You are meant to live a long life full of energy, joy and physical and mental health. You are born with a fantastic body so that you may enjoy this state.

Look how amazing it is. It balances hundreds, thousands even millions of chemical reactions every second.

At this very moment millions of your cells are dying, millions are being born, germs are entering your body and being neutralized, cancers are arising and being destroyed, your blood is filtered, chemicals are detoxified, your food is digested and absorbed and energy is being released giving you the ability to move your eyes and read with your brain. Your body is a marvelous creation designed to keep you healthy and happy for a long life.

So why should your incredible body ever get sick?

Life is a balancing act

You get sick because you get out of balance. What is referred to as sickness are the mechanisms your body uses to return to balance, to its natural healthy state.

When you say "I am sick" you are referring to these mechanisms. They are the unpleasant symptoms you dislike so much including fever, pain, rash, swelling, vomiting, diarrhea, swelling, weakness, fatigue, lassitude, depression, sweating and others. These symptoms aren't just happening to make you miserable; they have a purpose.

The purpose of symptoms

The purpose of these symptoms is to heal you, to bring you back to balance.

Put another way, symptoms are the mechanisms your natural healing ability (or inner healer) uses to heal you. Symptoms are a sign that your body is struggling to regain (or maintain) balance or homeostasis.

How did you get off balance?

Physical, emotional, chemical, nutritional and other environmental stresses assault us all the time. Usually we are able to handle these stresses so efficiently that we aren't even aware it's being done (we don't notice any major symptoms).

A little stress in the night

For example, let's say due to various stresses (not enough sleep, junk food, worry, overwork, etc.) your resistance is lowered and some body tissues weaken. Germs may grow on these weakened tissues. On that day you may feel a little tired or out of sorts. You may decide not to go to that party and instead take it easy and go to bed early.

As you sleep your temperature rises and your immune system mobilizes to address your infection. Your depleted energy is restored. You may have diarrhea to further the elimination/detoxification process and in the morning you are back to being your healthy, happy self.

A lot of stress in the night

Let's say instead of taking it easy that night you had a big meal, went to a loud concert, stayed out late and ate junk. That could seriously throw you off-balance and your body may need to take stronger steps to bring you back to balance. You may get a very high fever, have diarrhea, vomit and get "sick." But you are really getting healthy - just a little more dramatically than in the first example.

Symptoms are good?

Please remember that vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, fatigue, coughing and sneezing are built-in mechanisms your body uses to detoxify and cleanse your system.

Symptoms are a sign that your body is working properly. If you block or suppress symptoms with drugs you are working contrary to your body's wishes. This may give you temporary relief - but at a cost! Suppression may prevent your problem from fully resolving or may drive the disease deeper and cause chronic illness - which never goes away. As Harris Coulter, Ph.D., the great medical historian and researcher, writes:

The body often externalizes and rids itself of the morbific cause through natural discharges: urine, stool, perspiration, and especially skin disorders and eruptions (i.e. pus, mucus). Suppression of these manifestations has long been known to generate serious systemic disorders. (1)

How chiropractic helps

Chiropractic and other natural healthcare systems work with the body to promote "healthy" sickness. We make sure the body is working properly so it may use its healing mechanism to the fullest to resolve its issues quickly and bring you back to balance.

When chiropractors correct your structural distortions (subluxations) your natural healing ability is permitted to work at full throttle so your body may do its job most effectively.

If you or anyone you know is sick make sure they are free of health-destroying subluxations so their inner healer is able to function without interference. After all, the only true doctor is your own body.