Staying Well with Chiropractic Care

Bottom Line: Back pain, neck pain, and headaches. Maybe that’s how you discovered Immune system and chiropracticchiropractic care. The research supporting chiropractic adjustments as the top choice to reduce pain and increase function for those body signals is overwhelming. But, what’s even more exciting is the research showcasing how chiropractic adjustments may be able to do much more. Emerging research has begun to show that chiropractic care can impact your immune system, helping it function at a higher level.  In other words, chiropractic care may not only be able to help you get well, but it also may be able to help you stay well!

Why it Matters: Recent research has shown that chiropractic adjustments can reduce the production of inflammatory mediators. With less inflammatory mediators you feel better, with less pain. Why does it matter? Well, inflammation, and the creation of inflammatory mediators is part of your immune system.  The autonomic nervous system is made up of two divisions- the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. The parasympathetic nervous system is in charge of rest and recovery. Your sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the fight or flight response. When your sympathetic nervous system is activated, your immune system isn’t able to rest and recover very well. Recently, new research indicated that chiropractic adjustments can reduce sympathetic nerve activity. When your stress response is lowered, your immune system can better fight off sickness.

chiropractor adjustment– Adjustments can reduce inflammatory mediators, which can provide pain relief

– Research has shown adjustments to decrease our sympathetic nerve activity

– Relaxation of neck tension after an adjustment is common, helping you feel better

Next Steps: Many people start chiropractic care to get their life back from pain. But, preliminary research has shown that adjustments may have an impact on your immune function as well. Patients frequently tell us that since the start of their chiropractic care they get sick less often, and it looks as though the research is starting to prove it. If you have a friend or loved one who seems to get sick quite often, take this study and share it with them. It may be their first step towards a healthier immune system!

Science Source:

Enhanced phagocytic cell respiratory burst induced by spinal manipulation: potential role of substance P. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. September 1991

Spinal Manipulative Therapy Reduces Inflammatory Cytokines but Not Substance P Production in Normal Subjects. January 2006

Interleukin 2-regulated in vitro antibody production following a single spinal manipulative treatment in normal subjects. Chiropractic & Osteopathy. September 2010

Glucose Metabolic Changes in the Brain and Muscles of Patients with Nonspecific Neck Pain Treated by Spinal Manipulation Therapy. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2017

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How to Reduce Stress in the New Year

holiday stressBottom Line: Are you overwhelmed by stress? Well, you’re not alone. Studies show over 54% of people are concerned with the amount of stress in their daily life. Many of us carry this stress in our shoulders and neck. Muscle tension in our shoulders can contribute to headaches, neck and back pain. Chronic stress can lower your energy levels resulting in irritability, illness, and even depression. But, there is good news! A few simple changes to your daily routine can help you dramatically decrease your stress level, boost your energy, and ultimately live a healthier and happier life. Keep reading to learn how.

chiropractic adjustmentWhy it Matters: One of the best ways you can increase your energy levels and reduce stress is with motion! Our bodies are built to move. Improving spinal motion, or segmental motion is one the ways that chiropractic adjustments help you move and feel better. Research has shown that chiropractic adjustments can significantly reduce muscle tension in the shoulders, helping reduce pain, improve range of motion, and decrease stress!

“…cervical muscle tension was significantly reduced bilaterally after (an adjustment).”
“…we observed metabolic changes in the brain and skeletal muscles, as well as reductions in subjective pain, muscle tension… (after a chiropractic adjustment)”

Next Steps: If you know someone who gets sick around the holidays it is likely due to stress. Show them you care and share this research with them. These simple tips for reducing stress will help them have a happier and healthier holiday season!

 

Science Source:
Glucose Metabolic Changes in the Brain and Muscles of Patients with Nonspecific Neck Pain Treated by Spinal Manipulation Therapy
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Volume 2017. Article ID 4345703
Central Motor Excitability Changes After Spinal Manipulation: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study
Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. Volume 25. Number 1. January 2002
Stress in America Survey. American Psychological Association. 2010

 

Your Nervous System

Neurons Connections LifeYour nervous system is mysterious. Scientists have yet to figure out what it’s saying. Human beings can go down to the bottom of the ocean, pick up a Trans-Atlantic fiber optic cable and tap into almost any conversation in any language, but we have yet to decipher a single nerve communication. The complexity of the nervous system remains elusive and it’s the source of your life or light of your life.

Complexity of Your Nervous System:

In your nervous system there are 100,000,000 neurons or biological wires that connect to 15,000 other biological wires. Giving you 1,500,000,000,000 (1.5 Trillion) connections in your nervous system. Each one of these neurons has a function in the body and that function can be reduced by 50% with 8mm of mercury pressure. To give you an example, when a storm rolls in and your uncle’s knee starts aching, that’s 50-120mm of mercury pressure change. Did you feel it change? This complexity of 1.5 trillion connections and the fragility of these tissues makes it hard to figure out the communications and functions of the nervous system.

Nerve Innate LightOn earth there are 4,770,000,000 cell phones. If every person had 319 contacts that they used daily, the cellular system would be as complicated as your central nervous system. As richmond hill chiropractors, we look at how the body is dysfunctioning and as we adjust vertebra that are misaligned we’re trying to relieve some of the pressure that’s causing the nerve to dysfunction. The slight pressure on 10,000 neurons makes it very hard to predict how the system will recover when the pressure is released because each of those neurons has different function.

Every person reacts differently because no two people are wired the same.  Our nervous systems function differently because of our experiences and injuries those experiences have caused. Every injury has caused scar tissue. The better we take care of those injuries, the less scar tissue. The more we medicate and disregard the healing process, the larger the scar tissue grows with every irritation to the injury.

Scar Tissue Spine

Chiropractic Care:

Under consistent neurological function care (aka chiropractic), injured tissue develops less scar tissue and maintains higher function at a neuronal level (neurons). This affects how you feel.

Health:

But if health were about how you feel, then the person on the most narcotics would be the healthiest. That’s a lie. Health is about function. If you function as close to 100% of your body’s ability, then how you feel is directly proportional to how you’ve taken care of it. At Palmer Chiropractic, we focus on the source of the communication dysfunction that’s keeping your nervous system from commanding and controlling your body to its optimum performance. Call 912-756-3433 to start your health care plan.

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