Most people pursue chiropractic care when they have back pain, neck pain, or headaches, and then typically not until other treatment efforts or the passage of time have failed to provide relief. When relief is obtained the problem is assumed to be solved, with no further need for spinal attention. This may be the way you’ve been trained to think as well. However, there is a much bigger reason to care for your spine. Consider the following key points.
Your nervous system travels through and anchors into your spine, and runs every aspect of your health and life. When you experience a physical trauma such as a car accident or an emotional overwhelm, your nervous system communication, which needs to be finely-tuned, gets disrupted. You might be thinking “But I feel fine, I don’t have any pain, so I must be okay”. Keep reading to see why this conclusion could be costly.
Do you desire a longer, healthier life or simply no pain?
Here are a few highlights from a basic science research article published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroanatomy in Nov. 2009. It reveals significant connections between neck misalignments, a distressed autonomic nervous system, disturbed system-wide physiology, and possible disease consequences. It goes on to explain why gentle precise adjustments (like we provide with our instrument approach) especially of the neck, contribute to enhanced whole body health.
There is a critically important nerve center at the junction of your neck and head (nucleus intermedius) that coordinates autonomic control of your internal organs to changes in your posture. Misaligned positions and abnormal motion of your neck vertebrae stimulate distress messages to this nerve area. The greatest influence is to the circuits relating to the cardiovascular system, especially evoking changes in heart rate and blood pressure.
These connections help explain the study results reported in the Journal of Human Hypertension in March 2007, which showed that precision neck adjustments significantly reduced blood pressure, and the outcomes remained stable during an 8 week follow-up period.
The disturbed nerve activity from neck misalignments has also shown negative influences on respiration, immune activity and other essential internal systems. This is further explained and illustrated through patient stories in my book “Where Does it Hurt?”
There’s one more extremely important point I must share from this research. The nerve fibers irritated by the spinal misalignments induced by trauma and stress weren’t pain receptors! This confirms that non-painful misalignments, especially in the neck, negatively alter the function of the autonomic portion of your nervous system, the part that adapts you every day to the stresses of life and prevents you from developing disease.
This was apparent in the 2007 blood pressure study mentioned above. The authors noted that none of the patients whose blood pressure was significantly reduced by the chiropractic adjustments were suffering from neck or back pain!
Yes, at Norton Chiropractic we help large numbers of people every day with their back pain, neck pain, headaches, and more. But I want you to see the bigger picture. Your nervous system is the primary determinant of your health and life. Prioritize your care of it, regardless of pain or well beyond its resolution, and you will be well-served.
