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The "digestive system" or "digestive tract" is contained in a long tube called the alimentary canal that runs from our mouth to our anus. The mouth, the esophagus, the stomach, and the intestines are all components of the digestive system - and though each has a special function, they all have the same purpose: to convert food into energy and eliminate what's not needed. Let's investigate some of the digestive problems that people suffer from when certain parts of the digestive system malfunction and what the chiropractic position is regarding these conditions.
Dysphagia
After we chew our food, mixing with digestive enzymes, we swallow it - that is, unless we have a swallowing problem, or dysphagia one of the most common problems of the digestive tract. (People with dysphagia feel the food "going down slowly" or "sticking')
Esophagus
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Next, the food travels to the stomach down the tube called the esophagus (Latin for "I swallow"). Most people think of the stomach as a simple pouch or container where food is stored and dissolved before being absorbed by the intestines. Well, it's that and much more than that. In fact, the stomach is one of the busiest and most interesting organs in the body. Inside the stomach are billions of gland cells that manufacture, by a process that is still not fully understood, one of the most powerful acids found in nature: hydrochloric acid (HCL). HCL dissolves the stomach contents so they can be absorbed by the intestines. This acid is so powerful that if it were ever to escape from the stomach, it could eat away our heart, lungs. Liver, veins, arteries, and every other organ in our body.
What Keeps the Acid In?
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Hydrochloric acid stays safely in the stomach because the stomach's inner walls are covered by a thick layer of mucous, which is made by hundreds of millions of mucous-secreting cells These cells live only two to four days - in fact, they are shed at the rate of half a million cells per day.
Heartburn
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At the top end of the stomach is the cardiac orifice, a muscular area that is usually closed to prevent food from backing up into the esophagus. But when people have "heartburn' the food may reflux (flow back) a little through the cardiac orifice from the stomach to the esophagus. This condibon is usually felt as a burning sensation behind the sternum or breastbone. (During vomiting this orifice opens up). At the bottom of the stomach is a valve (the pyloric sphincter) that lets food into our intestines a little at a time.
Stomach Troubles
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Many things can go wrong with the stomach. The problem perhaps most commonly seen in both children and adults is chronic stomachache, also called nervous stomach or dyspepsia. Another common condition is stomach or duodenal ulcer, which occurs when the mucous lining becomes thin and the powerful acids and digestive juices start to eat through the stomach and intestines - causing a very painful condition.
Pyloric Stenosis / Gastritis
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The stomach can also suffer valve problems, such as pylonc stenosis - a tightening or shrinking of the opening between the esophagus and the stomach: gastritis - an inflammation of the stomach walls: and both benign and malignant tumors.
The Standard Medical Approach
Digestive troubles are often poorly understood and many medical treatments are therefore directed only at treating the symptoms. As one medical text has stated: Further, treating symptoms alone, apart from the risk of the side effects and adverse reactions that are common with drug usage, can lead a person into the false belief that the problem is gone merely because the symptoms are gone. It's not unusual to hear of a person "living on" antacids, Di-Gel, Tums, Rolaids, or some other over-the-counter remedy, as well as prescription drugs, without any sign of improvement. As a general rule, then, when there's any kind of health problem, it is always best to avoid medical drug therapy and surgery, which are often dangerous forms of treatment, and investigate first and foremost more natural forms of health care.
The Chiropractic Approach
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It may confuse a patient who has experienced relief from a digestive problem after chiropractic care to hear that chiropractic does not attempt to treat or cure digestive conditions. The chiropractors purpose is to analyze a person's spinal column for a very common yet very dangerous condition: vertebral subluxation, or spinal nerve stress. Vertebral subluxations damage nerves and interfere with the proper communication between the brain and the body.
Dis-ease
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In order for the body to be healthy, the brain must be able to communicate to all the body organs including, of course, the digestive organs. Any interference of the nerves' ability to communicate to any part of the body can cause a state of "dis-ease", an old term meaning that the body is functioning at less than top efficiency This can be a very destructive state, leading to lowered resistance and thus to disease. If vertebral subluxations are found, the chiropractor, by performing the procedure known as "spinal adjustments," will then proceed to correct or relieve them. And, although chiropractic is not a treatment for disorders of the stomach or digestive organs, relieving pressure on the nerves that go to the digestive system has been recognized as essential for good health
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As early as 1921 research revealed that slight spinal abnormalities could cause stomach and digestive disorders, including disorders of the esophagus, duodenum, and intestines. Henry Winsor, M.D., working on cadavers at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Discovered that diseases of the digestive organs were present when vertebral subluxations affecting nerves traveling to digestive organs were present. Lewit showed in 1985 that 87 percent of a group of adolescents suffering from duodenal and/or gastric ulcer had "pelvic distortion, with increased incidence of blockage in the craniocervical junction. In 1984, Grieve discussed the effectiveness of spinal care with dysphagia and "abdominal nausea.""' Maigne has written that relief of interference with the nervous system has alleviated digestive pains and "pseudo-ulcers,'' among other conditions. Robuck's clinical research led him to state that spinal adjustments could help individuals suffering from "dyspepsia and epigasitric distress." In another study of 100 patients with stomach and duodenal ulcers it was found that 86 had spinal abnormalities of the area that supplied the stomach with nerve fibers.'' The noted researcher N. T. Ussher, M.D., found that spinal misalignment could produce disease by irritating the nerves that supply various organs and that correction of the spinal problem could give relief to stomach ulcers, gastritis, colitis, and spastic constipation."
In Conclusion
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The digestive system can weaken, begin to work improperly, and fall prey to a multitude of diseases. The job of the chiropractor is to ensure that the stomach and the rest of the digestive system (as well as all the other organs of the body) are receiving an unobstructed nerve supply. This promotes body harmony, enhanced ability to cope with stress, and improved resistance to disease. Remember, if the nerves are impinged upon by vertebral subluxations, no amount of Di-Gel, Rolaids, Pepto-Bismol, Tums, or antacids will relieve the pressure. A chiropractic spinal adjustment is what the body needs.
