Stress in the Spine

When the Lion jumps out to attack the Caveman, instantaneously, his brain signals, “Threat” and engages in protective physiology. Protective physiology is the stress response playing out in the body. It leads to either:

1)    Flight – running away - hopefully faster than your nearest friend!

2)    Fight – choosing to show off your ninja skills and fighting the lion off!

3)    Freeze – the worst choice, because you will surely will be eaten!

 

The Stress Response should play out over about 30-minutes, during which time you would have either been eaten, or you have regulated back to normal once you escaped. Most often, after this threat, you would begin to eat your own food, which we call the “rest and digest” phase. 

 

At the same time, as the brain signals, “threat”, the mind is engaged into past programming, which are habits that you have installed as a result of previous incidences. These habits are based on your perception of stress combining with what we are faced with constantly in our current modern society. That is to say that we are constantly being bombarded with low-grade stressors, that keep us in a chronic low-grade protective physiology. This, overtime, builds up to the common health issues – Depression, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Blood Pressure, Digestive Issues, as well as a few more. In these cases, you are over-responding to every small threat, as if it was the proverbial lion. 

What is absolutely fascinating, is that all of this plays out in the spine. The 1^st three vertebrae of the spine and the pelvis carry the ability to relax the body, through their nerve supply. If these vertebrae are working correctly, you are able to regulate your stressors within the 30-minute time frame and consequently more easily go back to “rest and digest”. If they are not working correctly, as a consequence of this, stress and pressure will settle onto either the neck and shoulders, or the lower back and pelvis. Over time, this pressure crushes and compresses the spine, causing a pinching of the nerves to the arms and legs, or worse yet, the spinal cord. Not surprisingly, these are therefore the most common conditions that a Chiropractor deals with on a daily basis.

 

The Chiropractor’s job is to correct the functions of the spine and vertebrae and, by doing so, it releases the stress and pressure from the spine. Over time, he/she is able to restore the normal balance in the brain and the body. This in turn, begins the process of regulating the physiology of the body and thereby re-educating it, allowing our bodies to be able to return to a new, correct normal health. 

 

When last did you visit your Chiropractor?

Live without Pain

Picture 1 https://www.coreconcepts.com.sg/article/how-do-i-know-if-my-back-pain-is-due-to-a-fracture/

Picture 2 https://www.unilad.co.uk/animals/two-sub-species-of-lion-have-been-added-to-the-endangered-species-list/