Many of you may be wondering how on earth could chiropractic play a role in helping your mental health when all they do is deal with people’s necks and backs? In fact, it was the work of a Nobel Prize winner for medicine who discovered a fascinating connection between the spine and the brain…
In 1974, neurobiologist, Professor Roger Sperry, found that 90% of the stimulation of the brain comes from movement and posture of the spine and weight bearing limbs but by far, the majority of this brain stimulation comes from the upper neck. More recently, research is suggesting that, because of this connection with the brain, that the loss of the proper alignment/posture and curve in the neck may be having an affect on the function of your brain and your mental health.
When you lose the proper alignment or posture of your spine, scientists have found that it results in an interference in the communication between your body and your brain. In fact, researchers have now discovered that the loss of your neck curve also reduces stimulation to the front part of your brain called the PFC or Pre-Frontal Cortex. The PFC is part of the brain that distinguishes us as human as it helps to calm your emotional impulses, calms your reaction to stress and assists with decision making, judgment, planning, moral reasoning and sense of self.
When the PFC is not getting activated due to poor posture of the neck it can reduce the function of the frontal lobe of the brain! This can result in less of the calming messages sent from your brain. It can lead to impulsive, short-sighted behaviour, aggression, substance abuse, learning difficulties and increased susceptibility and over-reaction to stress, anxiety and depression.
It’s not all doom and gloom! There is good news…
The good news is that your brain has a phenomenal power to continually re-wire and re-model itself. In order to do that the PFC of the brain needs to be stimulated through a good upright posture and a lot of upright movement in addition to healthy lifestyle modifications.
We have been using the Gold Standard measuring tool for emotional health The DASS-21 (The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) to assess how patients’ emotional health has been progressing throughout their time here at Be Healthy Chiropractic where they have been receiving holistic chiropractic approach that combines chiropractic postural alignment with a combination of lifestyle modification and stress management strategies.
We have started our own research on stress, anxiety and depression here at Be Healthy Chiropractic due to the large number of people presenting with stress, anxiety or depression and the initial results in response to our holistic approach has been encouraging.
Patient A
Depression 22 (severe) Anxiety 32 (extremely severe) Stress 30 (severe)
15 weeks later…
Depression 8 (normal) Anxiety 14 (moderate) Stress 18 (mild)
Patient B
Depression 38 ( extremely severe) Anxiety 30 (extremely severe) Stress 32 (extremely severe)
15 weeks later…
Depression 10 (mild) Anxiety 8 (mild) Stress 8 (normal)