Are We Finally Understanding Upper Cervical?

from Upper Cervical Miami

by Dr. Molina and Salera

Enjoy these videos about upper cervical care and what it can do for you and the ones you love.

Upper cervical care featured on The Doctors.

Upper cervical care is safe and effective for even babies.  Featured on the Ricki Lake Show.

Video on Discovery Health about drag racer Tony Schumacher's devastating accident and how upper cervical care helped him back into the driver's seat.

And finally from Good Morning America...upper cervical care and blood pressure.

Concussion, Headache, Vertigo?... Upper Cervical Care?

(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 concussion, headaches, vertigo or any other condition, disease or symptom. This is also a more in depth post of one that I posted previously. Thanks to Dr. Bill Davis for this more in depth look.)

Adapted from: Do concussions cause chronic headaches and vertigo?

by Dr. Bill Davis

For years I have been asking my patients if they have a history of head and neck injuries including, car accidents, falls, times where they have been knocked unconscious, had a concussion or stitches to their head.

Why?

When accidents and injuries tear loose the connective tissue that holds the spine in place it creates a weakness, which can cause the spine to break down and lock into a stressed position.

The area of the body that is the most vulnerable to injury and has the most far reaching effects is the upper neck. The top bone in the spine, the atlas sits right underneath the skull and when the tissues around it become stretched and damaged the weight of the head can be shifted from center.

Once the position of the head is altered the position of the eyes and ears is altered as well. The brain will initiate a reflex called the righting reflex in order to balance the eyes and the semicircular canals in the ears with the horizon.

The problem is now the head is slightly off center and the spine must adapt to that position by often twisting and turning the remaining structure of the spine. This can lead to tilting of the shoulders, the hips and imbalance all the way down to the legs leading to an unequal distribution of weight.

Body imbalance can lead to a variety of different health problems, but frequently has the same root cause…

The original head or neck injury created a misalignment of the Atlas bone at the base of the skull which led to the subsequent problems with the structure of the body, nerve and blood flow from the brain to the body.

Here is a great example from a recent research article published in the Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research ~ January 6, 2011

A 23-year-old female patient presented for upper cervical care five months after a slip and fall that resulted in a concussion. The patient presented with symptoms of vertigo and headaches consistent with post concussion syndrome. The patient had a longstanding history of headaches that were exacerbated by the concussion and a new complaint of positional vertigo that occurred immediately following the trauma. Significant body imbalances were noted including a leg length difference. Specific Upper Cervical X-rays demonstrated an upper cervical misalignment.

She began to receive Upper Cervical Specific Chiropractic care and the headache and vertigo was gone immediately following the first adjustment. Post X-Ray evaluation showed a significant improvement in the alignment of the head and neck. The follow up examination the following day revealed a significant decrease in muscles spasm in the neck and the legs were balanced.

The patient’s fourth visit was two weeks following the first adjustment and at that time the patient reported a slight nagging headache had begun earlier that day, rated at 2/10, but she did not have any symptoms of vertigo. The patient’s care was continued on a frequency of twice per month for evaluations and progress monitoring. She was evaluated with Atlas Orthogonal protocol for necessity of adjustment and her symptoms were monitored at every evaluation. She continued to report a complete resolution of vertigo and intermittent headaches rated as 2/10 that occurred at an average of two hours/day.

Who do you know that has had a concussion? Do they have a chronic health problem? Is there head/neck misalignment and interference in brain to body communication limiting the ability for you to heal?

Only an upper cervical doctor could tell you.

Have You Heard Of Upper Cervical Care?

by Mindy Drake D.C.

If not, you’re not alone. Most people haven’t, and the funny name kind of makes you wonder what type of care this is? When we speak about ‘upper cervical care‘, we’re actually referring to the area of the upper spine that connects your head to your neck. There are 24 vertebrae in your spine- they’re like little square donuts stacked on top of each other, forming a tunnel for your spinal cord, and the spaces between them are like exit windows for all of your nerves. Your spine is really just a very ‘drafty’ house for your nervous system!

The top seven vertebrae are called your ‘cervical spine’, basically meaning the ‘bridge’ between your head and your body. The very top two vertebra, right up near your head, are the ‘upper cervical’ spine, and they have the very important job of holding up your head, allowing it to move in all directions, and they also surround and protect your brain stem. The design of this area makes it the weak spot in your body, and it’s very vulnerable to injury. Now, your brain stem is the most important part of your body- it’s kind of like your battery, and all of the nerves in your whole body eventually travel into the brain stem, either from the spinal cord below, or from the brain above. If those two very special vertebrae at the top of the neck, called the Atlas (C1) and the Axis (C2) are not in perfect alignment due to trauma or an accident, often the nerves that come out of that area can be irritated, and can cause pain and dysfunction. Usually the pain will start slowly, and get worse as the bones are misaligned for a longer period of time.

C1 and C2: Atlas and Axis

Upper cervical doctors require additional training to learn how to adjust the top of the neck precisely and gently; there are a few different techniques for this very precise work (N.U.C.C.A, Knee Chest, Toggle Recoil, Grostic/Orthospinology, Atlas Orthogonal and Blair). It’s very similar to all of the others, but involves a little different analysis of the spine, and some additional muscle testing.

The most important word to describe what we do as upper cervical doctors is ‘specific', and we take extra time to carefully analyze, and then very gently adjust the top of the neck. We also do extra testing to make sure we only adjust when absolutely necessary. This procedure gently and effectively ‘put’s your head on straight’ (all of our mothers and teachers love to hear this!), but crucially, it also takes pressure and irritation off of the nerves of the upper cervical spine, which are frequently implicated in migraine headaches, occipital neuralgia, and trigeminal neuralgia, and this also removes irritation from the brain stem area. This is a very good thing, and frequently can lead to a decrease in pain, sometimes almost immediately.

Another benefit of specific upper cervical care is that if we can gently and effectively correct the position of the top two vertebra, it takes far fewer adjustments to help the adjustments stay in place, and quite often the lower areas of your spine will align all by themselves with very little help from us. Your body can heal itself; sometimes it just needs a little boost in the right direction.

What is Atlas Orthogonal?

Atlas Orthogonal is a very effective and modern form of upper cervical care, using state-of-the-art technological advances. In fact, it is so advanced that many medical neurologists in Europe are trying to emulate the method. However, they are still 30-40 years behind a trained Atlas Orthogonal doctor.

Atlas Orthogonal is very safe, gentle, painless, and has shown to be extremely effective for a wide variety of health problems.

Your body has an amazing natural ability to heal itself, so in most cases, there is no need for drugs or surgeries. Those alternatives should be considered last, not first, resorts. Many health problems are can be caused or contributed by “short circuits” within the nervous system. The Atlas Orthogonal doctor is highly trained at detecting and safely correcting nerve interference due to head neck misalignment.

The corrections are done with a gentle and safe percussion instrument. The instrument is non-intrusive, non-threatening and low force. Depending on the specific misalignments and nerve interference (determined through proper examinations), the instrument is placed specifically and accurately. Once the patient is properly positioned, a gentle percussive force is generated at the site of the misalignment.

Sometimes, patients are surprised that the corrections is so gentle. Once the nervous system starts working better, the body starts to heal, and the symptoms often start to go away, which is when patients truly begin to appreciate the healing nature of Atlas Orthogonal upper cervical.

An Atlas Orthogonal doctor is a specialist in the brain stem and upper cervical area. The brain controls the body’s functions through the brain stem. The Atlas Orthogonal doctor can positively affect the body’s function and health by properly aligning the Atlas, which is the first cervical bone also called C1.

Because this specialty demands more schooling beyond chiropractic school and because of the focus and accuracy needed from an Atlas Orthogonal doctor, not many chiropractors continue to seek accreditation in this procedure. There are approximately 300 Atlas Orthogonal doctors in the whole world!

What is important to remember is: Atlas Orthogonal (Upper cervical care) does not treat any particular disease or symptom. It's goal is to correct nerve imbalance and restore the body’s proper function and health, and then the symptoms usually alleviate naturally. The nervous system controls all of the body’s functions. This is a natural method of health care. First, try to remedy your pain or cause of the problem naturally through upper cervical care. Then, if needed, seek prescription drugs second and surgery as a last resort.

For more information on Atlas Orthogonal Care or to find an Atlas Orthogonal Doctor in your area, visit www.GlobalAO.com.

Clinical Efficacy of Upper Cervical Versus Full Spine Chiropractic Care on Children with Autism: A Randomized Clinical Trial

The abstract below is from the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research

Khaled A. Khorshid Bio, DC, MS, MBBCh; Roy W. Sweat Bio, DC; David A. Zemba, Jr. Bio, DC; Brett N. Zemba Bio, DC
[March 9, 2006, pp 1-7]
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Background: Children with autism are presented with multiple categories of clinical pictures that affect their social, sensory, speech, and physical development. Parents of autistic children seek all possible therapies available including chiropractic. In this study, the clinical outcome of an upper cervical based chiropractic technique is compared to full spine adjustment in autistic children.

Methods: The clinical effects of full spine adjustment for 14 autistic children were evaluated using the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC). ATEC is a questionnaire about children’s development and progress answered by parents. It was developed and is scored, online, by the Autism Research Institute of San Diego, CA. Seven of these children were randomly assigned to be shifted to Atlas Orthogonal upper cervical adjustment. The remaining seven children continued full spine adjustment. Repeated monthly clinical assessments were done for 3-5 months. Pre and post x-ray and leg length analysis was also monitored.

Results: The clinical improvement of the autistic children showed in the parent’s observations through decrease of ATEC scores. This improvement of ATEC scores was seen in the cases of six of the seven children under upper cervical adjustment and in five of the seven children under full spine adjustment. The total ATEC average improvement in the upper cervical group was 32%, while only 8.3% in the full spine group. Two autistic children under the upper cervical adjustment protocol no longer met the criteria to be considered autistic following the interventions.

Conclusion: In this study, the clinical outcome of chiropractic care showed higher efficacy with upper cervical adjustment when compared to full spine adjustment in autistic children. Further studies are recommended.