Neurological Snapshot Of The Subluxation
Negative thoughts result in the stress response, which may affect posture, joint position and function – a subluxation.
The subluxation is at the core of the science of chiropractic. Professor Michael Hall is taking a brilliant look at the subluxation, motivating us to have a visceral response in our thinking on the topic.
“Many of us have discussed at one time or another the impact of traumas, thoughts, and toxins on neurological health and well-being.”
He uses negative thoughts as a starting-point. Such adverse stress heightens the sympathetic nervous system and results in elevated respiration.
This requires increased muscle activity, causing increased muscle tone, which changes the position of the head and the spine in the neck. This changes the body’s control of balance, which changes the normal function of the pelvis.
Do you know someone who has forward head posture, fixated upper ribs, and subluxations throughout their spine? In this picture, they could also have less-than- optimal respiration, heart rate, and digestion.
So adverse stress increases muscle tone, which alters the normal position and function of the joint. That’s what we call a subluxation resulting from negative stress.
That person may complain of muscle & joint discomfort, or not. Regardless, a subluxation represents interference in the normal function
Story at-a-glance
1. Negative thoughts result in a heightened sympathetic nervous system. They also increase the tone of the accessory muscles of respiration, affect the head position, the spine in the neck and the body’s control of balance.
2. So, if someone has forward head posture, fixated upper ribs, and subluxations throughout their spine, they could also have less-than-optimal respiration, heart rate, and digestion.
3. Adverse stress shifts the focus to a more negative health outcome, with an increase in muscle tone that alters normal joint function – what we call a subluxation. Subluxation can represent the downstream manifestation of negative or adverse stress.
4. Practical Application: As chiropractors, we are driven to find out what may help the adjustment hold, and also what may be causing the subluxation.
A properly trained chiropractor knows the importance of:
- Detecting and correcting subluxations, whereverthey may be.
- Ensuring that the adjustment makes the change the body needs.
- And helping identify what may be causing the subluxation.
“Your patients, your practice – there are too many subluxations and not enough chiropractors!! Subluxations represent interference, chiropractors remove subluxations.” – Michael Hall
Greater Strength, Muscle Function and Less Fatigue
Research: Chiropractic care can increase strength, decrease fatigue and improve the brain’s ability to drive muscles
“What we can say based on this study(1) is that when we adjust subluxations, we improve strength, we prevent fatigue and we change the way the brain drives our muscles. That’s pretty cool.” said Heidi Haavik, one of the brains behind this recent study.
Haavik is referring to subluxations as dysfunctions that occur when the nervous system isn’t controlling movement of the spine as well as it should be.
“When we adjust…subluxations, we change the way the brain processes what’s going on in our bodies. Hence we are able to better process all that sensory information from throughout the body, and control the body in a better way.” says Haavik.
In this recent study, researchers asked groups of people to perform maximum contractions of their leg muscles. For the ones who did receive chiropractic adjustments, they saw a major shift in the way the brain drove the muscle.
“The brain was changing that…effect. Our subjects got stronger (in comparison to the control group)” observed Haavik and her fellow researchers.
The study showed:
- an increase of almost 60% in the electrical activity readings from specifically targeted muscles
- a16%increaseinabsoluteforcemeasures
- a 45% increase in the drive from their brain to their muscleAnother interesting finding occurred when Haavik compared these results to another study that looked at three weeks of strength training. “Our results were almost identical to three weeks of strength training.”These are compelling research outcomes which back- up what chiropractors and people under chiropractic care already know: that people function better with chiropractic care.1. Changes in H-reflex and V-waves following spinal manipulation. Experimental Brain Research. Vol 233, 4 , pp 1165-1173
Chiropractic Care and older people: improved function, less falls.
A newly published trial (1) has shown that 12 weeks of chiropractic care in a group of older patients resulted in improvements in their sensory and motor functions that are important for falls risk, as well as improvement in the physical component of quality of life. The study, the main trial in chiropractic researcher Dr. Kelly Holt’s PhD, states:
“Falls account for more than 80% of injury-related hospital admissions in people older than 65 years, and they are the leading cause of injury-related death in older adults ”
The study showed that compared with the control group:
- Those receiving chiropractic care “improved significantly in ankle joint position sense error.” This shows a potential impact of chiropractic care on proprioception, or the brain’s ability to know where the body is in space.
- There was also a significant improvement of increased sensorimotor function at 12-weeks. Interestingly they only started to improve after 4 weeks of care, but not before.
- At the 12-week mark, the chiropractic group also improved by 13.5% in multisensory processing (integrating information from two or more senses), an important factor in falls risk.
- Thechiropracticgroupalsodisplayedstatistically significant improvements in quality of life related to physical health.
Story at-a-glance
1. This Randomized Controlled Trial showed that chiropractic can help improve function in older people, with a possible impact on their overall health and quality of life. We should encourage older adults to get checked!
2. There was a really big improvement in one of the measures as a result of more than 4 weeks of chiropractic care, but not less time. Sometimes the improvements in function that we’re looking for just take time.
3. Practical Application: 12 weeks of chiropractic care resulted in improvements in some factors that are important for falls risk (sensory and motor function), as well as improvement in the physical component of quality of life in a group of older adult people.
“In general, older people are underrepresented in many chiropractic practices.” says Holt “This study should give chiropractors confidence that they can help improve function in their older patients and that may have an impact on their overall health and quality of life. We should encourage older adults to get checked!”
From this study, chiropractors can confidently say that
“12 weeks of chiropractic care has resulted in improvements in some factors that are important for falls risk (sensory and motor function), as well as improvement in the physical component of quality of life in a group of older adult patients.”
1. Holt, Kelly R et al, “Effectiveness of Chiropractic Care to Improve Sensorimotor Function Associated With Falls Risk in Older People: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.
