Did you know, there was a stack of scientific research, that has demonstrated Chiropractic Care can positively affect many different aspects of health and function. Let’s explore some of this research. First up. Let’s look at a study involving muscle function for stabilizing the body in which young healthy students were the research subjects. To set the scene, you need to know that the muscles deep in the abdominal are part of your core stabilizing system and they need to be turned on before you lift your arm. So that you remain stable and don’t injure yourself. This should happen very fast and without your conscious awareness. This is called feed-forward activation because it’s pre-planned by the central nervous system. It ensures that movement of the body is balanced so that no injury takes place.
The researchers found that in a group of 90, healthy students, 17 of them could not pre-activate their abdominal muscles. Before they move their arms, this meant they were more prone to injury. Six months later, the researchers tested 13 of the affected students again and found that they still couldn’t do it. So, what was going on with these students? To find out they were given Chiropractic assessments and it was discovered that they all had tightness and restriction of joints in their pelvis. They were subluxated. So these 13 students received Chiropractic adjustments to their pelvis. And guess what… there was an almost 40 percent Improvement in their ability to pre-activate the core abdominal muscles. That’s phenomenal! This study is important because it has big implications.
These students had no existing pain at all, but scientists think that poor control of the core muscles may be the cause of people developing pain or sustaining an injury in the future. We know from other research studies that people who have low back pain often have delayed activation of their core abdominal muscles when performing various movements. We also know that the brains of many of these people with low back pain are much less of what is going on in their lower backs.
This means that with many people with low back pain, their brains are not receiving or processing accurate information from the small muscles close to the spine so their brains have to guess what’s going on and therefore, may not be controlling the lower back in an ideal way which can damage the back further. Therefore, Chiropractic Care is so important. It can restore proper communication between your brain and your body so your brain knows accurately what’s going on and can control your whole body in the best way possible.
1. Hawk C, Khorsan R, Lisi AJ, et al. Chiropractic Care For NEuroMUScular Skeletal Conditions: A Systematic Review With Implications For Whole Systems Research. Journal Of Alternative Complementary Medicine 2007; 13(5):491-512
2. Marshall p, Murphy b. The Effect Of Secret Iliac Joint Manipulation On Feed-Forward Activation Times Of The Deep Abdominal Musculature. Journal Of Manipulative Physiological Therapeutics 2006; 29(3):196-202