1. I’m addicted to seeing visible changes in posture.

There is a quote by a medical doctor, Dr. Rene Cailliet at the University of Southern California, that says:

The entire body can be aligned by first aligning the head.

As an upper cervical chiropractor who uses posture as a a before and after tool to help me to decide whether to give an adjustment or not, I understand what the doctor is talking about.

Hip tilt and twist, spasm in the lower back muscles, leaning of the spine, and shoulders that aren’t level can all change and resolve after a careful, measured adjustment to the upper cervical spine. Many of these changes are instantaneous.

Posture changes after adjustments to the top of neck.

In a world where some believe that change in posture is only possible after months of sweating through muscle retraining, or spending thousands of dollars on traction, it is nice to see it after one chiropractic adjustment.

2. I like giving everyone an adjustment that is unique to them.

You can adjust the upper neck based on lack of motion alone. If it’s stuck on the right, adjust the right. If it’s stuck on the left, adjust the left.

But there is another school of thought that says that the head and the neck are in such unique balance to each other, that chiropractors should not just guess on a direction based on the motion of the joint. Instead we should measure the misalingment taking the measurements of all the bones at the top of the neck into account, which are unique for every individual.

With the NUCCA system for the care of the upper neck and spine, that is exactly how we do it, with very detailed x-rays and measurements.

The goal is to give everyone a unique adjustment that is unique to their specific anatomy.

3. I believe that less is more and enjoy practicing that way.

In the early days of chiropractic care there was a lot of experimentation with adjusting procedures. Some advocated adjusting every single vertebrae in the back. Others adjusted the same series of vertebrae in every single patient.  As the art and science of adjusting developed, gradually there grew in interest in discovering how much could be accomplished with one adjustment.

That lead to the discovery of the unique relationship between the top of the neck and its influence on the rest of the spine and body.

Today, upper cervical chiropractors try to get the most positive change in the body in the least invasive way, with the least number of adjustments possible. Many of the people that we serve appreciate this less is more approach when they see what kind of healing changes that are often possible, often in fewer chiropractic visits.

To put it another way: there is no sense in using a crowbar to open a door when you have the key.

4. There are 24 vertebrae, but only two are named Atlas and Axis.

Of all the many bones in the spine, there are only two that anatomy experts have given special names. They are the first and second neck bones, or vertebrae. They are known as C1 and C2, or Atlas and Axis.

Atlas is a good name for the first neck bone, because like Atlas of ancient mythology, it holds up the weight of the world, which in your case, is your heavy head and all the important brains inside.

Axis is a perfect name for the second neck bone, because it has a unique shape which allows the the Atlas bone to pivot around it with almost 160 degrees or more of motion. In anatomy we call it a trochoid joint, and it is the only joint of its kind in the human body.

Together, Atlas and Axis provide us with some of the largest and dynamic joint movement in the spine, all while holding up the weight of the head. Mechanically speaking, it makes sense that this area is less stable, and more likely to be affected by a minor injury.

As spinal bones Atlas and Axis do more than just provide motion and balance the head. They also provide protection to the nervous system which is housed inside the spinal column. At the level of first neck bone, there are nerve system controls that influence a lot of body systems, including our heart rate and breathing.

It is a pretty important place to work in the spine, and is worthy of a special name.

My chiropractic Christmas wish list

Christmas Wish #1:  More doctors like Dr. Bruce Bell.

A couple of decades ago, upper cervical chiropractic care  wasn’t on the radar of Dr. Bruce Bell, a family practice physician in the suburbs of Chicago.

Being a guy who loved his patients and science, he began to notice a trend among his patient population: some of them saw improvements in health status after receiving chiropractic care. He investigated it and discovered the NUCCA upper cervical approach to spinal balance.

That began a personal investigation into upper cervical chiropractic care. And over several years, Dr. Bell sent thousands of referrals to an upper cervical doctor, Dr. Marshall Dichholtz, Sr. of Chicago, Illinois.

The fruits of the Bell and Dickholtz working relationship weren’t just limited to happier patients. Dr. Bell insisted on trying to document some of the changes that he saw in his patients, and began the long task of trying to form a research investigation into NUCCA.

That investigation ended in the very groundbreaking pilot study on upper cervical care and hypertension featured in the Journal of Human Hypertension. In that pilot study it was shown there was a strong association between NUCCA upper cervical care and the reduction of blood pressure in high blood pressure patients.

Now the National Institutes of Health is funding another study to see if these findings can be reproduced among a larger patient population. And thousands of patients are discovering chiropractic care.

All of this wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Dr. Bruce Bell, who stepped outside his experience, and found good things were happening for his patients under upper cervical care.

Christmas Wish #2: More money for chiropractic research

Right now the Upper Cervical Research Foundation is researching the relationship between the upper cervical spine, and a number of conditions which cause human suffering. And they aren’t the only ones. A number of chiropractic colleges have strong, award winning research departments, whose studies have been instrumental in expanding our understanding about the human body. And the relationship between our health and health of the spine.

But it wasn’t until as recently as 1998 that chiropractic institutions began to get significant funding from the National Institutes of Health. Right now those funding dollars add up to several millions of dollars a year, often spread out over many projects.

Compared to several decades ago, things are better than they were. But compared to the tens of billions of dollars the federal government gives medical institutions for research, per year, the amount is almost insignificant.

There are now many studies which support the inclusion of chiropractic care for a limited number of health conditions. Far more than there were 4o years ago. But for the public and the health care system to benefit from chiropractic care, we need to be able to show how and why we help.

We can’t do that without more research money.

Christmas Wish #3: More children under upper cervical chiropractic care

“I wish I would have tried this 30 years ago,” is a common phrase heard in my office, and the office of other chiropractors.

My response, though I don’t always say it, is:  ” No, someone should have checked you right after birth.”

Now, not every baby has a difficult birth. And many of our modern birthing methods can save the lives of seriously threatened infants. Yet, they can also place a lot of stress on the upper cervical spine of infants as they move through the birth canal. A process that already places stress on the child’s head and neck.

As a result of this stress, many children come into the world with their bodies out of balance, and they show evidence of it as they grow. For many this shows up as inability or refusal to nurse on one side, a distorted sleep posture (c-shaped bent to the side), stronger motor development on one side of the body than the other, and colicky symptoms.

This imbalance may have other implications for the health and development of the child, as detailed in this article: Manual Therapy in Children.

I can tell you from personal experience, that each of my children has only received a handful of adjustments, they tend to maintain their alignment for a long time, and don’t experience the health problems that plague their playmates, like colic, headaches, and ear infections.

Perhaps if more parents were willing to actually see if their child’s “head was on straight” we might be able to avoid some of the more serious,  problems that bring people to the doctor later on in life.

Thank you for reading my Christmas wish list! Here’s how you can make each of these wishes come true:

1. If you’re a chiropractic patient who’s seen major improvements in health since starting chiropractic care, share those changes with your primary care physician. They deserve to know what you’re doing.
2. If you’d like to have more groundbreaking chiropractic research, consider become a donating sponsor of the Upper Cervical Research Foundation. This is where you can donate.
3. If you’re a parent with a child who has health challenges, consider the possibility that your child’s spinal alignment has a role to play in their health maintenance and healthy development. And get your child to a chiropractor.

Have a blessed Holiday!

Here it is:

It’s a shame to know so much about life that the only people you will allow to teach you anything are those with more letters after their name.

I believe everyone has something to teach, as we all should be students of life.

I have definitely learned more about upper cervical care and chiropractic in general  from my patients than I ever could have in a classroom. Or at one of our NUCCA upper cervical conferences. By opening my ears and being willing to share in the wisdom of someone’s experience, I believe I have become a better doctor.

I still need to work at it, of course; I’m still learning. Perhaps one day we’ll have an opportunity to teach each other.

You can always start by visiting the comment boxes and sharing your wisdom.

One of the beautiful things about  upper cervical chiropractic care is how simple it is. With NUCCA we get your head on straight, take stress off the spine and the nervous system, and we wait for the body to  heal.

Nothing added. Nothing taken away.

But what makes it beautiful also makes it difficult for many to accept. Many think:

That sounds too good. That sounds too easy. If it were that simple, I would have heard of it by now.

To people with those doubts, I offer the quote from Albert Einstein above. Yes, there are complex problems that require complex solutions.

But an upper cervical misalingment is often a small, simple thing that affects body systems in such a way to cause the appearance of confusing, complex symptoms. In reality, the root of the problem may be very simple. And correctable.

You just have to be willing to accept the possibility that things aren’t as complex as you think.