Are Neck Adjustments Good For You?
A recently published article reviews the contemporary scientific literature regarding the positive and negative effects of neck adjustments. Here is a synopsis of their findings:
• Cervical adjusting helps not only neck pain but also, shoulder pain, elbow pain, and TMJ/TMD (jaw function and pain).
• Cervical adjusting complications are very low, and there is no evidence that cervical spinal adjusting is causally related to stroke.
• Spinal manipulation reduces inflammatory cytokines, an important concept at a time when “cytokine storm” has become part of our daily language [COVCID-19].
• The spine functions as a single unit so that adjusting at any given level may affect other levels. (That is why we look at the entire spine and adjust areas that may have no symptoms. Every region is interconnected)
• Spinal adjusting helps pain by activating the suprasegmental descending pain inhibitory control system. (That means that adjustments change the way the brain processes pain and lead to a reduction in pain not only due to better spinal function but also to improved brain function). Check this blog post for recent studies that explain this phenomenon in greater detail.
Burlington and Lexington, MA chiropractor.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7228797/