Understanding Chiropractic Neurology – Key Benefits For Spine Health
Chiropractic functional neurology is an emerging discipline that utilizes new rehabilitative techniques to improve brain and nervous system function.
Chiropractic practitioners use spinal alignment and other practical techniques to curb aches and pains without resorting to invasive surgery. They work with the central nervous system (CNS), which comprises your brain and spinal cord.
Reduces Stress
A healthy spine is essential for a healthy body. It provides us the stability, flexibility, and strength to lift, carry, bend, twist, exercise, play sports, and perform countless daily tasks.
The spine is also the major highway for everything sensory and control in our bodies. If our spine is misaligned and functioning poorly, it can affect every aspect of our health and well-being.
When we are under stress, the body responds the same way, whether sitting in traffic or being chased by a predator. This constant state of stress can wear down the body and lead to chronic illnesses.
Chiropractic functional neurology can help reduce the effects of stress by restoring spinal nerve function. Techniques such as videonystagmography, gait analysis, posturography, and saccadic eye movement assessment can detect abnormalities resulting from spinal nerve dysfunction. The American College of Functional Neurology (ACNB) helps credential healthcare professionals in various subspecialties of chiropractic functional neurology.
Improves Sleep
Chiropractic functional neurology focuses on the whole person, which leads to a more effective treatment plan. It doesn’t rely on prescription pharmaceutical products or surgery and instead offers an alternative to traditional treatments that can have many negative side effects.
The goal is to improve your brain function through chiropractic techniques, exercises, and therapies. This allows your body to heal naturally rather than rely on prescription medications and invasive surgical procedures.
In addition to treating pain, balance, and movement disorders, chiropractic neurology focuses on improving the health of your central nervous system by addressing underlying neural misfires. This includes conditions like vertigo and dizziness, neuropathy, traumatic brain injuries, concussions, and even cognitive dysfunction with aging.
Becoming a certified chiropractic neurology specialist from providers like Colorado Integrated chiropractic requires completing three years of classwork and residency, followed by a rigorous board exam. Fortunately, this advanced certification is becoming more accepted as a viable option for those seeking alternative treatment. This specialized technique is an ideal solution for patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, and Parkinson’s disease, as well as those with spinal issues such as nerve entrapment syndromes and auto-immune disorders, including Rheumatoid arthritis.
Increases Blood Flow
One of the brain’s primary functions is to control blood flow throughout the body. When the spine is misaligned, it can restrict blood flow, leading to many health issues. Regular chiropractic adjustments can prevent this and help promote healthy circulation.
Research has also shown that a consistent chiropractic treatment plan can improve cervical blood flow by up to 35%. This is especially important for those who suffer from a history of concussion or whiplash injury.
Chiropractic Neurology, or Functional Neurology, is a new area of practice developed over the past few years. It utilizes emerging rehabilitative techniques to improve brain and spinal cord function.
These treatments include soft tissue manipulation, traction, and spinal decompression. Unlike medical neurology, which uses standard protocols, chiropractic functional neurology is individualized to each patient. This helps to avoid over-stimulation of the nervous system and eliminates the risk of stimulating an area that shouldn’t be stimulated.
Increases Energy
If your spine is misaligned, it will cause a lot of stress in the body. The brain will release adrenaline and cortisol to protect itself, but over time, this can lead to a host of issues, including lowered immunity, poor reproductive health, and anxiety. A spinal adjustment with CBP (Chiropractic BioPhysics) can relieve this stress and encourage positive neuroplasticity, resulting in less inflammation, better sleep, more energy, and even improved athletic and physical performance.
Chiropractic Neurology is a specialty within chiropractic that utilizes non-drug techniques to treat neurological conditions such as headache, migraine, concussion, vertigo, and nerve entrapment syndromes like carpal tunnel and stenosis. Many of these conditions are not responsive to medical interventions such as drug therapy and surgery but respond well to conservative treatments by a qualified chiropractic physician. A key difference between chiropractic functional neurology and traditional medicine is that individualized treatments avoid over exciting an area of the nervous system that may already be sensitized or stimulating an area that shouldn’t be stimulated.