That’s a great question!
Simple answer: having your spine adjusted removes irritation to spinal nerves and joints and allows your body to function more normally. Normal function is less uncomfortable, so you feel better.
Complicated answer: having your spine adjusted stimulates stretch receptors in spinal joints (ligaments, muscles and joint capsules), causing a reflexive inhibition of spinal muscle tone. This reduction in tone allows your nervous system to recalibrate spinal alignment via the muscular system, and reduces pressure and pain resulting from spinal fixation and mis-alignment. The adjustment also causes a short-term endorphin release which reduces pain and creates a feeling of well-being. By reducing nerve irritation the autonomic system which controls organs is allowed to more freely regulate internal functions, and sympathetic tone is reduced while parasympathetic nervous system tone is allowed to increase. This re-balancing of CNS function permits the body to dedicate more resources to healing and repairing.
Now, most people have no clue how Claritin works…and they don’t care how it works. Most people also don’t care how chiropractic works, they just know that it does work. If you have an inquiring mind, hopefully this short article provided you some good information to get started into a deeper understanding of chiropractic.