90,000 miles of nerves make up your nervous system!
Your spinal column is made up of 24 vertebrae, the spinal cord inside the spinal column, and the nerves that come out of each level of the spine. The spinal cord is not in the whole spinal column; it stops at the second lumbar. Anything above is the central nervous system and anything that comes out of the spinal column or below is the peripheral nervous system.
A lot of people think of the nervous system like a computer where wires come out at the spinal column and control the whole body. However, there’s also feedback, so it’s not just one- way information; it goes both ways. Anything you do and anything in your environment is also going to influence the nervous system.
The Benefits of a Well-Adjusted Spine
The underlying philosophy behind chiropractic is if you have a well-adjusted spine, the nervous system is able to function properly. Chiropractic may yield the following benefits:
- Reduces stress
- Improves control over postural muscles
- Aids digestion
- Improves concentration
- Promotes better movement
- Improves sleep
- Alleviates depression
- Chiropractic adjustments achieve a balance between the two autonomic systems (the sympathetic and parasympathetic).
The Body’s Two Systems
We have two systems in the body: the sympathetic and parasympathetic system. The sympathetic system is everything that deals with stress. It’s also referred to as the fight or flight system. The parasympathetic functions only during rest and controls digestion and reproductive organs..
A lot of people are constantly in sympathetic mode, and that’s how they get tired. The burn out syndrome is a constant and overuse of the adrenal glands, sending stress hormones to the rest of the body. The chiropractic adjustments affect these systems by stimulating the command centers.
At each level of the spine there are little centres of information that are linked to either the parasympathetical or the sympathetical system. The cranials and the pelvis is where most of the parasympathetical activity occurs. By stimulating the area, you can reconnect with the parasympathetical system.
Addressing the Joints
As chiropractors, we are looking for any restriction in any bone in the whole system. By freeing up that joint and gaining movement in that bone, it will help the information go through the body wherever it has to go. If someone has a chronic problem, it will take more time to reboot the nervous system.
For people who have chronic pain, changes in the nervous system develop and will slow down the healing process. If a joint does not move in the body it ceases to exist in the brain’s eye. Specific adjustments are meant to reconnect the brain to the hypomobile joint, reversing the maladaptive changes in the brain. This will take time and regular stimulations to that same area.