I am Louie the Liver, the largest organ in your body (about three pounds) and one of the most important. I am not as glamorous as your heart or your lungs. In fact, I look like you would imagine - like Liver.​​

I just about fill the upper right part of your abdomen, and I'm protected by your ribs. To give you an idea of my importance, I handle about 500 different bodily processes. I produce more than 1000 different enzymes to handle chemical conversions in your body.

Women talk about me, if at all, in hushed tones. And only to each other. I'm Phoebe Female Trouble, the most misunderstood gal in town.

Girls first encounter me in their early teens, at puberty. I may be with them throughout their childbearing years.

I'm a target of many old wives' tales. Because of me, some call the period from puberty to menopause the "difficult years." I'm the reason for the cliche, "Women are born to pain and suffering."

I'm Buck Backache, as common as an old shoe - and just as tough. If you haven't encountered me, just wait awhile. You will.

Whether you're a secretary or housewife, a laborer or desk-bound executive, I'll get around to you one of these days.

Don't blame me. Blame gravity. A recent scientific report put it rather neatly; The spine, instead of serving as a nicely-balanced suspension bridge, is more like a tent pole.

'm Buster Bursitis. Cartoonist caricature me as a little red devil jabbing my trident into some human shoulder, or elbow, or knee. The person is always wincing, his lips forming the word "Ow!"

I'm always amused by this, for, in an over-simplified sort of way, it has a smidgen of accuracy.

My purpose is causing pain in joints. I attack the bursa, a fluid-filled pouch that serves as sort of a shock-absorber for a joint. I dry up the fluid and make it gritty - but if you'd rather picture me puncturing it with a trident, that's okay by me.

I'm Carey the Kidney, and some folks tend to blush when they talk about me. This is all right for the overly modest, but for your health's sake, don't ignore me, especially if I show signs of giving trouble.

Actually, I'm twins. I'm a pair of organs that lie at the lower border of the rib cage, one on each side of your spinal column. I am a glandular organ, but unlike most of the other organs who manufacture substance to be used in the body's metabolism, I perform a completely different function. I remove useless - and sometimes even dangerous - materials from the body's fluids.

They call me the Strangler. I keep more than a million Americans - a third of them children - gasping for breath.

I'm Asthma. Never mind the first name. That nickname, "The Strangler", suits me better.

Human stranglers grasp their victims by the neck. How coarse! I'm much more subtle. I squeeze my victims' bronchial tubes to cut off the supply of air to their lungs.

Business is good. Every day there are more people to prey on. I thrive when my very presence in a human body is blamed on allergies, when my victims turn to drugs and medicines for relief.

If you were asked, "What is a Chiropractor?" Your first reply might well be that a Chiropractor is a doctor who "does something" to a patient's bones (maybe the muscles, too)- probably in the spinal area. To a degree, you would be correct. Yet it is important that one understand the relationship between the bones of the skeletal system in general, and the spine in particular, and the nerves which are contained within the spinal column and the other joints.

Chiropractic holds that your basic health comes from within YOU.

It maintains that health principles are expressed through the nervous system - with the brain acting as a receiving and sending station. Normal health is a state in which there is no disturbance to nerve energy channels. Nerve energy must flow freely from the brain cells to tissues cells so that the glands, muscles, and organs may function normally.

BASIC PRINCIPLES

Chiropractic principles underline that the spine is the KEY to the nervous system and therefore to HEALTH, because all nerve trunks are distributed from the spinal column. Falls, twists, and other accidents sometimes cause a slight displacement of a vertebra and disc, partially blocking nerve channels. This irritates, or "pinches" nerves, disturbs the transmission of nerve energy, lowers body resistance, impairs function, causes discomfort, or possibly serious conditions with much pain.