As you continue on your chiropractic journey towards better health, let’s take a moment to emphasise the connection between chiropractic adjustments and brain balance. How it impacts your overall health, healing and ability to adapt to stress.
Chiropractic care goes far beyond just helping neck or back pain. It focuses on the relationship between the spine and the nervous system. Research by the internationally renowned neuroscientist, Dr Heidi Haavik, has confirmed the profound effect of how the chiropractic adjustment impacts the spine. She demonstrated that specific spinal adjustments, activate the small spinal muscles which directly fire up the ‘pre frontal cortex’ in the brain. This area is considered the ‘conductor’ of the brain and is the part that intelligently regulates our thoughts, actions and emotions as well as our ability to regulate the fight/flight response in our body.
This is really important because if our brain cannot regulate the fight/flight response, we cannot, in turn, use the part of the brain needed for reducing inflammation as well as healing and repair of injured tissues.
An adjustment fires up the small muscles around the spine. These muscles are hugely important for giving feedback to your brain about what is happening in your body and also in your environment. The quality of the feedback your brain is getting from theses muscles determines how quickly your body heals and how it copes with stress. A research paper showed that a chiropractic adjustment is the equivalent of 3 weeks of strength training!
We know and understand that the human body needs to be able to adapt to survive in its environment. For example, when we are unwell, our immune system adapts and kills the virus by causing a fever. Or when we are exercising, we sweat, our heart rate changes and hormone production alters. All of this is the body’s way of creating homeostasis in our system which is a self regulating process by which biological systems maintain stability while adjusting to changing external conditions.
When the body is unable to adapt to both the internal and environmental conditions, this puts the brain and body under stress and in turn causes symptoms or illness. In chiropractic we look at restoring this homeostasis by removing stress from the nervous system thus allowing it be be able to adapt freely to its environment. Research shows that the better our nervous system can adapt to stress the quicker and better it is at healing and repair.
A brain that is receiving information that is distorted in any way cannot respond optimally to the world around it. That is why when we adjust a spine and help proper function, the brain adapts and interprets stress differently.
So what can you do to stimulate your brain….
Here are just a few ideas of things you can do to stimulate your brain. When you’re considering your overall brain health, you can also look to your diet, ensuring that it is well-balanced, low in fat and cholesterol, and high in antioxidants. Having the right nutrients in your body helps maintain cognitive function and stimulate proper brain function and development. You can also look to your physical exercise regime—regular physical activity can improve cognition, help memory and thinking processes, improve mood and sleep, and reduce stress and anxiety.
Change it up
Your brain gets used to doing things it’s usual way. So change it up by using your non-dominant hand to do things like; using the mouse, brushing your teeth or throwing. You could also practice kicking with your non-dominant foot. Switching up these things forces the brain to adapt by creating new neural pathways. It may feel weird at first but you will get used to it quickly. Mix up your regular routines to help stimulate new neural pathways with new experiences. For example, go to work a different way than usual, walk a different path than usual. Change your usual morning routine.
Increase your senses
Performing everyday tasks with fewer senses could promote activating underused neural pathways. For example, try getting dressed or having a shower with your eyes closed. Try feeling your way around your bedroom with your eyes closed (it goes without saying to be careful doing this, we don’t want any accidents). If you make a sense work harder, you could strengthen the pathways.
Double up the senses
Try performing two different sensory activities at the same time to help stimulate your brain to create new pathways. For example. Combine actively listening to music with exercise or doing a difficult task.
Exercise
Stability and core activities fire up the brain pathways. Great ones include – side and front planks, bridge or superman exercises.
Testimonial of The Month
“I am so amazed with the way the body can heal itself. We underestimate the power of what our mind can do to our body, how powerful our thoughts are, how you can use your thoughts to heal your body. I’ll never come off that journey, I’m in a much better place.” Gemma B
If you know someone who could benefit from this blog post, please share it with them. We offer a complimentary spine check to anyone who is interested in how chiropractic may be able to help them. You can book this online, or by calling 02082951733.
