For much of chiropractic’s history, one of many reasons medical doctors have derided chiropractic is that they insisted that “cracking the spine” could not possibly influence immunity.  Chiropractors cited many case studies, but each was derided as bias and too small a sample.  Chiropractic was labeled as quacks and from the 1960s though the 1980s the American Medical Association sought to eliminate the profession of chiropractic as unscientific and dangerous.  The spine has absolutely nothing to do with immunity.  The arrogance was astounding.

Now, science is beginning to show that chiropractic does positively influence immunity.  The human immune system is huge and complex system.  The below study compared the rate of antibody synthesis between a group of subjects just adjusted and a control group of subjects not adjusted. 

Researchers separated 76 asymptomatic subjects into two groups.  One group received an upper back adjustment, the control group did not.   Blood was taken before the adjustment, 20 minutes after and 2 hours after.  A bacterial protein was introduced to each blood sample.  As expected, each blood sample showed increased anti-body formation, but the chiropractic group’s blood sample showed a significant increase in antibodies.  This means that the chiropractic adjustment demonstrated improved immunity against a potential infection.  The potential of this study is staggering.   Adjusting did influence immunity, but many questions arise.  Is the increase in immunity short lived and by what quantity.  More research needs to be done, but the outlook is good. 

Please contact Dr. Jeffrey Linder of Bryant Park Wellness of NYC with any comments or questions.