The Upper Cervical Spine And The Down Pillow

(Editor's Note:  Today's post is from my good friend Dr. Adam Tanase.  He discusses the problems with down pillows and there is a link to an article of his about how to select the right pillow.  My one suggestion would be that if you are seeing an Upper Cervical Chiropractor and you are maintaining your correction for long periods of time, use a down pillow and have issues with other pillows...keep using the down.  Each of us is different so for a few of us a down pillow may be best but in general I agree with Dr. Tanase's assessment of down pillow below...enjoy!)

The Worst Pillow Money Can Buy

by Dr. Adam Tanase

                                              

I’m not exaggerating when I say that the worst pillows you can buy are those made with down feathers.

In fact, it’s my professional opinion that feather pillows are the most unsupportive and inadequate sleeping pillows on the market. They interfere with quality sleep in three ways:

1) Inconsistent Support

There’s no uniformity or consistency of the sleeping surface. While you’re resting on them, the feathers might be clustered together near the shoulder, or pushed up close to the top your head. Maybe they’re bunched up behind your ear. That’s the problem - it’s never the same. At one moment you’re cozy and supported. Minutes later, your neck will be turned a few degrees because the feathers settle into a lower/flatter position. It’s almost as if you’re sleeping on an entirely different pillow each night. Your body isn’t a fan of this variability.

2) Heat Retention and Poor Air Flow

Down jackets are immensely popular in cold weather climates because of their ability to keep you warm. Similarly, down comforters are most popular during the winter months. See where this is going? Feathers = Heat. Your body doesn’t like to be too hot… so if this happens while sleeping, you automatically wake up to change positions. Doing this over and over again throughout the night interferes with your quality of sleep, causing you to feel groggy and unrested in the morning.

3) Imbalance Between the Head & Neck

The importance of maintaining proper head/neck alignment cannot be overstated. The feathers inside down pillows inevitably get bulked together creating a slanted/wedged pillow angle that bends the head/neck of side-sleepers in a “kinked” manner. This applies undue stress and strain to muscles, joints, and ligaments within the neck, which can trigger headaches, arm/hand pain, acute muscle spasms, or chronic neck tension.

What Should You Get Instead?

Here’s my review of six types of sleeping pillows that you might find useful. In short, I’m a big fan of latex pillows. They properly support the head/neck, last for nearly a decade, won’t retain heat, and are an overall great value.

Chronic Headache Sufferers Find Relief With Upper Cervical Care

Many people are not aware of the relationship between upper cervical (neck) trauma and headaches. With all that modern science has accomplished, there are still more unanswered questions than answered ones. This is also true in the case of headache research. It’s been difficult to pinpoint the exact reason(s) why certain people suffer chronic headache pain. However, research is beginning to point toward upper cervical trauma as an underlying cause for many types of head pain, especially migraine, cluster and tension headaches.

The upper cervical area of the spine refers to the two vertebrae located at the top of the spine, directly underneath the head. C1 (known as Atlas,) along with C2 (known as Axis,) are chiefly responsible for the rotation and flexibility of the head and neck. Like the rest of the vertebrae, they are extremely vulnerable to injury and trauma, especially trauma to the head through auto or sporting accidents.

Because so many nerves transmit through the cervical region (to and from the brain,) trauma to this area results in problems to other parts of the body. This is where the relationship between the upper cervical area and headaches becomes evident. If these vertebrae become displaced, even slightly, chronic head pain can occur. Unless the neck injury is addressed, the symptoms persist.

Upper cervical care involves addressing the position and function of these injured cervical vertebrae, particularly C1 and C2. Realigning these vertebrae may restore proper function to the area and reduce or eliminate many types of headaches.

The most common types of headaches for which people seek upper cervical care are migraine, cluster and tension headaches. Migraine headaches are characterized by intense pain on either one or both sides of the head. Pain is usually located around the temples or behind one ear or eye. The pain is so severe that it often causes extreme sensitivity to light, dizziness and may even lead to vomiting. Migraines may occur with or without ‘aura.’ Aura refers to visual symptoms which occur 10 to 30 minutes prior to the onset of the headache. They are usually in the form of flashing lights, lines, blind spots or even temporary blindness.

Cluster headaches almost always occur on only one side of the head. Their onset is so sudden and intense, cluster headaches have been described as “worse than childbirth.” In fact, the doctor who originally identified and researched cluster headaches characterized their pain as being able “to drive normal people to suicide.”

Tension headaches are sometimes called ’stress headaches.’ They often start midday and usually consist of a dull, aching pain rather than a sharp, intense one. They start gradually and slowly build in intensity. Tension headaches may last anywhere from less than one to several hours.

Of course, not every headache falls into one of these categories. The type and degree of pain varies from person to person. However, if any headache occurs more often than on an occasional or sporadic basis, it’s safe to assume that there may be an underlying cause. Continually treating chronic and recurrent headaches with pain medication may temporarily ease the symptoms, but it won’t cure the problem.

Many of these headaches improve significantly while under upper cervical care. The number of visits required varies by individual, as well as type and frequency of headache. A first visit to an upper cervical chiropractor usually involves a spinal evaluation including neurological tests and x-rays to assess alignment and function for each individual case.  Patients often notice an improvement in symptoms, sometimes after only a few visits with the doctor.

(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.)

How To Misalign Your Head And Neck...Let Me Count The Ways

(Editor's Note:  Fifty to be exact and this is far from a complete list but it gets you thinking about why it is important to be checked periodically.)

by Dr. Deborah Sesker

In a perfect world, none of us would have been born by forceps, or by Cesarean, or with the doctor pulling with too much force on our heads.

In a perfect world, none of us would have fallen off the side of the bed when we were two, tripped down the stairs at age eight, or rolled our car in the ditch at eighteen.

But these things happen. And when they do they often stress the muscles and ligaments of the upper neck to the point where the bones misalign and lock-down, placing stress on the spinal column and the delicate nervous system inside.

If we were lucky enough to have our parents take us to an upper cervical doctor at a young age, we might have only lived with our neck misalignment for days, weeks, or maybe a few years before having it properly corrected.

But most of us aren’t, which means many of us live one, two, or six decades before we ever have our atlas unlocked by our upper cervical doctor. By this time ligaments are tightened, muscles have developed amnesia, and we have patterns of movements which place stress on the top of our spine without us even knowing.

All of this is to say, that even a really good upper cervical correction may not hold very well, especially in the beginning of our care. And if we want to make the most of our upper cervical  care, we’re going to need to be careful what we do on a day to day basis.  Here are 50 simple ways you could lose your upper cervical alignment.

    Sleeping on your stomach.

    Sleeping on your side without proper neck support.

    Reading in bed with a book on your chest.

    Watching television in bed with your chin on your chest.

    Falling asleep on the arm of the couch.

    Falling asleep upright in a chair.

    Falling asleep upright in a chair and waking up with an ear resting on one shoulder.

    Falling asleep anywhere other than your bed.

    Propping your head up on your hands, fist or palm under your jaw, for more than a few seconds at a time.

    Looking up for more than a minute at a a time, be it stargazing, birdwatching, or painting a ceiling.

    Stretching your neck by pushing it forward, backward, or pulling it to the the side with your hands.

    Having anyone else push or pull your head to stretch your neck.

    Stretching your neck by rolling your head in big circles.

    Staring down at a Smart Phone screen or tablet for hours everyday.

    Gripping a phone between your ear and your shoulder, instead of using headset or speaker phone.

    Having a small child hang from your neck.

    Having a small child jump on your head while wrestling in the living room.

    Having anyone hang from your neck or jump on your head.

    Whipping your head to the left or right or up and down while dancing, head-banging, or whatever it is you might be doing.

    Flipping your hair repeatedly to remove it from your face.

    Shaking your hair out to help dry it after a shower.

    Turning your head without moving your shoulder to look behind you while driving.

    Driving and hitting anything going more than five miles per hour.

    Driving and getting hit by anyone else going more than five miles per hour, for that matter.

    Getting into your small sedan by craning your neck to one side to sit down over and over again, instead of sitting down facing outward, and then rotating your body inward.

    Getting elbowed in the face while playing basketball, volleyball, tag, or any other amateur sport.

    Standing on your head.

    Heading a soccer ball.

    Smacking your own forehead.

    Falling on an outstretched hand.

    Doing a somersault improperly.

    Doing a cartwheel improperly.

    Doing certain yoga positions improperly.

    Doing ab crunches with your hands behind your head.

    Landing on your head from any height.

    Boxing.

    Martial arts with bad form.

    Bench pressing and watching your biceps, not the bar.

    Squatting and lifting your chin as you fatigue.

    Lifting without tucking your chin at work, at home, or anywhere.

    Getting dental work.

    Popping your own neck.

    Having someone else pop your neck.

    Chewing gum all day.

    Cracking a tooth.

    Deep tissue massage in the neck.

    Getting your hair washed, dyed, or dried backward in a salon sink.

    Getting into a pillow fight.

    Getting placed in a head-lock

    Getting up, turning over, or moving your body by leading with the head and neck, and not with the pelvis.

Does doing any one of these 50 things mean you’re going to need another adjustment? Not necessarily. Everyone is a little bit different. (Some kids have played high school football without losing their alignment.)

But they are common ways that you can set your upper cervical care backwards, and they’re worth considering if you’re having a hard time holding your alignment.

Health, Gravity And Upper Cervical

adapted from: Health and Gravity

by Dr. Michael D. Thomas, NUCCA doctor

Years ago I had found a quote from Roger Sperry, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology in 1981.  Sperry noted that 90% of the brain’s energy is used in relating the physical body to gravity.  Only 10% has to do with thinking, metabolism, and healing.  -Did you have any idea it was such a big percentage?

This means that when we are out of upper cervical alignment and our posture has become disordered, we are using valuable energy to just hold ourselves upright that ideally goes into thinking, metabolism and immune function.

How many of us feel fuzzy headed, or brain fog when we are out of adjustment?

Does your digestion change?

How about sleep patterns?

Most of us already know about the multitude of aches and pains that can be associated with being out of upper cervical alignment.  What you may not realize though, are the real problems that will eventually accumulate when we must chronically use our precious energy to adapt to being out of line.  Upper cervical misalignment can be a progressive and degenerative problem.

Fortunately, many of you also realize the incredible change that can take place when the upper cervical misalignment is corrected.  So many folks who come in for care have told me over the years about the incredible turn around that occurred when they got corrected and made the commitment to stay in alignment.  There are many who tell me they would not be walking if not for upper cervical care.

I find that upper cervical care is truly primary health care.  What I mean by this is that removing nervous system interference at the upper cervical area (top of the neck) is a critical step in the improvement of health.  Many of my patients have been able to wean themselves off not just pain medications, but many other medications that they’d had to take on a long term basis because of the troubling symptoms that may have developed due to long term upper cervical misalignment.  They just didn’t have the debilitating problems anymore.  They could begin to refocus back on their life.  And, the money they were spending on these suppressive drugs could be better spent in other areas of their life!

Some folks use the upper cervical correction like they do the emergency  room.  They only come in when they are in terrible trouble and want a quick and miraculous ‘fix’.  The upper cervical correction can often give them this ‘fix’ but the effects of living out of alignment for weeks and months takes it toll.  The upper cervical misalignment is a problem even more so the longer that it is there.  Once you are out of alignment, problems will slowly or not so slowly, begin to pile up.  Arthritis could be one part of the many attempts by your body to adapt to being twisted and unlevel.  Poor posture is another possibility and tends to wear down the joints and create inflammation and pain.

The upper cervical correction is our Health’s best friend.  Getting checked periodically through out the year is a wonderful and cost effective way to stay healthy and allow your inner wisdom the chance to work to its fullest.