July 2007 Christopher S Dawson

How the Spine Influences the Nervous System:

Can Chiropractic help me?  Isn't it just for neck pain or lower back pain?

I hear these questions quite frequently, and will answer them and explain the basics about how the spine influences the nervous system.

To begin our understanding of the primary importance of the nervous system, we must look at the growing fetus.  The nervous system develops before any of the other systems or organs; before there is a heart that beats, before there are kidneys to filter the blood, before intestines exist to break down and absorb food, there already exists a nervous system to contol and coordinate the development of the other systems of the body.  That relationship is maintained throughout our entire lives.  Health depends on maintaining our bodies in a state of balance (homeostasis) with our interenal and external environments.  The nervous system is the communication pathway that allows the brain to be aware of our environment and respond appropriately to it.

What if the nerves are not functioning at their best?  For example, what if the nerves that control and coordinate the stomach are irritated?  Could there be overproduction of acid, indigestion, heartburn?  You bet.  The one thing that most strongly influences the health and function of the nervous sytem is the spine.  The spine consists of 24 moveable bones that surround and protect the delicate nervous system.  But because the spine is so flexible, it can also misalign and become fixed, which irritates the nerves that exit between each bone of the spine.  These nerves have target organs that they travel to in order to contol and coordinate their function.  If the nerve suffers, the target organ will be affected to the same extent.  Some more examples of this might be:  the fifth bone in the neck strongly affects the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and arms;  the second bone in the upper back influences the nerves to the heart, blood and lymph to the chest,shoulders, arms, and hands; the eighth bone in the back influences the stomach, food allergies, and the pancreas; the second bone in the lower back influences the bladder, colon, and small intestines.  Did you know that neck problems can be a source of ringing in the ears, upset stomach, high blood pressure, headaches, blurred vision, loss of balance or coordination, nausea, problems concentrating, short term memory loss, moodiness, irritability, depression?  To get you thinking about this, search on http://www.webmd.com/ for a hypertension study that proved a good upper cervical adjustment to the top of the neck lowered blood pressure.

If you are looking for a natural, drug-free option to help heal the body and return to a state of optimum health and human performance, you owe it to yourself to look into chiropractic care.  Remember that the body is a self-healing organism, but only if you get rid of the interference blocking that healing.

Christopher Dawson, D.C.

Christopher Dawson has been a chiropractor since 1993 and expanded his specialty in 2002 as a member of NUCCA (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association, www.nucca.org). For more on this please see Atlas Subluxation Complex. You can reach Dr. Dawson at his Central Florida office, 407-292-8100,
or email him at nuccachris@gmail.com.