Chiropractic care is an effective, drug-free and long-established approach to injury prevention, chronic pain treatment and overall optimization of musculoskeletal health. However, studies suggest that chiropractic care can positively impact nervous system function, specifically, the brain’s command center, helping to improve mood, sleep and overall health and well-being. These benefits are based on natural responses in our brain-body connection.
Research also reveals potential links between chiropractic adjustments and improved muscle control and motor function. This may involve neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt following injury or reorganize and form new connections between neurons, which could help the nervous system adapt and heal. Neuroplasticity is often described as the brain’s gift for “rewiring” itself in response to injury, experience, or new learning.
For example, many people who lose the ability to speak following a stroke regain it over time as the brain strengthens secondary language centers to compensate for damaged areas. Similarly, if your dominant hand is in a cast, neuroplasticity helps you adapt by training your non-dominant hand to perform tasks like signing your name.
Think of your brain as a drone pilot and your body as a drone. The brain sends signals through the nervous system, like the drone’s remote controller, to direct the body’s muscles, fine-tune balance or react to the environment.
Meanwhile, sensors in the body — the drone’s cameras and instruments — send information back to the brain about our body position, a touch we felt, some pain, or the temperature so that the brain can respond appropriately.
If the signal between the pilot and the drone is disrupted, say there’s interference or a lag, the drone might move erratically or not respond. Similarly, if the brain-body connection is off, your movements can become uncoordinated or your muscles may not function properly.
Testing the Brain-Body Connection
In one study, researchers examined the effects of chiropractic care on brain function by dividing patients with chronic low back pain into two groups with 38 patients each.
Using electroencephalogram (EEG) to study brain signals, somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to factor in the brain’s management of touch and sensations, Fitbit data to gauge activity levels, and sleep data, researchers were able to draw objective conclusions. By having each patient complete questionnaires to report how they felt in a more subjective way, researchers could draw more nuanced conclusions throughout the study.
One group received actual chiropractic care while the other received simulated chiropractic treatment. EEGs and SEPs were performed before the study’s start, immediately following the first chiropractic session and again after four weeks of care. The questionnaires were completed at the beginning of the study and repeated after the fourth week. Fitbit data collection was continuous throughout.
Following chiropractic care, EEGs showed significant increases in beta, alpha and theta brainwave frequencies and a marked drop in delta brainwave power. Delta brainwaves are slow and typically dominant during heavy sleep. Theta brainwaves are also connected to sleep, particularly deep, meditative states and drowsiness. On the other hand, Alpha brainwaves tend to be most active when we’re awake, but calm, as when we daydream or meditate. Beta brainwaves are faster and associated with analytical thinking.
The study suggests that chiropractic care could cause our brains to pivot from comparatively sluggish and diminished brain power to become brains that are relaxed yet alert. More specifically, chiropractic may cause neuroplastic alterations of brain structure and function related to how we experience pain, manage sleep and regulate our moods.
This multinational study, involving researchers from New Zealand, Denmark and Turkey, revealed that chiropractic may benefit muscle control and motor function, including signals sent by the brain to muscles in our arms and legs.
This suggests that chiropractic adjustments might enhance the brain’s control over muscle function. In addition, there is potential for spinal manipulation to improve motor function, possibly benefiting persons with movement disorders or muscle control impairment. If true, chiropractic is a possible avenue for treatment in rehabilitation settings for patients seeking to improve muscle control and coordination.
What Physical Fitness Does for Neuroplasticity
Exercise boosts blood flow, meaning more oxygen and nutrients reach our brains, making us more alert and mentally focused. It enhances neuroplasticity by helping the brain forge new neural connections, especially in learning and memory, and it triggers the release of chemicals such as Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), to help neurons survive and grow.
Doctors of chiropractic help patients become or remain physically fit because a whole-being, drug-free approach makes that focus natural, in every sense of the word.
