
My dad was an electrician and he used to take me with him on some of the jobs. I was probably 10 years old at the time and he would have me help with crawling in attics or “fishing” wires through walls. As I got older and more experienced, I would help with more complicated projects.
In the early days, fuse boxes were common and, eventually, were replaced by circuit breakers. Dad would usually get a call from a customer because a number of lights would not work, or the refrigerator would stop working, etc. He would always go to the fusebox or circuit breaker first to determine if there was a “blown” fuse or a “tripped” breaker. He would explain that electric current, passing through a wire, would supply the necessary energy to cause the lights or refrigerator or TV to work. If there was too much energy or electricity going through the wire, the fuse or the circuit breaker was designed to break in order to prevent a fire or other type of damage…this was a good thing. It was usually an all-or-none principle, meaning that once the fuse or breaker was tripped, the entire circuit, and thus all the things connected to it, would stop working. The other circuits in the house would still function.
When I became a Chiropractor, I began to appreciate the lessons my father had taught me, especially while helping him in his work.
In a similar way, one vertebrae can be compared to one circuit breaker or fuse. The spine (made up of 24 moveable vertebra) is analogous to the fuse box or electric box.