Stress - Public Enemy Number 1. Part 1 - Emotional Stress

Thank you for stopping by blog. I have been away for quite some time and am making a commitment to keep you up to date on the happenings in and around the office as well as trying to keep you informed on ways of staying healthy.

We all have heard and know that stress is bad for our health. What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word stress? Most people will immediately conjure up a picture of work in their mind or financial difficulties they may be having. Usually they are thinking of an emotional stress that is constantly weighing on their mind.

Emotional stress is a major type of stress but people do not link it with physical health problems which they may be facing. The term is psychosomatic. Issues in the mind which present as an outward physical symptom. What you may notice in your life may not present as a "symptom" to you at all. Have you ever had a "stressful" day at work and when you got home you were physically exhausted even though all you did was sit at a desk all day? Now, sitting for an extended period of time is a physical stress to the body but even if you get up thru the day you got home and you are still exhausted. Why?

When we are dealing with emotional stress it never turns off. Our body is constantly responding to it even if we are tying to relax. We become tense thru our muscles. We start taking short shallow breaths. Blood pressure goes up. Our body is on constant alert. You've probably heard of the "fight or flight" response. It is what our body does in those times of emergency that redirects the blood toward our muscles and lungs. Our adrenal glands pump out adrenaline. It is the very same response that allows the 110 pound woman to lift a car off her trapped son. It has developed from many centuries of avoiding becoming dinner for an animal larger than us.

When we have emotional stress we are constantly in the is "fight or flight" mode. Our body is ready for any emergency situation to arise. The problem is that it never gives our body a chance to rest. We never have that time to repair. We are on constant alert whether we know it or not. That is why by the end of the day we have tension headaches, tight shoulders and we are exhausted. Even when we are trying to do something about the headaches and tension emotional stress can be a barrier to health. It can actually inhibit your body from healing.

There are many ways are dealing with emotional stress. We have all heard of methods such as meditation, yoga, massage, and counseling. Some even go to the lengths of covering it up with drugs and alcohol which just increases the problem. Please understand there can be many levels of emotional stress to deal with and seeking professional help can be the only way of dealing with emotional stress. For other cases it can be as simple as awareness. Being aware of stress gives you the opportunity to deal with it. Awareness allows you to confront the situation which may be all it takes to move past the point.

The part most people do not know is the structural part of emotional stress. We see people nearly every day who are depressed or nearing depression due to a chronic physical ailment. At times they feel, or are told by their doctor, "you'll just have to learn to live with this for the rest of your life." What an emotional bomb that statement is if all avenues have not been covered to help this person regain their life. Nearly everyday we see people who have been dealing with physical ailments for 10, 20, 30, and 40 years be able to turn things around. Not only are they able to heal physically but the emotional release can be tremendous. Some people start crying for reasons which they are not even aware after their first correction.

There is a very strong link between a persons physical being and their emotional being. You cannot have one without the other. Before all else fails check to see if your head is on straight - both physically and mentally. Give yourself a chance to heal. You may be amazed.

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The Chiropractic Pain Pill?

Have you ever gone to the chiropractor and after the first adjustment felt a little worse. In some cases, felt a lot worse. This may sound a little weird but my response is almost always, "Great!". Why do I want people to feel worse you may ask? Don't get me wrong, I do not like seeing my patients suffer. As a matter of fact I do not like seeing anyone suffer.

The body is a very simple, while at the same time complex, logical mechanism that responds in a very logical manner IF you understand what is happening. Exercise is a very good comparison. Have you ever decided to start and exercise routine? You get excited, jump in with both feet and really over do it. The next day you have a hard time getting out of bed and walking across the room. Your muscles are responding to the new stress placed on them and are going through their normal natural healing cycle.

Getting back to feeling worse after the first adjustment. Before the adjustment, your body was working in a distorted position that it had adapted to over a very long period of time. Soft tissues (ligaments, tendons, muscles) have all adapted to accommodate this new position. For a period of time your body can handle this distortion. Eventually this abnormal position causes inflammation, muscle tension, nerve distortion/irritation (subluxation) which changes the body even more. The result of the previous mentioned usually leads people to the office to take care of the problem. The "problem" is the distorted position in which the body is working and the result of that is pain.

Granted, everyone wants to be pain free. I hate pain as much as the next person and want it gone as quickly as possible. But, looking beyond the pain to what is causing the problem is the key. When the abnormal body is returned back to the "normal" position a lot of change happens. For example, certain muscles, ligaments, and tendons stretch, other muscles spasm to move the structures and hold them in place; joints work in a different manner than they had previously been. For some people this change can be dramatic. What I see is the longer they have been dealing with this problem the more change their body has to make.

Just like exercising, when your body gets use to the new stresses it no longer gets sore. It has adapted. The same is true with your body. When your body adapts to the correct way of working it now has a chance to heal the damaged areas and not just mask the symptoms temporarily. Time is key. It took a long time for your body to get in the shape it is in, it will not go away quickly.

Exciting Research Happening in NUCCA

Years of clinical evidence suggest that the atlas vertebra misalignment may be related to a negative impact on human nervous system function resulting in chronic health symptoms, conditions and diseases affecting a decrease of quality of life. Within the chiropractic profession, investigation and validation of the mechanisms involved in supporting theories on spinal misalignments are lacking and long overdue.

It has long been suspected that upper cervical spinal misalignments result in altered cerebral blood flow. Correction of the misalignment may produce a ‘normalization’ of blood flow and a reversal of related patient reported conditions (Scott R et al. 1-8). Accuracy and validity in noninvasive measurement of cerebral blood flow has been limited due to technology.

A new method using Phase Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Angiography (PC MRA) now exists that significantly increases accurate valid measurements. Using PC MRA, cerebral arterial and venous blood can be measured in almost every vessel in the brain with an added ability to measure cerebrospinal fluid flow and determine Intra-cranial Pressure (ICP).

It has been proposed to measure all these parameters using PC MRA before and after a NUCCA correction of the atlas misalignment. From these proposed pilot investigations, evidence of mechanisms detrimental to the central nervous system may be discovered.

Changes in cerebral blood flow have been demonstrated by medical research to be connected to a number of medically diagnosed conditions and diseases. With the appropriate tools now available, the effect of the NUCCA atlas correction procedure on cerebral blood flow can be accurately evaluated.

Research Goals

The desired outcome of the blood flow investigations is two fold. Most significant is to discover neural mechanisms involved for two specific conditions involving a large population of our society: migraine headaches and hypertension. The second outcome will attract interest within the scientific community for further investigation of these mechanisms and the funding required to conduct the Gold Standard, Controlled Clinical Research Trials required for validation.

Two studies, each involving ten medically diagnosed patients with Stage I hypertension and ten medically diagnosed patients with migraine headaches are planned. Mechanisms already suspected in migraine headaches and hypertension may be related to in the brain stem nuclei, a critical area that may be involved in the atlas misalignment.

Measurable changes in cerebral blood and cerebrospinal fluid flow may substantiate a neural homeostatic mechanism affected by atlas misalignment in the brain stem nuclei. This research will lay the foundation for further research into the effect of the atlas misalignment on the central nervous system.

For more information visit: www.ucrf.org