Stressed? Struggling with change and the new normal? Here’s how chiropractic can help.
The only constant in life is change. Change can cause stress and an inability of your mind and body to adapt accordingly. What we know as chiropractors is that the lack of adaption to our environment can have a profound impact on your health and quality of life. I think it’s fair to say we have all had our fair share of change and added stress in the last few months.
As chiropractors, we focus on how well the nerve system is working - this system controls everything in your body. A big focus of ours is your spine as this is your nerve systems suit of armour. Any damage, trauma, stress or interference to this network will undoubtedly impact your health.
Your body is a vehicle of communication, but it doesn’t have a voice. Instead it sends us signs and signals in the form of a symptom telling us we are out of balance and that we need to act, however it is also possible to have negative changes to your health and spine without symptoms. This is where our chiropractic analysis and our neurological scans can help assess your overall health before life’s stress take hold of your mind and body.
Stress comes in all shapes and sizes these days, I’m sure a few of the following sound familiar…
· Global pandemics
· Finances
· Poor diet choices
· Dehydration
· Social media
· Being contactable 24/7 – not “switching off”
· Seated or sedentary for extended periods of time
· Technology and its impact on posture
· Relationships with friends, family, colleagues and communities
· Societal pressure and expectations
Here at EBC we take advantage of modern day technology and have incorporated a series of neurological scans to take a deeper dive into how well your body is dealing with stress and its impact on your overall health. Once we get a baseline score, we then monitor these throughout your care to make sure we are seeing improving trends. This means we don’t have to rely on just your symptoms to assess your health, we have solid scientific data.
Many studies have been done on the impact a chiropractic adjustment has on your mind and body. Positive results include a change to brain function following adjustments done to the spine, a decrease in sympathetic response (high stress mode), decrease in pain, increase in muscle strength, improved strength following conditions such as stroke, and changes to the immune system and inflammation have all been found. How great does that all sound?
Health is multifactorial and it is to be acknowledged that lifestyle factors combined with chiropractic care can give you just the boost you might need in these funny times of change and stress.
Interested to find out how well your body is coping with stress or wanting to see some change? Pop in and say hi,
Dr Courtney
References
1) Ogura, T., Tashiro, M., Masud, M., Watanuki, S., Shibuya, K., Yamaguchi, K., Itoh, M., Fukuda, H., & Yanai, K. (2011). Cerebral metabolic changes in men after chiropractic spinal manipulation for neck pain. Alternative therapies in health and medicine, 17(6), 12–17.
2) Lelic, D., Niazi, I. K., Holt, K., Jochumsen, M., Dremstrup, K., Yielder, P., … Haavik, H. (2016). Manipulation of Dysfunctional Spinal Joints Affects Sensorimotor Integration in the Prefrontal Cortex: A Brain Source Localization Study. Neural Plasticity, 2016, 1–9. doi: 10.1155/2016/3704964
3) Holt, K., Niazi, I.K., Nedergaard, R.W. et al. The effects of a single session of chiropractic care on strength, cortical drive, and spinal excitability in stroke patients. Sci Rep 9, 2673 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39577-5
4) Kovanur-Sampath, K., Mani, R., Cotter, J., Gisselman, A. S., & Tumilty, S. (2017). Changes in biochemical markers following spinal manipulation-a systematic review and meta-analysis. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 29, 120–131. doi: 10.1016/j.msksp.2017.04.004