UPPER CERVICAL CHIROPRACTIC CARE PART 1: The Lowdown on Regular Chiropractic vs. Upper Cervical (and what sets it apart)
Welcome to Part 1 of our series covering all things to do with Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care. Its a unique approach helping many to heal from issues that other traditional medical or alternative therapies have been unable to resolve.
Upper Cervical Chiropractic is already hugely popular in the USA and slowly becoming more widely known across Europe. At the time of writing there are approximately only 20 Upper Cervical Chiropractors in Europe.
Many of our clients say they’ve heard of both regular Chiropractic and Upper Cervical Chiropractic (the kind we specialise in here at KOEO Barcelona), but are often unclear about what differentiates the two. In this blog we’re going to give you a breakdown.
FYI: At KOEO in Barcelona, our core focus is Upper Cervical Chiropractic. We also use elements of regular Chiropractic (often referred to as full-spine care) according to what’s best for each client - resulting in a truly tailored care approach for each individual.
Here’s a summary of what we’re going to cover:
Part 1:
> What do Chiropractors actually do?
> What does Chiropractic help with?
> How is Upper Cervical different to regular Chiropractic?
> What is your Upper Cervical spine?
> How we measure your nervous system function
> The type of adjustments we do
The rest of this series focuses on all the unique elements that make up Upper Cervical Chiropractic. Our aim at KOEO is to help more people know about the benefits of Upper Cervical Chiropractic care for healing and beyond.
If you have further questions after reading this blog series please reserve yourself a complimentary phone consultation with Sophie; she can answer your questions and guide you with the best next steps for your unique situation.
What do Chiropractors do?
Chiropractic as a healing modality focuses on facilitating the free-flowing connection of vital life force energy through your body, specifically through your nervous system.
This master system coordinates every vital, life-giving, repairing and healing function within you. It is protected by our almighty spine - a moving suit of armour, if you will!
Any changes in the spinal movement or positioning can create interference with your nervous system’s ability to communicate clearly with your body.
Chiropractors work to make sure there is no interference to your nervous system by checking and adjusting the spine.
What does Chiropractic help with?
There is no limit to what Chiropractic care can help you with. As it focuses on restoring optimal function of your master communication system, the central nervous system, it simply allows your body to function and heal at its very best.
Regular recipients of Chiropractic notice that their general function improves, which leads to all sorts of symptoms and conditions improving as a result of their nervous system communicating to other bodily systems more capably.
Common challenges overcome through regular Chiropractic treatment include; headaches, migraine, insomnia, body pain and tension, ongoing injuries, fatigue, fertility challenges and anxiety.
How is Upper Cervical different?
Upper Cervical is a specialised branch of Chiropractic that focuses on assessing and correcting any issues in the area of the spine that protects the brainstem – the little part of your brain that sits partly inside your brain, and partly inside the top of your neck.
The brainstem (as the name suggests) runs down from your brain to form the spinal cord.
Of all aspects of your nervous system, this area coordinates the most automatic decisions within you.
For that reason, we liken it to the fusebox within your home; it’s of equal importance when it comes to your other home – your magical body – working efficiently.
Your Upper Cervical Spine: Skull, Atlas, Axis and Brainstem
Your brainstem is housed and protected by your skull, and the top two bones of your neck. These two special bones are called C1 (Atlas) and C2 (Axis).
They play starring roles in how our neck moves, tilts, nods and turns from side-to-side.
When there are changes in the position and/or movements between your skull, Atlas and Axis this can create interference to your brainstem and how it coordinates the vital, automatic, life-giving functions within every cell of your body. Think of this like turning off switches in your fusebox.
Measuring your Autonomic Nervous System
A special scan is used, called Computerised Infrared Thermography. As this technology is infrared there is no radiation, making it perfectly safe for everyone including babies, children and pregnant women.
Once scanned, we can determine how well your brainstem (which houses the biggest concentration of decision making processes for all the automatic functions in your body) is communicating with the rest of your body.
Think of it like speaking on the phone with a friend. Is the connection clear between you, or is there some interference, causing the conversation to cut out and making it harder to hear what one another might be saying? You can still communicate when there is interference, its just a lot harder!
We want the communication from your brain and brainstem to arrive clearly and easily to every cell within your body, and vice-versa. Remember communication runs from your brain to your cells, and from your cells to your brain; its a two-way conversation.
There are around 70 trillion cells (that’s a lot of cells!) and every single one of them needs a clear communication pathway with your brain and central nervous system - so that you can function, heal and live as optimally as you’re designed to.
Upper Cervical Chiropractors Deliver a Specific, Precision Adjustment
Upper Cervical Chiropractors analyse this vitally important area of your spine and have special pictures taken (usually radiographs, sometimes a type of moving CT scan) to analyse and confirm if a problem shows up in this area.
Using these images, they’ll detect whether abnormal movement of your Atlas or Axis exists and therefore where a specific adjustment needs to be applied to allow your body to begin the process of returning to normal.
Small area of your body with a global impact
Although it's a tiny part of your body, the Upper Cervical has a global impact.
By caring for this small, but vitally important area of your autonomic nervous system, Upper Cervical Chiropractic can help to facilitate change in your whole body and health.
By facilitating a return to normal in this area, the ripple effects outward can be profound once we address the root cause.
With an emphasis on minimum adjustments for maximum impact, our ultimate goal at KOEO is to remove any interference to our clients’ bodies inbuilt, innate intelligence, so free flowing communication is restored.
When receiving regular Chiropractic care you may notice you receive numerous adjustments throughout your spine.
By contrast, when receiving Upper Cervical Chiropractic, it's normal to receive one, very specific adjustment in either your Atlas or Axis.
This alone is powerful enough to create a global change throughout your body, even into lower places like the pelvis, legs and feet.
A tailored approach, every time
As Upper Cervical Chiropractors, we’ll conduct a specialist scan (Computerised Infrared Thermography) on each visit to measure the function of your autonomic nervous system (which controls all the automatic decisions made in your body).
If interference is detected then a specific Atlas or Axis adjustment is required. If no interference is detected, your Atlas or Axis do not need to be adjusted.
Think of it like going to the dentist to be checked for cavities only to find you don’t have any (yay!). But if anything is detected, don’t worry – the adjustment can feel strange to receive, but it is rarely painful.
If you’re still thinking “Atlas and Axis, whaattt?” dive into our Upper Cervical Spine mini series here.
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