Holding Your Upper Cervical Correction

Being In Adjustment

by Michael Thomas, DC

People often ask me, “When should I come back?” This is a fair question and an important one. Some people only return to the office when life has become too difficult again. “Doc, that pain has returned and I can’t play golf”. “I’ve been feeling it for four or five months but just in the past couple of days I find that I can’t get comfortable in bed at night”. “I thought it would go away but it just keeps returning and it seems to be getting worse!” “This is a different pain than last time and I didn’t think it was related.” “I didn’t think you could help so I went to five other doctors, got cortisone shots, did weeks of physical therapy, had two MRI’s and now the surgeon wants to operate.”

These and many more are common comments from patients when they return to my office in acute pain or problem. The vast majority of the time, an upper cervical correction will once again, return them to health and happiness. “I didn’t realize you could help this!” “I didn’t know it was related to my neck!” “My other doctor told me you couldn’t help this.” “This is voodoo!”.

I hear these and many other comments like these every day. This is why educating patients is almost as important as the actual upper cervical correction. If you don’t know when I can be of help, you won’t come in to get the correction you need to return you to health or to maintain your health. This educational problem is a deep one. In our society, people are generally not taught anything about what we do or even how our bodies really work and therefore don’t realize the results you receive from an upper cervical correction are even possible. We have always grown our patient population one person at a time. Once you have received a correction and realized, felt, and lived the restoration that occurs, then you begin to get the bigger picture. This picture is actually bigger than the symptom expression in any one person -they know what it has done for them in the past but many have no idea of the possibilities.

Let’s briefly explore (this is a whole book in itself!) the areas and issues that can be affected by an upper cervical correction.

Through ongoing research, we now understand that misalignment in the top of the neck changes blood flow through the head in a dramatic fashion. It also changes flow of the cerebral spinal fluid, which lubricates the brain and spinal cord and removes toxins. Many people have headaches and brain fog that seem directly related. Dizziness and equilibrium problems are frequently helped by upper cervical care. The cranial nerves also seem to be affected by misalignment and many people have found improvement in vision, hearing, TMJ and other facial problems. Many people remark they can’t take a deep breath when they are out of alignment. Many people have noticed that their blood pressure returns to normal when they get back in alignment. People report that their esophageal reflux improves when they are in alignment . Many people report that their digestion becomes disordered when they are out of alignment and returns to normal once they’ve been back to the office. One of my patients starts burping as soon as they are back in alignment and this is a sign their gut is working again. We celebrate! I have several patients whose nose starts running and clearing their sinuses right on the correction table! (I have tissues!)

Many people have found that they begin to feel depressed when they are out of alignment and that this will lift almost immediately when they get an upper cervical correction. More than one person has told me they could finally get pregnant after getting an upper cervical correction -after trying for years without success. Seizures have often been greatly reduced or stopped all together.

This is just a sampling of the thousands of people who have come through the office over the years. We haven’t even gotten to pain yet. General Chiropractic care has been painted as “maybe good for low back pains at times” but results in an upper cervical care office would tend to expand it’s usefulness. In the last week I found patients telling me that their horrific trigeminal neuralgia pain was gone. One person related that she had been sitting on doughnuts for years but that she had come in for shoulder pains. After one correction her shoulder was 90% better but her tailbone pain was gone! So was the pain in her knee and ankle. Several people were scheduled for surgery. Most of them cancelled it after receiving relief. They had been told there was no other choice, but we are a choice they don’t know about.

A proper upper cervical correction restores your body to an optimal relationship with gravity. It restores the ability of your body to function as a whole and not have to scramble to keep up with hips going one way, shoulders another, and head yet another. Fighting gravity is a battle we always lose. Gravity is relentless. The correction restores equipoise, that ability of the body to balance easily right on the gravity line, a vertical axis that goes through our middle. It is much the same as a gyroscope. When a gyroscope has enough energy, it spins cleanly and easily. As it loses energy it begins to wobble more and more in an attempt to remain upright. The extra effort decreases its energy further and it increases its wobble until it falls over. The correction restores all the ‘pieces’ (head, neck, trunk, hips) back into alignment decreasing the energy needed just to keep us upright. This energy can then be used where it is needed in the rest of our body maintaining and restoring our well-being. We can think better. We have greater agility and ease in moving about.

My experiences have shown me that upper cervical care is primary health care for human beings. It is a hidden jewel that you have already found and has likely already made a change in your life. Like any precious gift, the more you know about it, the better it can serve you. I hope this piece has expanded your knowledge of upper cervical care. Now let’s spread the word!

(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: Helping Kids With Scoliosis

Can you Protect your Children from Scoliosis?

By Dr. Bill Davis

The Problem

“Scoliosis is a disorder that causes an abnormal curve of the spine, or backbone. The spine has normal curves when looking from the side, but it should appear straight when looking from the front.” (see picture) www.emedicine.net According to WebMD “In about 80% of cases, the cause of scoliosis is not known.” 80%! Wow that is a lot! In 8/10 of the people who have been diagnosed with scoliosis or curvature in the spine the medical profession have no clue what causes it.

Generally, the scoliosis is found when a child is examined for scoliosis in middle school. But frequently scoliosis is undetected until adulthood. Regardless, the earlier the curvature can be found the better. If it is identified at 13 years of age and it is already 15 degrees…it would have been much better to find it at 7 years of age when it was 8 degrees don’t you think? Especially if the underlying cause can be corrected and the progression of the scoliosis can be stopped. Also the earlier the scoliosis is identified the more likely the condition can be reversed.

Scoliosis has psychological consequences as well as physical consequences. Self image can be negatively impacted, especially in the formative adolescent years. Scoliosis can be so mild that an untrained eye cannot see the curve, or it can be severe enough to cause deformity. Children are often made fun of as a result of these deformities.

The physical consequences are much worse though. People with scoliosis are a greater risk of developing heart problems, breathing problems, osteoporosis, accelerated disc degeneration and spinal pain, reproductive function and pregnancy problems can be just some of the consequences associated with untreated scoliosis.

The medical approach has 3 main strategies. Wait until it gets worse! Put a brace on the entire trunk for up to 23 hours a day! Or dangerous surgery! Doesn’t sound like fun to me! Which of these approaches gets to the underlying cause?…none of them? The medical approach is focused on the effects and not the cause obviously.

The Upper Neck Connection

Two medical doctors from Europe have done extensive research into upper neck problems in newborns and how that relates to the health of children. Dr. Gutmann was researching the connection all the way back to the 1960′s… in 1987 Dr. Gutmann published his research linking the upper neck to problems ranging from scoliosis to ear infections, torticollis, colic and many other common childhood conditions.
Dr. Biedermann also has published extensively on this subject and published his findings in 1992. Between the 2 medical researchers they have studied over 1000 newborns and have observed a very high incidence of upper cervical misalignments on x-ray. Gutmann found over 80% in his study had problems in the upper neck that needed to be addressed! Birth trauma was the most common cause. Forceps delivery, vacuum extraction and even just normal birthing methods with a woman flat on her back rather than in the standing position where gravity can work, can be an extremely traumatic experience for the head and neck of a newborn.

It is reported that within the general population the incidence of Scoliosis is about 2.5% or about 25 per 1000 people. However, that is only the people who are identified as having scoliosis and it only includes those that have a 10 degree curvature or more. A 7,8, or 9 degree scoliosis can still have dramatic affects on the health of a person’s spine and body. Also many individuals have no idea that they have a curvature in their spine until adulthood. I have seen patients in my office who are in their 60′s who were unaware of a 10-15 degree scoliosis!

If the weight of the head is not balanced over the spinal column due to accidents and injuries to the upper neck this can result in postural changes including head tilt, shoulder tilt, hips uneven, and leg imbalance. The earlier the child develops this upper neck misalignment the more likely it is for them to develop a scoliosis when they hit their growth spurt.

A Solution

Early detection is the key to stopping the progression and possibly correct the scoliosis completely. All children should be evaluated after birth and regularly thoroughout the childhood years for the presence of an upper neck misalignment that could start this process in their spine. If a curvature is detected than the misalignment should be corrected as soon as possible. If the scoliosis is already very advanced due to lack of evaluation, than the misalignment should still be corrected and maintained and postural exercises should be given in order to prevent future progression. The longer the curvature has been there the more likely it will be to not correct completely.

(Editor's note: Certainly some people, especially young people, who have head/neck misalignment and have it corrected will experience drastic improvements in scoliosis. However, please 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 scoliosis or any other condition, disease or symptom.)

What Is The Value Of Upper Cervical Care?

I was thinking about the value of upper cervical care the other day and I had to wonder whether any of us really know its value. When can deduce that when nerve interference is removed from your body, the body works better. That means your resistance is higher. Does that mean that when a person coughs in your face, you will not get a cold, or you will just get a cold instead of the flu? Perhaps. If your nerve system is working at greater efficiency, will that make you think better, concentrate better, or be more effective in your work? Perhaps! To what degree we cannot say. It may be noticeable or it may not. Everyone is different. Yet clearly it will make a difference. It is like exercising. You do not necessarily see a reduction in your waistline or bigger muscles after the first day of an exercise program but you know there is a change in your body. Often you can feel the change in the form of soreness or stiffness. The next time you exercise and you do not feel it, does that mean there has been no change?

We really cannot perceive all of the positive things that are happening in our bodies when we are maintaining our upper cervical correction. There are positive changes taking place on the cellular level. Life giving energy is being restored to starved and depleted cells. You cannot measure the value of that. Conversely, we really cannot know the damage being done by head/neck misalignment that cuts off the nerve supply to the tissues and cells in your body. It could be robbing the quality and quantity of your life. Someone once said that every cigarette cuts five minutes off your life. He further suggested that it would be great if that five minutes occurred right after a person finished smoking the cigarette. In other words, they would drop dead for five minutes and then come back. It would surely emphasize the harm of smoking. Yet because the major effects do not occur until the end of one’s life, it is not perceived as life threatening. I don’t know whether the five-minute figure is true but there is no doubt that smoking has a negative effect on the quantity and quality of one’s life. Similarly, there can be harm to one’s life from head/neck misalignment despite the fact that we cannot measure it.

What is the value of children having their upper cervical spine checked, and if needed corrected, at the earliest possible age? Again we many not be able to measure it because every child’s potential is different. However, a body maintaining its correction definitely enables them to move closer to their fullest potential. What is the value of upper cervical care? Sometimes we believe we can know it because of an immediate change or because a long-standing problem is resolved after getting under care. I would suggest that is only the tip of the iceberg. That is only a small part of the benefit of periodic upper cervical check-ups. We really cannot know what microscopic effects are taking place. We really cannot know what immeasurable effects are occurring like higher resistance and improved physical, mental and emotional function. Lastly, we cannot know what life-extending effects are taking place. Like the commercial for a certain credit card, there are some things that you can put a price on and some things are priceless. Upper cervical care is one of those things of which you just cannot know the value.

Upper Cervical Care And Athletic Performance.

Athletic Performance
What Upper Cervical Has To Offer!
From www.uppercervicalcare.com

What do Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana and Evander Holyfield all have in common? Not only have they risen to the top of their respective sports, they all consider regular chiropractic care essential to improving their health and gaining a competitive edge over their competitors.

The truth is, it doesn’t matter if you are at the top of your game, a weekend warrior, or a stay-at-home mom training for your first 5K run, upper cervical care can help you perform at your BEST!

Athletes undertaking rigorous fitness regimes often push their bodies to the limit. Since their performance is based on the health and strength of their body…whether they need to recover from injury, improve performance or increase joint flexibility, ongoing upper cervical care is a valuable addition to their training regime.

In recent years, spinal care has become a valuable partner in the everyday athletic health regimen. Athletes find it not only improves performance but also reduces the risk of injury. Studies show that upper cervical care improves athletic ability, agility, balance, power, speed, reaction time and recovery.

How does upper cervical care help to improve athletic performance? The answer lies in the nervous system. In our bodies, the brain and brain stem act as our “Master Control System”. Everything that we do is regulated by the nerve impulses that are sent from the brain/brain stem out to the body through our network of nerves. For the athlete who is looking for an edge to his or her physical performance, this improved communication between the brain and every part of the body, especially the heart, lungs and muscles can make the difference between winning and losing.

Upper Cervical corrections help to improve the overall function of the nervous system, which, in turn, improves the efficiency of the communication between the brain and the body. With a fraction of a second meaning the difference between gold and silver, many of today’s top athletes are checked regularly during training and off seasons to maintain peak performance.

Research

A research study conducted by Dr. Jon Schwartzbauer, studied changes in athletic performance in baseball players with and without upper cervical care. Each athlete’s performance was evaluated through assessment of the vertical jump, broad jump specified, standing broad jump, and muscle strength. Blood pressure, pulse rate, microcirculation (capillary counts), and treadmill stress testing were also evaluated. The results showed significant improvement at fourteen weeks in muscle strength and long jump distance in the group receiving upper cervical corrections. Moreover, this same group showed significant improvement in capillary counts after five and fourteen weeks of upper cervical care. Evaluation of the group receiving care revealed decreases in resting blood pressure and pulse rate as well as pulse rate following tread mill activity. By comparison, trends in these same measures showed increases within the control group (non-upper cervical). All this translates into better athletic performance! In another study by Drs. Anthony Lauro and Brian Mouch, upper cervical care improved athletic performance by as much as 30% after 12 weeks. Athletes were tested on several aspects of athletic ability including kinesthetic perception, power, reaction time, agility and balance. At the 6 week mark of this study those who received upper cervical care showed an 18% increase in performance while those who did not showed only a 1% increase in performance.

These studies showed that athletes who have full brain to body communication (subluxation-free athletes) react faster, have better coordination, execute fine movements with improved accuracy and precision, amounting to an overall better athlete.

Key Benefits

In addition to improving performance, ongoing upper cervical care offers several health and wellness benefits, including:

•Improved posture
•Increased range of motion
•Improved immune system that can ward off common illnesses or disease
•Better focus and concentration
•Reduction of migraines or severe headaches
•Increased blood circulation
•Better joint flexibility
•Reduced risk of injury
•Increased blood and oxygen flow throughout the body
•Improved recovery rates after a sports injury
•Reduction of pain in major joints

Some athletes turn to upper cervical care only after they have been injured, but it is much more beneficial to incorporate care into the weekly training routine. An upper cervical doctor can offer natural supportive care for runners, bikers, tennis players, baseball, football and basketball players - any athlete who is constantly on the move.

For both casual sports participants and high-performance athletes, a natural method of stress reduction and toxin removal is necessary for better health overall. Upper cervical care can play an important role in the lives of these athletes throughout their training season, and during their most competitive seasons.

Periodic Upper Cervical Care?

Upper cervical patients are divided into two general categories. The first category includes a large number of patients who utilize upper cervical care (UCC) to enable their bodies to work better so that they might heal themselves of some condition or symptom. They understand that the upper cervical doctor is not treating the condition or attempting to alleviate the symptom but that if he or she can correct head/neck misalignment, the body will have greater capacity to heal itself. They come in to make sure that their bodies work at a higher level, quite often high enough to get well of the physical problems they have. Thousands of people have had their health restored because when nerve interference is removed at the level of the head and neck, the principle that heals and run the billions upon billions of cells in the body is free to work a little better. Sadly though, many of these people do not fully utilize care.

The second group of people realize that the same principle that enables the body to get well can also keep it well. They do not use UCC as merely a way of regaining their health but as part of an overall, health-maintenance program. They come periodically whether they feel good or not. They know that holding a correction will enable them to express more life in numerous ways, some we cannot even imagine. We do know that you can have more energy, better coordination, more flexibility, a greater ability to handle stress, and a greater benefit from the food, exercise and sleep that you get. All of this from holding a correction? Absolutely! Which of the above is not affected by your nervous system? Logically, a better nervous system, one free of interference, has to help accomplish all the above. How much benefit depends upon you, but everyone will have a better functioning body with a good nerve supply. Not only do these people come periodically but they also bring their families in and refer friends and relatives for UCC. They know that it is far better to get someone under care while they are still healthy than to wait until they manifest the symptoms of a lack of health. They want everyone to experience some of the benefits listed above.

Our desire is to see primarily the second category of patients. We obviously would not turn away a patient with a medical condition who wanted his or her head/neck alignment corrected so that their body had a greater potential for healing. Everyone could benefit from UCC, people with medical conditions of any kind need a properly functioning nerve system as much as people with no medical problems, even if they need medical care at the same time. What we really desire is to see hundreds of people who are concerned enough about their health to come in periodically with their families to receive corrections as needed and stay healthy.

If there is ever something about UCC that you do not understand, please ask us. It is our desire and pleasure to make you aware of all the benefits of being free of nerve interference.

Recognizing Your Potential With Upper Cervical Care

What major league pitcher in 1916 won 23 games while only losing 12? He had an American league leading earned run average of only 1.75 and led the league in shutouts (9). During the second game of the World Series that year he pitched 14 innings of Game 2, giving up only one run and six hits. With a season like that you would expect that this pitcher would be one of the great pitchers in the history of baseball. If you had to guess, you might say it was Walter Johnson, Christey Mattheson, Cy Young or Grover Cleveland Alexander. Whoever it was, you would conclude that he must have had a great pitching career. Yet while his career lasted 19 years, despite those 23 wins in 1916 (and 24 wins in 1917), he only won 94 games. The reason his total was so low was that from 1920 to 1933 he only pitched in five games (winning them all). Had he pitched more, he may have been one of the all-time greats. But in 1920 the New York Yankees changed Babe Ruth’s position from pitcher to outfielder. One thing is certain, playing in thirty or forty games a year as a pitcher, Babe Ruth would not have become associated with hitting home runs. He would never have reached his potential as a hitter. He had to focus on hitting rather than pitching, to be all that he could in the game. Had Babe Ruth begun his career in today’s American League, he never would have recognized his potential due to the designated hitter rule.

How many other people, for one reason or another, never recognize their potential? Not necessarily as a baseball player but in other areas of life. How many potential concert pianists never sit down at a piano? How many great statesmen never enter politics? We could conjecture forever about lost opportunities. But the one I would like to address is the person who does not recognize his or her potential because of a physical problem. Wilma Rudolph, who passed away sometime ago, was an Olympic track champion. But she had to overcome a physical problem, polio, as a child. She had to recognize her potential despite her childhood disease and then have the wherewithal to pursue that goal. It is not enough to recognize it; you also have to realize it. There are so many factors in both of these areas, factors such as inspiration, willpower, desire, motivation, and natural ability. There are many gifted people who recognize their potential but because of lack of motivation, desire, or willpower, they never realize their potential.

Upper Cervical Care plays a unique role in this entire concept. The upper cervical correction removes interference in the nervous system and allows the entire body to work better. The individual’s mental processes can work better, allowing greater recognition of potential. The individual’s physical processes can work better, energy levels can be improved, coordination can be better and stamina can increase. Everything works better with a good nerve supply. All of us will not be great athletes or concert pianists. But we all have the potential to be great at something. Whether it is a business executive, an employee, a house painter or a portrait painter, a college professor or a college student, a housewife or an auto mechanic. Whatever your role in life is, be excellent at it. Whatever else it takes, it starts with a properly functioning nervous system, free of interference. Upper Cervical Care doesn’t have all the answers but it has something to offer everyone.

How Bad Is Head/Neck Misalignment?

One of the most difficult concepts to get across to the public is the potentially devastating effects of head/neck misalignment. We could show you all kinds of diseases and say the interference to the nerve system from head/neck misalignment causes those diseases. But that would not be quite honest. That would be like saying that being a couch potato and not exercising regularly causes heart disease. It is undoubtedly a factor but there are other factors also. No one can possibly say what is the major factor or the cause. In addition to that, upper cervical doctors do not want to focus on a negative like disease. We would rather be proactive, to talk about getting checked periodically to maintain your health and reach your full potential in every area of life. But unfortunately, some of us are only motivated by fear, the fear of being sick or dying from some horrible disease. So for those people let’s take a minute to talk about just how bad this thing called head/neck misalignment (HNM) really is.

When there is HNM your digestive system may not work at its full potential. You body cannot produce the exact quantity and quality of chemicals necessary to digest the food that you eat. The food will not be absorbed into your body as it should because the cells involved in absorption are not working as they should because the food is not being broken down properly. Those organs, tissues, and cells involved with changing absorbed foods into flesh and blood will not work properly without a good nerve supply. When there is HNM, your immune system may not be working as it should. The organs and cells involved in keeping you resistant to viruses and bacteria are working at less than their potential. When you have HNM you may not be able to think as well, your coordination can be lessened, energy levels could be decreased. The interference in the nerve system from HNM literally affects every part of your body because every part of your body in one way or another is dependent upon a properly function nerve system.

This nerve interference affects the entire body. In this day and age when there are so many stresses upon the body, chemical, physical, and mental we cannot afford to have an improperly function nerve system. We cannot be sure about the quality of the water that we drink or the air that we breathe. We cannot know for sure that our body is getting all the nutrients that we need from our food sources. We cannot help being exposed to microorganism, many of which are more powerful than ever because of their ability to adapt to attempts to destroy them with drugs. But by keeping our nerve system free of interference from HNM, we can be sure that any potential that we have will be expressed as well as possible.

With so many chemicals, toxins and poisons in our food, air, water, not to mention those we purposely put in our bodies because we “enjoy” them we must keep our elimination system working as close to perfect as possible. The bowels, the kidneys, and other organs of elimination cannot work properly with interference in the nerve system.

Hopefully by now you realize how devastating HNM and the resulting interference to the nerve system can be. It may not be the most dramatic negative effect on the body. Surely, getting hit by a truck is worse. But there is probably no other single entity that can have such widespread negative effects on your body. Keep it free of interference by seeing an upper cervical doctor periodically.

Upper Cervical Care: It’s About Your Life!

Too often we just do not take advantage of good things that are available to us. We may stay at a hotel and never use the pool or exercise room because we do not have time. We may never use the cruise control on our car because we only ever drive around town. We may feel like we have wasted money staying at a hotel with those features or buying a car with extras that we may never use. But the real tragedy is not taking advantage of something because we just do not know about its advantages.

Imagine having a television set that you could turn on and off but having no idea it also had a channel selector. You would never get the maximum enjoyment out of a television with an 181-channel hookup if you did not realize you could get anything more than C-Span! I usually cannot handle more than 10 minutes of C-Span so that would be a real tragedy.

Not utilizing its full potential is exactly what some upper cervical patients do. They go to an upper cervical doctor for a back problem and never realize that the care is so much more than a mere treatment for a musculoskeletal problem. When the head and neck become misaligned, probably the least important thing that happens is that back pain may result. It may be important to the person with pain, just as C-Span is important to someone who enjoys that type of programming, but there is a whole lot more to television than that one channel. Likewise there is a lot more to upper cervical care than problems with the back.

Upper cervical care addresses head/neck misalignment which interferes with the vital messages that travel over the nervous system between the brain and every organ, tissue and cell in the body. This interference seriously impairs the body’s ability to carry on all its normal and natural functions. The body’s chemistry is upset, organ function is affected, resistance is lowered and all coordinated activity is decreased. The digestive system does not work 100%. You cannot think clearly and you can not get all the benefit from your rest and exercise that you should. Even the food that you eat will not be utilized properly by the body if there is nerve interference.

When nerve interference occurs, the body begins to function in an abnormal manner. The individual in this state may be totally unaware of what is happening in his or her body. Unless someone tells them about the benefits of upper cervical care, they may never know until it’s too late to regain their health. If all you could ever watch on television was C-Span, you could just find other forms of entertainment, like reading a good book. Unfortunately, there are no alternatives to correcting head/neck misalignment and keeping the life channels open so your body’s nerve system works at its maximum. Consequently, it makes sense to have your spine checked periodically and to have it corrected when this interference is present.

Upper Cervical Care: Two Questions To Consider

When a person with any type of symptom enters an Upper Cervical Care office for the first time, there are two questions that person needs to consider for the Upper Cervical Doctor to be sure that the person understands the Upper Cervical objective. This is important so there are no misconceptions or failed expectations on the part of the person seeking care. The first question is:

What will you do if following the Upper Cervical correction your symptoms do not go away?

If the answer is that you will seek care elsewhere, further clarification is required. If a symptom of a medical problem does not disappear under Upper Cervical Care care, it may be a wise decision to be examined by some other professional. It is critical for people to understand that Upper Cervical Care does not provide treatment for medical conditions. It corrects Head/Neck Misalignment so that the body can work closer to its maximum potential. The hope is, of course, that in so doing, the body will have a greater ability to heal itself, enough so that the cause of the symptoms will be in part, or wholly resolved. While that is something everyone would like to see happen, it is not the Upper Cervical Care objective, simply because it is something your Upper Cervical Doctor has no control over. It is up to every individual body to heal itself. Here is the point: if the symptoms do not go away, the body still needs a good nerve supply and it still needs to have a full complement of vital mental impulses, life’s information traveling to all the parts in order to function at its best. In other words, regardless of whether the problem goes away or not everyone still needs to have their spine checked and Head/Neck Misalignment corrected. Body Imbalance decreases everyone’s quality of life. They cause the body to work at less than its intended level. If someone has a medical condition that needs to be treated, he/she still needs (maybe especially needs) the body to work at its highest level possible. So the answer to the above question should include continuing under Upper Cervical Care.

The second question is:

What are you going to do if following an Upper Cervical Correction your symptoms do go away?

It is interesting that both questions address opposite circumstances but both should elicit in part, the same answer. Again, everyone would like to see symptoms go away while under Upper Cervical Care. However, there is no way to know whether that is a direct result of being under Upper Cervical Care. We do know that by being under Upper Cervical Care the body can work better than it would if it were in a state of imbalance. But the Upper Cervical Doctor's real interest and objective is making sure the body works at the highest level it is able to at all times. That necessitates having your spine checked periodically regardless of how you are feeling or whether any particular symptom has gone away. When it comes down to it, the answer to both questions is based upon the fact that the Upper Cervical Care objective is to enable your body to work better and that is important for all people, under all circumstances, at all times.

We are not saying that you need to get checked constantly but we are suggesting that periodic check-ups are helpful once our objective of care has been established. We want to accomplish our objective as quickly, precisely and completely as possible so that we can see you for the rest of your life as few a times as possible.