This class introduces you to the contemporary view of chiropractic subluxation, known as the brain model of the subluxation, as well as the neuroplasticity model of the subluxation. There are some who will argue it is a bio-neuro-plasticity model because there are body adaptations that occur, not just neural adaptations.
This class gives you an overview of the latest model about the subluxation and the mechanisms of spinal adjustments that is supported with a lot of scientific evidence. It will explain exactly what happens in the spine and how the spine communicates with the brain, both when it is dysfunctional and when it is healthy. You will learn about the two essential functions of the spine, to sometimes move and to sometimes stiffen up, depending on what you are doing, and exactly how the brain knows what is going on in the spine.
This is all down to the movement of the smallest, deepest muscles that cross individual vertebrae, and so when the vertebrae move, these muscles are stretched and movement is thus signalled to the brain, so the brain knows what is going on. But sometimes, when there is spinal dysfunction, for example, after acute physiological stress or injuries to the spine, then these small muscles are ‘turned off’ or neurologically inhibited, and then over time these small muscles dysfunction more and more, with fatty infiltration, fibrosis, and changes of their fibre type. These small muscles will even atrophy over months to years.
This means the brain cannot know what is happening in that part of the spine, so no wonder it cannot control the movement pattern of that part of the spine accurately. That is how you end up with subluxations, dysfunctional spinal segments, or what scientists call ‘central segmental motor control problems’, which literally just means the brain is not accurately controlling the movement of that part of the spine accurately and appropriately. This is why we need the chiropractic adjustment, to provide that stretch of this dysfunctional spinal segment, to blast the brain with proprioceptive information, so the brain can reset proper spinal function again. What is most fascinating about this research is that spinal dysfunction does not just impact how the brain controls the spine, but it has also been shown to impact the way the brain perceives what is going on inside the body and how accurately it perceives what is happening outside the body. Studies have even shown that spinal dysfunction and adjustments change the way the brain perceives what you see and hear.
This introductory class introduces you to this latest contemporary view of the subluxation and the latest scientific understanding about how and why the adjustment work.
Learning Outcomes
- Summarise the evidence regarding the brain model of the subluxation and adjustments
Studies have even shown that spinal dysfunction and adjustments change the way the brain perceives what you see and hear.