Topic of the Week: Maintenance One of the most important aspects of maintaining your health is maintaining your spine. Grey’s Anatomy talks about your brain’s spinal chord as the major control center that controls all the structures in the human body.

In a recent study, conducted over a three year period and presented at the International Research and Philosophy Symposium, a hundred volunteers were examined with an electroencephalogram (EEG), before and after chiropractic adjustments.  This was the first time that EEGs have been used to prove that there are definite changes to the way the brain processes information after chiropractic care.  The EEG scans were examined to check the right/left balance, the amount of total activity, the primary regions of activity, and the effect of the adjustments.  The study concluded that chiropractic adjustments have a positive effect on the central nervous system, specifically on the four primary frequencies of brain function: beta, alpha, theta, and delta.

In 1949 a rare embryological accident occurred in Soviet Russia, resulting in the formation and birth of conjoined twin girls named Masha and Dasha. These unfortunate children were joined at the hip and in such a way that surgical separation was impossible.

Chiropractic care is for anyone who has issues or the potential for issues related to a subluxation (a spinal misalignment – commonly due to trauma).  So the short answer to this question is, “yes!”  From the time we’re born, our spine is subjected to repeated mild trauma.  Indeed, the very act of birth can be traumatic to a baby’s spine.  Think about the doctor pulling a baby by his/her head to aid a birth, and you’ll know what I mean.  From there, babies first learn to lift their heads, which can put pressure on the spine.  Then, learning to roll over, crawl, stand, and eventually walk, all involve pressures and minor traumas to the spine, resulting in subluxations.  Just think about how many times a toddler falls down on his/her bottom while learning to walk – not to mention the possibility that they might be accidentally dropped, or roughly tossed around by fun uncle Joe. None of these minor incidents are likely to cause serious injury.  Your child probably wouldn’t even cry from most of the episodes we’re talking about.  But each one is enough to cause small misalignments, which can have an effect on their developing nervous system.

If you’re like many people, you have a very specific view of what Chiropractic medicine is, and the reasons why a person would go to see a chiropractor.  Unfortunately, the common perception is that chiropractic care is only to be used as a “reactive” treatment.  In other words, many people think the only time anyone should seek the advice and treatment of a chiropractor is after an injury or upon feeling back pain.  In fact many in our own profession have supported this belief with marketing that suggests just that.  You’ve probably seen the TV commercials for chiropractic offices telling you to come in if you’ve been injured or are experiencing pain.  And in fact, they’re not wrong to say you need to see a chiropractor in these cases. However, while chiropractic medicine is certainly where most people with back pain should turn, that only covers a small fraction of the population who can benefit from this kind of care.  The truth is, when practiced properly, chiropractic medicine is a holistic approach to health that is as much about prevention as treatment.  Unlike drug-driven medicine that is predominantly reactive, chiropractic medicine is pro active.  In other words, rather than waiting for illness or injury to manifest in the form of pain, disability, or sickness, chiropractors work to keep your body in a state of wellness at all times.  This approach helps keep you from getting injured or sick in the first place, often eliminating the need for drugs and other treatments that invariably carry their own risks, including severe side-effects.  Additionally, while drugs very often simply mask the problem by only treating symptoms, chiropractic care treats the cause, allowing patients to experience long-term wellness and a greatly reduced possibility of the problem returning. And wellness is really what we’re all looking for, isn’t it?  That’s why chiropractic care is about so much more than just the back.  To the average patient, it would seem that our focus on the back and spinal cord means that we’re only concerned with your back, but there is a very important reason for this focus.  Our true focus is on the nervous system, which runs through your spine.  What people often don’t realize is that small misalignments in their back can have serious negative affects on other areas of the body, including organs, muscles, and even the brain.  You see, every organ and process in your body is controlled by the nervous system, so making this our focus is really a way to treat your entire body, not just your back

All of my life, I’ve always thought of myself as ‘healthy’. I never really worked out or ate fruits and veggies, but I felt good.  I never had pain and I never got sick like a lot of friends and family around me

Sandi and I moved Charlie from Sunol to Santa Clara 14 years ago.  Charlie was our cat and she passed away Monday.  She’s always been a loving and friendly kitty who wanted as much affection as we had time to give her.  She never really had chiropractic care, but we did sneak supplements into her food, and she loved wheat germ oil squeezed from Standard Process pearls.  That was her treat!  Charlie used to groom herself constantly in her younger years to the point of licking all the fur off her back end and legs in the summer.  About a year ago, we noticed her long furry coat had become a bit matted.  Sandi wanted her to look pretty, so we took her to the vet to be groomed.  The vet explained that older cats often don’t groom themselves quite as well as younger cats.

Have you noticed that over the past few years you have been getting sick more often? Do you have low energy? I want to take a minute to discuss your body’s immune system

Today we will conclude our blogging series on viscerosomatic reflex by discussing the bottom 2 vertebrae of the spine; the sacrum and the coccyx.    The sacrum has a correlation to the hip bones & buttocks.  Some imbalances that may occur with a misalignment to this area include issues of sacro-iliac conditions as well as spinal curvatures.    The coccyx bone is related to issues of hemorrhoids (piles), pruritus (anal itching), and also pain at the end of the spine on sitting.

I have been asked about what one should expect on a visit to a chiropractor’s office. On your first visit, you will complete a case history form where you explain your concerns and give us a picture of your past and current health. Then the chiropractor will go over this form with you and gather additional information.