Guest column: Can chiropractic make you smarter?

David Nygaard
Guest columnist

More than likely when you think about chiropractic care, thoughts of back and neck pain jump into your mind first.

But what if I told you that chiropractic care can actually boost brain function, too?

Will it make you the next Albert Einstein? Probably not. But you may be surprised to learn what it can do.

The brain-body connection

Research shows that a back problem is a brain problem. Chiropractic care improves the brain and the health of the entire body through specific spinal adjustments.

The spine is part of your body’s central nervous system: brain, spinal column and nerves. It’s your communication hub. So if your spine is unhealthy, it can throw off the communication process and cause your brain and body to perform poorly.

For example, if you’d ever had neck or back pain, it may be difficult to concentrate and thinking may require more effort than usual. Why? You can attribute this to something called “neuroplasticity” — the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections.

Neuroplasticity

Negative neuroplasticity causes things like brain fog and memory loss, but positive neuroplasticity leads to improved cognitive functions, memory and optimized healing. Positive neuroplasticity can be stimulated in several ways, and chiropractic care is one of them.

Chiropractors can help to correct spine misalignments, which not only relieves pain but can help to improve the overall communication between body and brain. In fact, the origin of chiropractic care is the optimization of brain and nerve health.

Medical neurology seeks medical treatment (drugs and surgery) for neurological problems. And while there may be times when this is needed, medical treatment is not solely designed to improve function and bring about healing and positive neuroplasticity.

Research has shown that cervical chiropractic adjustments bring about these positive neuroplasticity effects. For example, one study presented at the International Research and Philosophy Symposium held at Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic demonstrated this brain boosting effect of chiropractic adjustments.

The study was conducted over a three-year period with approximately 100 volunteers. Their brain functions were monitored with electroencephalograms before and after chiropractic adjustments.

After receiving a chiropractic adjustment, post-EEG scans revealed improvement in all areas of the volunteers’ brain function.

So proper education and continually updated research continue to demonstrate that chiropractic care addresses more than neck and back pain.

A healthy spine walks hand in hand with a healthy brain, and in the end, optimal health is all about the brain. Don’t you feel smarter already?

This is the opinion of Dr. David Nygaard, MS MBA DC, a board-certified Atlas Orthogonist at Atlas Chiropractic of Asheville. Learn more at atlaschiropracticofasheville.com.

Dr. David Nygaard