Below are typical questions regarding Upper Cervical Chiropractic care by new patients.
What is Upper Cervical Chiropractic care?
Upper Cervical Chiropractic care is a very specific technique in which a misalignment of one or both of the top two cervical vertebrae is removed. These misalignments cause interference to nervous system communication between the brain and body and are called vertebral subluxations. The specific direction of the misalignment is carefully analyzed so that restoring normal alignment of one of these two upper cervical bones will be as precise as possible. The specificity of Upper Cervical Chiropractic is what makes it so gentle. The top vertebra in your spine, the Atlas, is the only vertebra capable of freely moving and narrowing the opening in which the spinal cord travels through. Because of its relative instability compared to the other 23 vertebrae, the Atlas only requires a quick, gentle force to restore its proper position.
Is Upper Cervical Chiropractic care painful?
No. As stated above, the specificity of Upper Cervical Chiropractic analysis allows for a very gentle force to move the Atlas (C1) and/or Axis (C2) in a very specific direction. This allows the body to begin its return to optimal spinal alignment.
Will Upper Cervical Chiropractic care make me sore?
Usually no. In some rare cases, people might experience more pain after an upper cervical adjustment simply because their spine is realigning, doing something it hasn’t done in a while, maybe ever. This is similar to exercising for the first time after being sedentary for years. In these cases, healing may take longer.
Is Upper Cervical Chiropractic care a one time thing?
No. However, the goal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic is to have you holding your spinal alignment as long as possible. Depending on the person, this may be days, weeks, or months at a time. It is similar to getting in shape. You won’t achieve the level of fitness you desire after one workout, and the alignment in your spine won’t return to its optimal position after one office visit. It may change significantly, but in most cases, will take time to restore completely. Holding your alignment is what keeps the stress and tension off your spinal cord. This allows your body to function at its highest potential and heal itself optimally.
Will Upper Cervical Chiropractic care relieve my pain?
It depends. When the Atlas has become misaligned, it can cause endangering stress or tension on the spinal cord near the brain stem. This can result in any combination of symptoms; from conditions like low back pain and headaches to digestive issues and high blood pressure.
Another goal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic is not to relieve your pain, but to open up the nervous system communication between the brain and the body so that your body can heal itself effectively. This happens by removing the vertebral subluxation in the upper cervical spine. This will not only reduce the stress and tension on the spinal cord, but it will also balance the body by aligning the spine.
In most cases, when these things happen, people experience an immediate reduction in their painful symptoms.
If you only practice Upper Cervical Chiropractic care, does that mean you can’t help the back or other parts of the body?
No. Reducing the misalignment in the upper cervical spine allows the spine to reduce its compensations. If you think about the spine as three segments, it makes more sense. There is the skull, the Atlas (C1), and the rest of the spine from Axis (C2) down to the sacrum. Since the rest of the spine from C2 and below is connected by intervertebral discs and ligaments, it moves similar to a wave when a vertebral subluxation is present at the level of Atlas or Axis. Think of it as if the spine has been wound up. This winding up involves vertebral compensations, stress and tension on the nervous system pathways, with a resulting muscular and/or visceral disfunction.
By removing the vertebral subluxation at the level of Atlas, the spine is able to unwind, so to speak. As a result, the spinal compensations diminish, the nervous system can communicate optimally with the body, and overall bodily function will return.
In short, removing the vertebral subluxation at the level of Atlas affects the entire body, not simply the upper cervical spine.
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