. 

Winsor H. Sympathetic Segmental Disturbances—II.  The evidences of the association, in dissected cadavers, of visceral disease.

The Story: Way back in 1921, Henry Winsor, a medical doctor in Haverford, Pennsylvania asked the question: "Chiropractors claim that by adjusting one vertebra, they can relieve stomach troubles and ulcers; by adjusting another, menstrual cramps; and by adjusting others conditions such as kidney diseases, constipation, heart disease, thyroid conditions, and lung disease may resolve - but how?" Dr. Winsor decided to investigate this new science and art of healing - chiropractic.

Inspired by chiropractic and osteopathic literature, he planned to dissect human and animal cadavers to see if there was a relationship between any diseased internal organ discovered on autopsy and the vertebrae associated with the nerves that went to that organ.

Dissections: "The object of these necropsies was to determine whether any connection existed between curvatures of the spine, and diseased organs; or whether the two were entirely independent of each other."

University Permission: The University of Pennsylvania gave Dr. Winsor permission to carry out his experiments. In a series of three studies he dissected a total of seventy-five human and twenty-two cat cadavers. His summary is below, but before sharing it, I am providing you a "Spinal Nerve Function chart" so you understand how amazing his summary is.

In the diagram below note where nerves leave the spine and go to various organs. The abbreviations are: C = Cervical; T = Thoracic;  L = Lumbar

Click for full size image

The following are Dr. Winsor's results:

• Stomach Diseases: All nine cases of spinal misalignment in the mid-thoracic area (T5-T9) had stomach disease.
• Lung Disease: All 26 cases of lung disease had spinal misalignments in the upper thoracic spine (T1-5).
• Liver Disease: All 13 cases of liver disease had misalignments in the mid thoracic (T5-T9)
• Gallstones: All five cases with gallstone disease had spinal misalignments in the mid thoracic (T3-7).
• Pancreas: All three cases with pancreas disease had spinal misalignments in the mid thoracics (T3-7).
• Spleen: All 11 cases with spleen diseases had spinal misalignments in the mid thoracics (T3-7).
• Kidney: All 17 cases with kidney disease were out of alignment in the lower thoracics (T 5-9).
• Prostate and Bladder Disease: All eight cases with kidney, prostate and bladder disease had the lumbar (L2-L3) vertebrae misaligned
• Uterus: The two cases with the uterine conditions had the second lumbar misaligned.
• Heart Disease: All 20 cases with heart and pericardium conditions had the upper five thoracic vertebrae (T1-T5) misaligned.

In Conclusion: Dr. Winsor's results are published in The Medical Times and are found in any medical library. Winsor was not alone in his findings. Similar studies by other researchers have confirmed Dr. Winsor's conclusion that degenerated and misaligned spines have a high correlation with disease processes.

Reference: All quotes from: Winsor, H. Sympathetic segmental disturbances - II. The evidences of the association, in dissected cadavers, of visceral disease with vertebral deformities of the same sympathetic segments, The Medical Times , November 1921, pp./ 267-271.