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Atlas Misalignment, Stress, Your Nervous System & The Upper Cervical Chiropractic Connection - North Lakes, Brisbane, Australia
An Atlas Misalignment is a Protective Mechanism
That’s right: what I’m saying is that the reason your spine misaligns is that that is your body’s normal protective mechanism to stress. The hypothesized mechanism goes like this. First, we know that your spine misaligns at all levels all the time.
That is why if you stand after sitting too long your joints click just a little bit. Your spine is supposed to move within certain limits. That is what your muscles and ligaments do. The area of your spine that can (and does) misalign the most is the upper neck: the atlas (C1), the axis (C2) and C3.
These vertebrae actually move as a functional unit and can effectively move in 360 degrees. The remainder of the spine all the way down to the tailbone has interlocking joints that limit their movement, What this means is that when your spine needs to misalign in order to protect your brain function, the most common area to do so in the upper neck.
When a joint is fully misaligned at the end of your normal range of motion - e.g., your head is turned as far left as you can comfortably take it - there is resistance. Aside from your muscles and ligaments stretching as far as they can, it is because, at full stretch, the spine is also creating tension on your spinal cord and brain itself).
Researchers in the 1970s determined that it takes only the slightest amount go pressure (the weight of a 10 cent coin) to reduce the function of a nerve by 50%. We would deduce that tension on the spine is not a good thing. Why then would your own body create misalignment and tension on its own self as a protective mechanism?
Consider what I’ve already said. Stress is the result of too much information overloading your brain’s circuits … and misalignment in the spine reduces nerve function. In other words, your body is using its own muscles to change the tension on the spine as a way to protect your brain from sizzling from information and stress overload!
It is like shutting off certain programs on your computer in an effort to allow it to function better. Quite a clever mechanism, isn’t it? It is an incredibly intelligent mechanism! Alas, we in our humanness are not always intelligent beings. What were those first questions I asked you: How much stress do you have in your life? How is it affecting your wellbeing? And are you doing the RIGHT THINGS to maintain your wellbeing?
For more information on the atlas misalignment and Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care in North Lakes, Brisbane, and from around Australia, please visit our homepage. An atlas misalignment is believed to occur as a protective mechanism when you are under too much stress. Read more on Upper Cervical Care in Brisbane.
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