We often have patients tell us that they have seen a chiropractor before and that they would feel really good after the adjustment and then within a few hours or days their symptoms would come back. As functional neurologists, this is a big indicator that their brain needs more specific stimulation to address a dysfunction in their nervous system.
When you receive a chiropractic adjustment, a few things happen. Our joints have sensory receptors in them called mechanoreceptors. These receptors are important for transmitting signals of mechanical movement from our joints. Our muscles and tendons have different receptors called muscle spindles and golgi tendon organs. These types of sensory receptors are called proprioceptors, they transmit signals about stretch and tension in the muscle and tendons. When you receive an adjustment, it helps to facilitate joint movement, which stimulates the mechanoreceptors and helps to create a fast stretch to the muscles. This stimulates the proprioceptors as well.
After the adjustment, both of these receptors send signals along various sensory nerves into our spinal cord. From there, these messages travel up to the brain through the spinal cord and provide sensory information to our brain about our joint location and muscle tension. Both of these things are sensory information and will stimulate our parietal lobe in the brain. The parietal lobe has multiple functions. It is responsible for our lower field of vision, our smooth eye movements (which we use for scanning and watching a target), quick movement changes to our surroundings and sensory integration from our senses and body. Our parietal lobe is where Wernicke’s area is located, which helps to integrate sound, vision, movement and interpret language both visually and verbally. Our parietal lobe is very important and plays a huge role in where we spend most of our brain function.
This is just one example of how an adjustment can send feedback to your brain, and more specifically to your parietal lobe, and help to create neuroplasticity. When a patient says that they feel really good after an adjustment but it does not last, that can indicate that their brain may need more specific stimulation than just the adjustment. Their system may require additional brain exercises or additional therapies to help with the resolution of their symptoms.
Different types of chiropractic adjustments can be done to facilitate specific stimulation to different areas of the brain. For some individuals, it is important to receive these specific adjustments that are catered to their nervous system. It is important to know that chiropractic adjustments provide information to more than just the parietal lobe. They provide input to our cerebellum, vestibular system/balance centers and more.
Adjustments are beneficial for brain health and function. Our brain requires three things to survive and thrive: 1) adequate amount of oxygen 2) fuel in the form of glucose or ketones 3) stimulation. An adjustment can help with two of these things. It provides stimulation to the brain, and receiving an adjustment to the ribs and/or thorax can improve an individual’s breathing mechanics. This will help increase their ability to breathe more efficiently and bring more oxygen into their system.
Chiropractic adjustments are good and important for brain health. It is important that you reach out to a licensed chiropractic physician near you and see if you are a candidate for chiropractic treatment.
Our Approach
At CFNC, we address the body comprehensively by evaluating and treating all of the systems involved. We utilize targeted exercises and unique rehabilitation that is individualized to the patient and their nervous system. We have a wide variety of tools at our disposal to help our patients. One of our tools that we can use is a chiropractic adjustment. All of our doctors have their original training in chiropractic with post doctoral training in functional neurology, clinical neuroscience and functional medicine. If you have any questions and would like to speak to one of our doctors, please fill out our consultation request form or give us a call to schedule your new patient appointment.
Comments