How Do I Tell If I Need Upper Cervical Care?

by Dr. Ben Hill

I’m going to venture to guess that, if you’re suffering from something that’s not obviously related to your spine that you didn’t wake up this morning and say,

“Eureka! I bet that upper cervical doctor is just the guy who can help.”

I’ll take no offense. In fact, it’s common and completely understandable that one doesn’t typically equate chiropractic care with conditions like digestive disorders, migraines,  ADHD, fatigue, fibromyalgia … or even multiple sclerosis. But when you consider that the nervous system controls just about every function in your body, it stands to reason that when something is compromising it? All sorts of not-so-great things can happen. It also stands to reason that, if we can reverse this situation, you may realize considerable relief or resolution to pain or conditions that are affecting your everyday life.

So how do you know if an Upper Cervical Chiropractic may be right for you? 

Here are a few questions to help you evaluate:

• Do you suffer from headaches, earaches or backaches that medication or other treatment is not alleviating or resolving?
• Do you or one of your family members regularly struggle to sleep through the night? Is the exhaustion leading to other health or relationship problems?
• Do you have ongoing digestive issues that haven’t been solved through medication or dietary changes?
• Do you have a child who isn’t responding well to ADHD, colic or autism-related medications or treatment?
• Are you experiencing ongoing pain in your body?
• Do you have vertigo, dizziness or  unexplained problems with your vision or hearing?
• Are you at your wit’s end because nothing you’ve tried so far has helped you?
• Do you want to feel confident that you can, and will, get your old self back?

If you answered “YES” to at least one of these questions, I may have a care plan that delivers the answers you’ve been looking for. While upper cervical care isn’t often the first thing people think of when struggling with frustrating, debilitating and life-altering conditions, we may well be the answer that’s (finally) the one for you.

 Can’t hurt to check it out, right?

(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.)

Why Didn't I Know About Upper Cervical Care?

Why didn't I know?

By Dr. Andy Gibson

Recently, an 8 year old little girl came into our office with the following list of health issues: chronic ear infections, nosebleeds, constipation and restlessness. She didn't eat very well or often. From the outside, she looked like a "normal" little girl. But underneath the surface, she was very sick and heading for a lifetime of health issues. When I explained to her grandma about the upper neck bone, the atlas, being subluxated, or out of its proper alignment with the skull, she was a little confused. She wondered how it may have gotten that way. After some investigative work, it was determined there was a strong correlation with the forceps-assisted delivery and her current status of health. HOW? Simple. During a "normal birth, the neck of the infant is stretched and twisted upwards of 2x the normal length. Now with the use of forceps, that force is substantially increased. The bottom line: Little "Kayla" was subluxated from day one. And for the next 8 years, her little body fought to keep her healthy. At age 1, it was colic. Age 2, the ear infections began. Age 4-7, the nosebleeds and constipation set in.

Two weeks have passed since her 1st upper cervical adjustment. "kayla" has been adjusted 2 times. In just over 14 days, she has no more nosebleeds, eats like a horse (remember it was a chore for her to eat most anything), has been to the bathroom numerous times per day and is finally sleeping through the night. As for the earaches, her grandma reports that all is well. Time will tell the rest of the story but for now, there are two parents, one grandma and a little girl whose lives have all just changed through the power of an upper cervical adjustment. At the end of the visit, the grandma asked the question we hear almost daily: "Why didn't I know about Upper Cervical?" Now you do.

Just How Does The Body Work?

How the Body Works

-Author Unknown

Most people have been led to believe eating nutritious foods (including supplements), drinking plenty of fluids, exercising regularly, sleeping well and having a clean air supply will keep you healthy.

Well ....

These things are a vital part of living a healthy lifestyle - but every function in your body is under the regulation and coordination of your nerve system, which must operate at 100% for optimal health.

The Nerve System Houses Your Brain Messages:

Think about it. Your brain isn't programmed to make you sick or diseased - ever. Each human brain and nerve system is totally 100% programmed for optimal health and wellness and will manifest this every time unless interfered with somewhere in the system. Your brain stores thousands of genetic coding far beyond our scientific understanding of the body.

Establishing an Uninterrupted Nerve Flow is a Major Key to Optimal Health:

Your brain is continuously producing vital messages which are brilliantly decoded into electrical impulses with the purpose of performing an important function in a specific place in your body. Millions of these messages are sent every second of your life passing from your brain to your body cells and equally important, from your body cells back to your brain. Anything that interrupts the proper flow of electrical impulses through your nerve system should set off loud beeping alarms in the body, but it often doesn't - usually not until a certain amount of damage has already been accumulated.

Take a moment, followed by a lifetime, to appreciate your body and your innate life force that controls all body functions. Periodic upper cervical care can contribute in a big way to maintaining your body balance and achieve optimal health.

Upper Cervical Care and Symptoms

Keep the following in mind the next time you are checked by your Upper Cervical Doctor.

Adapted from:
What About Those Pesky Symptoms?
By: Susan M. Brown, D.C.

The current view of health holds that if we have symptoms, we are sick and if we are without symptoms then we are healthy. And so much of modern health care is geared toward ridding the individual of their symptoms. Some of the sickest people are symptom free. Their bodies are so impacted with toxins and stress and injury (emotional and physical) that they have shut down. So lack of symptoms does not necessarily prove to be a healthy individual. As the reverse can also be true. A person with symptoms is not necessarily “sick”.

Now at first, ridding the system of symptoms seems like a wonderful, noble thing. At least until you start to consider how the body functions. Many of the symptoms people experience are actually signs that the body is healing and stopping those symptoms can inhibit the healing process. For example, a normal fever rise is the body’s first line of defense against infection. When we take something to decrease the temperature it compromises the body’s natural healing response. When we ingest something that the body considers to be toxic, nausea and diarrhea are healthy responses. When a joint is injured the body gives us pain to let us know to be careful, to avoid using it and re injuring it. It swells to provide a natural splint to the area to protect the injured joint and gets hot as the body increases the circulation to repair and heal the injured tissue. The runny nose we get at the change of seasons is the body sluffing off the old respiratory lining, much like the trees sluff off their leaves and animals sluff off winter coats.

Every symptom our body lovingly gives us is a message. The body can only speak to us in two ways, pain or pleasure, discomfort or comfort, ease or dis-ease.

When symptoms occur, when our body is trying its best to communicate with us, do we listen to what it is trying to say? Or do we just try to shut it up, quiet it down, or stop the symptoms. Do we ignore the body’s only voice and try to “shut it up”. If our intention is just to stop the symptoms, then we miss the gift. It’s not that we don’t want to hear about the symptoms, it’s that Upper Cervical Care's intention is not to treat them or silence them, it is to acknowledge them with something far greater than talking about them. Upper Cervical Care's purpose and intent is to free the power of the body so that it can heal, and can fully integrate the experiences of life. Sometimes when the body is in flow with life it has no symptoms and sometimes it does. Sometimes we feel great, sometimes we feel the process of healing happening and sometimes we feel our body telling us that a change is definitely in order. Life is a process not an event and so is healing. When your body is speaking, listen to what it is saying, acknowledge it and answer it. I think the body’s wisdom will amaze you and if you both listen and respond, the conversations you have will surely enlighten you.