Subluxations Explained: What They Are, Why They Happen, and Why You Should Care

By Dr. Maggie McInnes | The Wellness Tribe | Denver, CO

If you’ve ever been to a chiropractor, you’ve probably heard the word “subluxation.” It’s one of those terms that gets used a lot in chiropractic offices but rarely gets explained in a way that actually makes sense to people outside the field.

So let’s fix that.

Understanding subluxations — what they are, how they happen, what they do to your body, and how they get corrected — is genuinely useful information for anyone who cares about their long-term health. And once you understand them, a lot of things about how your body works (and sometimes doesn’t work the way you’d like) start to click into place.

What Is a Subluxation?

A subluxation — technically called a “vertebral subluxation” — is a misalignment in the spine that creates interference in the nervous system.

Let’s break that down.

Your spine is made up of 24 movable vertebrae stacked on top of each other, plus your sacrum and tailbone. Between each pair of vertebrae, nerves branch out from the spinal cord and travel to every part of your body — your organs, your muscles, your skin, your immune system. Everything.

When your spine is aligned and moving properly, those nerves have a clear, open pathway. Signals travel freely between your brain and your body. Your innate intelligence — the body’s built-in wisdom — can communicate, regulate, and heal without interference.

A subluxation occurs when one or more vertebrae shift out of their optimal position. That shift creates a kind of static in the system — pressure, irritation, or tension around the surrounding nerves that disrupts the quality of the signals traveling through them.

Here’s the important distinction: a subluxation is not primarily a structural problem. It’s a neurological problem. The misalignment matters because of what it does to the nervous system — not just because a bone is in the wrong place.

Do Subluxations Always Hurt?

This is one of the most important things to understand — and one of the most common misconceptions about spinal health.

Most subluxations are not painful. In fact, research suggests that only about 10% of your nervous system is dedicated to perceiving pain. The other 90% governs all the other functions of your body — organ function, immune response, hormonal regulation, and more.

This means you can have significant subluxations — and significant neurological interference — without feeling any pain at all. Your digestion might be sluggish. Your immune system might be underperforming. Your sleep might be poor. Your energy might be low. Your mood might be flat. But because nothing “hurts,” you might never connect these things to spinal health.

This is why we don’t wait for pain to get a chiropractic adjustment, just as we don’t wait for a toothache to go to the dentist. By the time something hurts, the interference has usually been building for a while.

How Do Subluxations Happen?

The honest answer is: life.

Subluxations are the accumulated result of the physical, chemical, and emotional stresses that our bodies absorb over a lifetime. Some of the most common causes include:

Birth trauma: The birth process places significant mechanical stress on an infant’s cervical spine and cranium. Even uncomplicated births involve strong compression and rotation forces. This is why many chiropractors recommend having newborns checked shortly after birth.

Falls and injuries: Childhood tumbles, sports impacts, car accidents, and other physical traumas can all cause or contribute to subluxations — sometimes immediately, sometimes as compensation patterns that develop over time.

Posture and repetitive stress: Hours spent at a desk, looking at screens, sitting in a car, or doing repetitive physical work gradually load the spine in ways that create misalignment. This is one of the most pervasive sources of subluxation in modern life.

Emotional and psychological stress: This one surprises people. But the nervous system doesn’t distinguish between physical and emotional threats — both activate the same stress response, the same muscular tension, the same postural patterns. Chronic anxiety, unresolved grief, and ongoing relational stress all leave physical signatures in the spine and surrounding tissue.

Chemical stressors: Inflammation from poor diet, environmental toxins, and certain medications can affect the tissues surrounding the spine, contributing to the conditions that allow subluxations to develop and persist.

What Do Subluxations Do to the Body?

Remember: the nerves exiting the spine go everywhere. So the effects of subluxation aren’t limited to back pain — they depend entirely on which nerves are being affected.

Subluxations in the upper cervical spine (the neck) may affect the brainstem, which regulates blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and the autonomic nervous system. This is why cervical subluxations are associated with headaches, migraines, dizziness, tinnitus, anxiety, and even blood pressure changes.

Subluxations in the thoracic spine (mid-back) may affect the nerves that govern the heart, lungs, and digestive system. Mid-back subluxations are sometimes associated with acid reflux, asthma, mid-back pain, and general fatigue.

Subluxations in the lumbar spine (lower back) may affect the nerves supplying the lower digestive tract, reproductive organs, bladder, and legs. These are associated with low back pain, sciatica, hip issues, and pelvic floor dysfunction.

Again — pain is only one possible expression. The body adapts remarkably well for a long time before it signals distress through pain. That adaptation, however, comes at a cost.

How Are Subluxations Corrected?

Through chiropractic adjustments.

An adjustment is a specific, controlled input — delivered by hand or instrument — to a subluxated vertebra. The goal is to restore proper movement and alignment, relieving pressure on the surrounding nerves and restoring clear communication in the nervous system.

At The Wellness Tribe, we use gentle, specific techniques tailored to each patient’s age, size, and health history. We don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. A newborn’s adjustment looks nothing like an adult’s. A pregnant woman’s adjustment looks different from a healthy 30-year-old’s. We meet your body exactly where it is.

Most patients describe the immediate aftermath of an adjustment as a feeling of release — lighter, less tense, more at ease. Over time, with consistent care, many people notice improvements in sleep, energy, immunity, digestion, emotional regulation, and overall sense of wellbeing — often in addition to whatever pain or symptom brought them in initially.

How Often Do You Need to Be Adjusted?

This depends on you — your history, your lifestyle, your current level of subluxation, and your health goals.

For someone new to chiropractic care who has accumulated years of uncorrected subluxations, more frequent visits initially are typically recommended to begin restoring proper function. As the spine stabilizes and the nervous system recalibrates, visits often become less frequent.

Many of our patients eventually settle into a maintenance schedule — coming in every few weeks or once a month — simply because they’ve experienced what it feels like to function at their best, and they want to maintain it. Like regular dental cleanings or gym visits, it’s not about crisis management. It’s about ongoing investment in your health.

You Don’t Have to Wait Until Something Breaks

Here’s the reframe we’d love you to take away from this post: subluxations are not a sign that something has gone catastrophically wrong with your body. They are a normal consequence of being a physical being living in a demanding world. They happen to everyone.

The question is simply whether you’re addressing them — giving your spine and nervous system the regular care and attention they need to function at their best — or waiting until the interference becomes loud enough to demand your attention through pain or illness.

Your body is always working toward health. Always. Our job is simply to remove the obstacles in its way.

Come find your tribe.

About The Wellness Tribe — Denver Chiropractic

The Wellness Tribe is a vitalistic, holistic chiropractic practice serving Denver and the surrounding communities. Founded by Dr. Maggie McInnes, we specialize in prenatal and postnatal chiropractic, pediatric chiropractic, and whole-family wellness care. We are proud to serve the Platt Park, Washington Park, and South Pearl Street neighborhoods and beyond.