How are my Health Issues Related To Tone?

The discoverer of Chiropractic, D.D. Palmer wrote extensively about the concept of tone. He stated the following:

"Life is the expression of tone. In that sentence is the basic principle of Chiropractic. Tone is the normal degree of nerve tension. Tone is expressed in functions by the normal elasticity, activity, strength and excitability of the various organs, as observed in a state of health. Consequently, the cause of disease is any variation of tone -- nerves too tense or too slack."

At the time, D.D. Palmer didn't have extensive knowledge about the physiology of the body; however, he did study enough to intuitively determine that alteration of nerve tension can affect human health.

For decades, chiropractors have been thought of as 'bone doctors' because we work on the spine. However, we influence the nervous system, specifically its tone. We can think of the nerves as having optimal tone or tension. Like a guitar or violin string, they resonate at a certain frequency.

The tone or tension determines the structure of our spine, muscles, tissue and fascia surrounding it. The degree of tension within our nervous system determines the quality of information to get to the rest of our cells, tissues and organ systems in surrounding regions and throughout the body. If the tension of a guitar string is off, the guitar is out of tune, and the sound produced is not at its optimum. Similarly, when the tone/tension of our nervous system is off, our state of health is not optimal, and the health issues we experience are not pleasant.

So, when a chiropractor delivers an adjustment, it restores the tone of the nervous system.