Is Upper Cervical Care Really That Simple?

Upper Cervical Care Is Easy To Understand

As experts on the upper cervical spine, upper cervical doctors focus on the intimate relationship between the top two bones in the neck, called the upper cervical spine, and, more importantly, a vital portion of the nervous system called the brain stem. This relationship is absolutely essential to the body’s ability to restore and preserve health.

In order to grasp the upper cervical concept, you must first understand how the body is created and, more importantly, how it is designed to function normally and remain healthy

The brain stem controls and coordinates virtually every vital function of the body and acts as a conduit between the brain and the body. It extends from the brain down through an opening in the base of your skull and into the upper cervical region. Working much like a telephone cable, the brain stem has millions of individual wires, or nerve fibers, that send signals back and forth between the brain to every system, organ, muscle and cell within the body. We must have 100% brain-to-body communication in order to function properly and remain healthy.

The top two bones in the neck, the atlas and axis, are the only two vertebrae in the entire spine that don’t have an intervertebral disc. They are designed to move in six directions and are considered freely movable. By contrast, every other bone in the spine, from the 3rd vertebra all the way down to the bottom, not only have a disc but also four inter-locking joints that only allow the bones to move in 2 directions. As a result, the top two freely movable bones are much more susceptible to misalignment.

If one of the upper two bones becomes misaligned, two things happen. First and foremost, it irritates or interferes with the brain stem and reduces the brain-to-body communication. Wherever those messages were intended to go, whether it’s your foot, kidney, pancreas, heart, lungs, eyes or ears, it is going to malfunction in some way, subtle or obvious. Secondly, consider the upper spine as part of a kinetic chain, connected from head to toe. If either of the top two bones becomes misaligned, the rest of the body must compensate or adapt, resulting in total “body imbalance”. In the end, your health and physical body will be compromised. This is called head/neck misalignment.

Every healing profession acknowledges that the body has an inborn or innate ability to heal itself. By restoring these healing messages, your body will operate closer to its potential from the top, down and from the inside, out.

See...Upper Cervical Care is that simple.

More Energy for Healing?

How to Get More Energy for Healing, Digestion, and Thinking

by Dr. Brandon Harshe

“Better than 90% of the brain’s output is directed towards maintaining your body in its gravitational field.  Therefore, the less energy one spends on one’s posture, the more energy is available for healing, digestion and thinking.”  -Roger Sperry, 1981 Nobel Prize winner for brain research

The first cervical vertebra, Atlas or C1, is the most freely movable vertebra in the spine, and the one most likely to cause irritation or tension to the spinal cord. It pivots around the second cervical vertebra, Axis or C2, connected only by ligaments and tendons, but no disc as in the rest of the spine. This is what allows the majority of spinal rotation to occur, but at the price of instability. In most cases, you will not feel the problem in your upper cervical spine.

When the head and neck misalign, you won’t feel it in most cases, but it will have a number of negative effects on the body. Because it is causing irritation and/or tension near the brain stem, vital organ function can be negatively impacted. Conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma, allergies, and digestive problems can arise. Because of a high number of sensory nerves in the upper neck called mechanoreceptors, head/neck misalignment can manifest itself in various conditions such as neck pain or stiffness, or tension headaches. You could even experience other conditions like migraines or vertigo as a result of having head/neck misalignment.  Or you may have no obvious symptoms at all.  (see editor's note below)

Head/neck misalignment can also cause an overall body imbalance that can result in overall spinal compensation. This will be characterized by spinal curvature, contracted or tight muscles on one side of the spine, postural imbalances such as a tilted head, high shoulder, and high hip, and an imbalance in leg lengths. Over time this could lead to forms of degeneration like bone spurs and fusion of the vertebrae, as well as back and shoulder pain, and even herniated discs.

So restoring proper position to the Atlas and Axis vertebrae have more of an effect on your overall well being than you have ever imagined. If you haven’t had your nervous system and upper neck checked, it’s time you did.

(Editor's note: Remember the objective of upper cervical care is to correct head neck misalignment that is interfering with proper brain to body communication. When this is corrected the body functions at a higher level and can often correct other problems more efficiently on its own. Please do not confuse upper cervical care as a treatment for any condition, disease or symptom.)

What Can Upper Cervical Care Do For You?

NUCCA OUR TECHNIQUE

Health sciences agree that every single body function, regardless of how large or small, is controlled by electrical and chemical messages that travel back and forth from the brain to all parts of the body at the rate of thousands of messages per second.  These messages pass through the brain stem, which is an extension of the brain and is located at the top of the neck where the brain and spinal cord meet.   Dr. Roger Sperry, PhD., won the Nobel Prize by discovering that 90% of the brain’s activity is used to balance your body within the gravitational field of earth. He stated that if your body is mechanically distorted (off balance), it begins to effect the other 10% of the brain’s activity, which controls all the other body functions.

                               

Body Imbalance can put stress, tension and/or pressure on the brain stem and block or impede the flow of these vital messages to the body.

This interference can cause pain, sickness and suffering.

                                               

When Head Tilt develops and the body becomes imbalanced, "The Brain Stem" can be compressed, restricting the flow of health and healing messages from the brain to that part of the body serviced by these compressed nerves.  This can cause pain and suffering and decrease the quality of your life.

The NUCCA Spinal Correction, which is painless and barely felt by the patient, is a specialty in the field of chiropractic, designed to restore body balance and normalize the flow of healing messages from the brain to all parts of the body so it can reactivate it’s natural self-healing process.  The NUCCA spinal correction requires NO CRACKING, TWISTING OR POPPING OF THE NECK OR BACK.  This is possible because of the precise X-ray analysis using physics and mechanics to calculate the exact formula used for each spinal correction.  No two formulas are the same, each one is developed for the individual person.

Published research studies have shown that when body balance is restored, the body enters a healing cycle that alleviates pain and symptoms, elevates the immune system, increases blood and oxygen circulation, normalizes nervous system communication and creates more optimum body performance.

The Upper Cervical Spinal Correction procedure is designed to re-position the weight of the head (10 - 14 pounds) over the center of the neck to restore the body balance.

This procedure removes interference and reactivates the normal transmission of the brain messages to the affected part of the body, so the natural self-healing process can begin.

(Editor's note: Remember the objective of upper cervical care is to correct head neck misalignment that is interfering with proper brain to body communication. When this is corrected the body functions at a higher level and can often correct other problems more efficiently on its own. Please do not confuse upper cervical care as a treatment for any condition, disease or symptom.)

Upper Cervical Care, Anxiety And Panic Attacks

Adapted from Question Answered

By Dr. Myron Brown

I received this question in an E-mail today. I thought that others might be interested in this subject, so the question and answer are copied below (the person’s name is omitted). This person has anxiety and panic attacks and asks if Upper Cervical Care will help that condition.

Answer:

Upper Cervical Care benefits people by correcting interference that can occur in the body’s central nerve system.

The brain is responsible to control and coordinate the function of the body and it uses a vast network of nerves, like a wiring system, to communicate with the various cells, tissues and organs of the body. The spinal cord is the main “cable” that carries messages from the brain through the movable bones of the spinal column. Those bones are intended to protect the nerves passing through them. However, if the head and neck get misaligned it can have just the opposite effect. Instead of protecting the nerve system, head/neck misalignment can become an insult to the spinal cord and nerves passing through it.

The resultant nerve interference can disturb function in ways that are both predictable and unpredictable. But either way, interference due to head/neck misalignment is damaging to the performance of the body. Simply put, it interferes with the function of the body.

Since communication between the brain and other body parts is essential to regulate body chemistry, deleterious effects are inevitable, while remaining difficult to forecast. When an upper cervical doctor identifies head/neck misalignment, he or she will endeavor to correct it, not to treat any particular condition or disease, but because good nerve supply is essential to the function of the body.

To address your question most specifically, I would not offer upper cervical care to treat anxiety, panic attacks or any other condition. Yet an important question needs to be asked. Who needs a good nerve supply more than someone who is experiencing anxiety and panic attacks? Precise upper cervical corrections allow for better performance. In my practice experience patients have reported positive changes in many conditions that were not predictable, yet through the correction of head/neck misalignment, they observed pleasing improvements in many facets of their family’s health and performance. So the right answer to this question is that upper cervical care is not for treating conditions, but to improve function. Every family member benefits from improved nerve system function. I would recommend finding an upper cervical doctor who can provide a precise spinal analysis and correction of head/neck misalignment to allow proper brain to body communication.

Questions About Upper Cervical Care?

adapted from: Frequently Asked Questions About Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care

By Dr. Brandon Harshe

Below are typical questions regarding Upper Cervical Care by new patients. If you find you have a question about Upper Cervical Care that is not addressed below, contact Dr. Harshe here (or myself and we) will be happy to answer it for you.

What is Upper Cervical Care?

Upper Cervical Care is a very specific technique in which a misalignment of one or both of the top two cervical vertebrae is reduced. These misalignments cause interference to nervous system communication between the brain and body. 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 Care 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 Care painful?

No. As stated above, the specificity of the Upper Cervical 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 its optimal spinal alignment and thus proper brain to body communication.

Will Upper Cervical Care make me sore?

Usually no. In some rare cases, people might experience more pain after an upper cervical correction 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 Care a one time thing?

No. However, the goal of Upper Cervical Care 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. We want you to only come in as often as your spine dictates to us, ie. if you are maintaining your correction on multiple visits in a row then we need to see you less.

Will Upper Cervical 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.

The goal of Upper Cervical Care 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 reducing head neck misalignment. This will not only reduce the stress and tension on the spinal cord, but may also balance the body by returning it to a more optimal alignment.

Often times when these things happen people experience an immediate reduction in their painful symptoms.

If you only practice Upper Cervical 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 head/neck misalignment is present. 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 often a resulting muscular and/or visceral disfunction.

By reducing head/neck misalignment, 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 improves.

In short, reducing interference at the level of Atlas affects the entire body, not simply the upper cervical spine.

Upper Cervical Care: The Basics

It is important to us that you not only understand what upper cervical care does for you but also why we are doing it. One of the biggest reasons why people do not refer others for care is because they are not exactly sure what we do. Either they misunderstand or they are simply unable to communicate it. The basic principles upper cervical care (UCC) are actually quite simple, so simple in fact, that anyone should be able to explain them to family, friends and associates if they wanted to.

A few of the basic concepts are important and people under UCC should have an understanding of them. One such concept is called the “Safety Pin Cycle.” This is a simple illustration of how the body works. The brain sends out messages to all of the cells of the body. The cells then report back to the brain about their condition and needs. In this way, the brain regulates and coordinates all of the functions of our bodies. While this illustration is not exactly physiologically or anatomically correct, it is adequate to describe the transmission of the nervous impulse throughout the body.

If there is interference in this communication, it reduces the body’s ability to act and react. The tissue cell cannot remain in perfect organization if there is an alteration in the communication in this cycle. This is exactly what can occur in the case of head/neck misalignment. This misalignment can interfere with and alter the message from the brain to the cells of the body. This ultimately changes the function of the cells, and over time, the condition of the entire body.

Of course, we would not expect that our patients would discuss efferent and afferent pathways with their friends and family, One way the patients could explain UCC to family and friends is the following:

“Small misalignments of the head and neck can cause interference in the nervous system and keep your body from working as effectively as it should or could. Everyone knows that the brain controls the entire functioning of the body. It does this by sending messages from the brain down the spinal cord and out along all of the nerves to every cell in your body. Head/neck misalignment can interfere with this communication and keep your body from working the way it should.”

It is important to share what you know about UCC with the people around you so their bodies can work as effectively as possible. You do not need to give them some lengthy, technical explanation about how the nervous system works, just that the body will always work better without interference. That’s not only what upper cervical doctors do but also why they do it.

Upper Cervical Care Revisited

This comes to us from www.seeonedoc.com

What is Upper Cervical Care?
by Dr. Autumn Monteiro

Upper Cervical Care is a unique system of finding and correcting nerve interference in the upper neck area.

Upper Cervical Care focuses on the intimate relationship between the first two bones in the neck, called the Upper Cervical Spine, and a vital portion of the nervous system, known as the brain stem. This relationship is essential to the body’s ability to preserve and restore health.

Think of the brain stem as the control center that extends down an opening in the base of your skull, making it vulnerable to injuries or irritation around the upper neck. The brain stem works like a telephone cable with thousands of individual wires or nerve fibers sending signals back and forth between the brain and spinal cord to every cell, organ and system in the body. Almost every nerve impulse between the brain and the body must pass through the brain stem. The nervous system is responsible for all communication within the body. It regulates your immune system, emotions, vision, hearing, balance, breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, muscle tension, posture, hormones, and every other function.

Irritation or pressure within the central nervous system can interrupt communication between the brain and the body, thus creating a variety of health problems. The top two vertebrae, the Atlas and Axis, are especially vulnerable to injury or misalignment because they are the most mobile segments of the spine. If neglected, an Upper Cervical misalignment can lead to irreversible spinal degeneration and chronic ill health. Upper Cervical misalignments can be caused by falls, auto accidents, sports, job injuries, concussions, physical or emotional stress, poor posture, or even birth trauma.

Upper Cervical Care: Correction vs. Adjustment

Should we make corrections or provide adjustments? It depends on the doctor's objective.

Upper Cervical Doctors often use the term correction instead of adjustment because it is a better description of the nature of the work they do. Here is a short definition of the two terms:

Adjustment ... to modify/change Correction ... to make right

There is nothing wrong with an adjustment, the different terminology is used only because of the distinct difference between the two approaches both in application and objective.

• All Chiropractors give adjustments

• Only Upper Cervical doctors make upper cervical alignment corrections.

• Chiropractors give adjustments on every visit.

• Upper Cervical doctors make upper cervical alignment corrections only when tests indicate it is needed.

Both services are helpful and either can be more appropriate at times than the other.

However, Upper Cervical doctors have observed clinically that while the head and neck is in perfect alignment and the brain can communicate with all parts of the body without interference, the body is either in the process of healing itself or in a state of good health. This is why Upper Cervical doctors use the term correction; they want patients to be in this state for as long as possible.

Any part of the body that is restricted from receiving efficient brain health and healing messages, due to interference at the point where the head and neck join, can begin to develop health problems.

The fact that countless health problems have responded to Upper Cervical Care proves that restricted brain to body communication can be a direct and/or indirect cause of many health problems.

One major goal within Upper Cervical Care is to conduct research directed toward perfecting procedures that will help Upper Cervical alignment corrections that will maintain for months or even years ... it would revolutionize the health care industry.

All Upper Cervical Doctors have the same objective regardless of the corrective procedure they choose to use. ... Help each patient maintain their alignment correction to prevent restricted brain to body communication so they can enjoy a better quality of life.

Upper Cervical Care: Changing Lives

Upper Cervical Care, first and foremost, is not about pain, disease, or making you better or improving upon you. Never has been and never will be. Well, what the heck good is it then? Why would or should anyone even be under care? Upper Cervical Care is about allowing that which is inside of you, THE POWER OF LIFE, the chance to fully express itself free of interference.

We know that when you take away the brain the body dies. This tells us that the brain regulates and maintains all body functions. If the brain can communicate with the body as it was intended then we can expect the body to be healthy. If the brain cannot communicate with the body as it was intended then we can expect health problems to develop. It has been shown that head/neck misalignment, whether felt or not, carries the potential to have a profoundly negative impact on this crucial communication cycle.

Upper Cervical Care recognizes the life importance of this communication and ventures to correct this structural interference to its expression.

Do symptoms and diseases go away under Upper Cervical Care? Many times they do but it is because the body begins to work correctly.

It ultimately comes down to this, do you want to express life closer to your potential? Then visit an Upper Cervical Doctor and see what your body can do, because the best doctor is the doctor within you. If it is just allowed to express itself, with time, it can heal you of most anything. It is as simple as that!

Upper Cervical Care Made Simple

By Dr. Daniel Clark

Head tilt interference at the point where the head and neck join can disrupt or distort the brain’s health and healing messages to the body, allowing numerous health problems to develop.

Muscles of the neck can hold the head in a tilt position and disrupt the flow of brain health and healing messages to the body.

Most people experience head tilt without ever knowing it.

Efficient, unrestricted brain to body communication is Upper Cervical Care at its best.

It is cost effective and the ultimate in wellness and preventative healthcare.

The Doctor’s First Objective:

Use the patient’s correction formula to remove interference at the point where the head and neck join to re-activate the flow of brain health and healing messages to the body so its natural self-healing process can begin.

The Doctor’s Second Objective:

On each follow-up visit, help the patient maintain their alignment correction so there is no interference in the body’s healing process until it is complete.

Editor's note: The frequency of follow-up visits will depend on the needs of the patient. Some people may find that they need to be seen more frequently due to the nature of their daily activities (especially if they are not able to change those daily activities) while others may be fine to get checked only occasionally (every 6 months or so for example.) Each individual will be a bit different but the goal of Upper Cervical Care is not about keeping you coming in, it is about making a specific correction and keeping it there for as long as possible and the more precise we can do that the fewer times we should need to see you.