Chiropractic of the Soul

I've had some serious TMJ dysfunction recently. For those of you not familiar with this, it's teeth-clenching. For the anatomists out there, it's Temporo-Mandibular-Joint dysfunction. In other words, gruesome dental grinding. It's stress-related and most of it's unconscious, done nocturnally. Mine has been so bad I've had daytime dizziness. Lots of it. Yuck. But what I find interesting is that TMJ dysfunction is not only widespread across America (and indeed, my doc said that 9 of 10 people who see him for dizziness have it), but that it has a direct relationship with one's pelvis. Yes, pelvis. You see, grinding and misalignment of the jaw directly transfer through the cervical vertebrae, down the spine, and to the pelvis, particularly the sacro-iliac joint (a.k.a. the SI joint). According to my chiropractor friend, this is so common it's got a name in the business: Category 2. I'm learning that the old song, "the knee bone's connected to the thigh bone" is good human physiology. Our bodies are indeed "fearfully and wonderfully made" as the psalmist sang so long ago in the Bible. When one part of us is painful or misaligned, other parts are directly affected. How then can we possibly compartmentalize our lives? If one area is off--physically, emotionally, spiritually--surely it will ripple across through other areas of our life (and out to other lives with whom we're connected). The problem may appear in one place, yet have its source somewhere else. So let me ask you: How is it with the anatomy of your soul these days? Need an adjustment?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Carl, that is excellent - I'll have to send it on to the 'SOT list' I'm on. (email list for docs who do SOT)