Mass shootings and chiropractic care...what is the connection?
Seems like a stretch that these are connected but stay with me. To properly explain the connection let’s start with some neuroscience, in particular our brain.
Our brain is made of many parts, and one of those parts is the prefrontal cortex. This is the area of the brain where executive function takes place. It is responsible for goal-oriented tasks like decision-making, memory, planning, behavioral control, and attention; it also is integral to our intelligence, how we process pain and the emotion we attach to the pain. The prefrontal cortex is also responsible for things like our autonomic functions (heart rate, breathing, digestion just to name a few), how we control our movements, our eye control, and our spatial awareness. In other words, the prefrontal cortex is the “seat of our intelligence”. This area is vitally important when it comes to how we show up in the world, and how we feel, behave, and interact with others.
The prefrontal cortex is also the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of stress. Negative emotional stress keeps the brain from operating properly which can impact all the other functions it has to carry out. Think about the last time you were angry and/or stressed. How clear was your thinking? How well were you able to clearly articulate what you wanted to say? Were you cool, calm, and collected in your thoughts and words? Were you feeling at ease or was your face beet red from rising blood pressure and your heart pounding out of your chest?
Our body is BRILLIANT!! It will respond to whatever we put before it the best way it knows how.
You most likely have heard the phrase “fight or flight”. This is commonly used to describe our response to a stressful situation; it literally is our body preparing to stand our ground and fight or run to safety. When this stress response is activated our automatic nervous system is affected (remember this is regulated by our prefrontal cortex).
To prepare us to fight or flee our nervous system gets our cardiovascular system working for us; our blood pressure and heart rate rise, and blood is shunted to our limbs and away from organs of digestion and reproduction. This has a two-fold benefit. The extra blood to our extremities feeds the muscles so we can be stronger and faster while the blood away from areas like the organs of digestion, elimination, and reproduction conserves needed energy; this is not the time to be hungry, take a bathroom break or start a family. The immune system also slows down too, in times of great stress the risk of getting sick isn’t our biggest concern.
Despite all the brilliance that the body possesses one thing it isn’t capable of is discerning what stress is a real threat to our safety and well-being and what is just an annoyance, in other words, it can’t tell if you are stressed because there is a grizzly bear at your door with a chainsaw or because there is only one cashier open at Walmart.
With chronic emotional stress, our body continues to adapt as if our life is in danger. This not only interferes with the normal functioning of our prefrontal cortex, but it also has been linked to diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.
Our nervous system is like a sophisticated computer system. Our brain is the master computer, and our spinal cord is the Wi-Fi that connects it to the world in and around us. Our brain takes in information from the environment, decodes it then, provides directions on how the body should respond to that input. When there are areas of the spine that aren’t moving properly, what we chiropractors call subluxated, the communication within this brilliant system isn’t as clear as it needs to be.
There is a body of research that shows that chiropractic care can change the way the brain functions. Studies have shown that regular adjustments can improve sensorimotor function, provide a better joint position sense (awareness of where your body is in space, important for balance and coordination), improved muscle strength, and better pelvic floor control (this is for those of us who have to brace for each sneeze)
Studies have also shown that regular chiropractic adjustments also help us to better handle stress, improve our sleep and help to interact with others and have better relationships. This is all because regular chiropractic care is proven to counter-act the “fight or flight” response and helps to bring us back to center; a place where the stress response is quieted and functioning in our body goes back to normal.
This brings me back to the point of this post. D.D. Palmer, the man credited with being the founder of chiropractic was quoted as saying “It [chiropractic] will lessen disease, poverty, and crime, empty our jails and penitentiaries” and I honestly believe this to be true.
When we are unsubluxated and our nervous system is functioning at its very best we are the best versions of ourselves. We are able to have more empathy for our fellow man, we are better able to contribute to society because we aren’t chronically ill or hurting and we are overall just happier in general.
The hatred that is running rampant in our country and even in the little town where I practice hurts my heart. This is a problem that is far more complex than gun control or mental health. While I’m not saying that chiropractic alone with fix it all I am saying that it is a great start.
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