Part 2: How to "Hold" the C1 Correction

In part 1; we talked about what holding the correction means. For reference (Part 1). In this post; we’re going to go into the Do’s and Don’t in order to hold the C1 correction.

Do’s and Don’ts

Whether you just had your upper cervical correction or are doing your research to see if this procedure should be in your health repertoire; Congrats on taking charge of your health. A big part of that is knowing how to protect the alignment so the nerves can have that continuous healing. As every body may react differently, take into consideration that the listed items below are a general possibilities.

1.     You may get a little sore because we have changed the position of one or more bones and your muscles may need to do some adjusting of their own

2.    The correction may also change your posture.  Some muscles that have not been utilized for a while may get a little sore just from being exercised

3.    You may also have instant relief. That is a great, however, the bone in your neck that was moved back into alignment will eventually fall out of alignment and can cause you to experience some discomfort.  

4.    Lastly, there is the chance that you will not notice any significant differences in how you feel after just one correction.  This is common if your condition has been present for a while. It just means that it will take a little bit of time for your body to adjust to being properly aligned.  Please do not get discouraged if you do not feel better immediately.  It probably took several years for your health to get in shape it was in when you had your first spinal correction.

 Do’s

·     DO sleep on your back

·     DO get plenty of rest – your body does most of its healing while you are asleep so resting properly is very important right now

·     DO drink plenty of water – As your body heals it will need to do a little detox and some house cleaning.  Your body will need the exra water to help it flush out the bad stuff from your body

·     DO show up for our scheduled appointment.  We will design a treatment plan specifically for you to get better as quickly as possible.  It is important that you follow this plan in order to achieve the best results in the shortest amount of time

DON’Ts

·     Don’t sleep on your stomach – Try to sleep on your back, that’s ideal. If not, sleep on your side

·     Don’t sleep on a stack of pillows – it is best to sleep on a cervical pillow that gives you some support under your neck

·     Don’t lift anything over your head (for the first several days)– This puts undue stress on your neck

·     Don’t do any exercise that places stress on your neck or back – this can cause you to lose your Upper Cervical correction

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Do you have questions about the C1 alignment process and how it can benefit your life? Schedule your no obligation consultation now.

Do I have a short leg?

"Leg length discrepancy”; that’s a fancy term for having one shorter leg compared to the other.  Often times, prospective patients come and cite they have been told by a doctor or physiotherapist that there is a short leg which results in their hip pain, back pain, and/or poor posture.  With concern in their eyes, the followup question being:  Is that treatable? YES! It absolutely is! (read on)

When someone presents with a short leg, its usually not because of an actual short leg, but from the nervous system. All muscles and organs are controlled by nerve signals. In a misaligned spine, nerves that over react lead to spastic (tight) muscles throughout parts of the body; pulling said side of the body up to give the illusion of a short leg. This commonly also lead to back and hip pain.  So the solution to a leg length inequality is to clear the nerve miscommunication from the source in order for the proper transmission to corresponding muscles.

BUT…

Where is this misalignment coming from?  What is the source?  Believe it or not, the source is not the low back or pelvis.  The nerve control comes from the brainstem which is in a very delicate area of the upper neck involving the Atlas (Cervical bone #1 aka C1 for short). The atlas cradles the head and support the weight of the head on its condyles. When our first vertebra is misaligned, the weight of the head is no longer evenly distributed over the neck and the rest of the body. The many postural muscles that are constantly contracting and relaxing in response to normal body movements to prevent us from falling over and keeping us in an upright posture now have to respond to this imbalance by contracting different postural muscles in an attempt to maintain an upright posture. It is the reflexive contractions of the postural muscles that result in the contracted/ shortened leg.

A leg length difference can be an indication of imbalance tone in your body’s musculature and therefore is one of our objective measures to determine whether or not you are in need of an adjustment. After an adjustment we will often check leg-length again and find that legs to be of balanced length.

Want to see and visualise if you may be out of alignment? Stand in front of a mirror. Close your eyes and shake the body up as a reset. Don’t move a muscle. Open your eyes…what do you see? Is your head tilting to one side? Is one shoulder higher? Is your torso rotated? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, there’s a high likelihood you may be out of alignment. If you’re still unsure. Contact A Balanced Atlas for a free consultation. & for more information check out: www.mymisalignment.com/abalancedatlas/

Catch your Zzz’s

Sleep:  Can’t live without it..literally.  We need it to process the things we learn, to rejuvenate cells, to heal the body through the immune system, and now there’s even statistic on how it affects the cardiovascular system.  Annually, with daylight sayings when we loose an hour of sleep in the spring.  There’s a marked 24% increase in heart attacks the day after.  In the autumn, when we gain an hour of sleep.  There’s a 21% reduction in heart attacks respectively (Dr. Matt Walker).  This also applies toward auto accidents.  All of this change from just a simple one hour change to sleep.  Needless to say, sleep is quite an important aspect of daily living.  In fact, its 1/3 of our life.  Any health professional can agree that a person’s overall health is at its best with adequate sleep.

Which is why through out time, there’s always been debates, studies, discussions surrounding sleep. So many different articles on the best sleeping position, the best pillow, the best mattress, and even the best temperature to fall asleep in. Of course, the best of the best would be whatever works well for your Zzz’s. With so many consumer options to perfect your sleep (including numerous apps available for white noise, sleep tracker, & the likes); sleep has been muddled with seemingly infinite combinations. In reality, its a simple yes/no question: did you sleep well?  with many follow up questions of “do you feel well rested? are you tired/groggy? and did you dream?”

Aside from following the typical rules that have been written serving as a guideline for “good” sleep:  limiting caffeine by a certain time, cutting the alcohol, working out, eating the last meal before 7pm, avoiding triggers such as the news and screen time at night.  There are additional physical factors to focus on.  As a chiropractor, I have to be slightly biased and say the key to great sleep and energy the morning after is the neck positioning during sleep. Why? Your upper neck specifically houses your brainstem, which allows for proper nerve flow and sensory that control your whole body. Neutral positioning of your head, neck, and shoulders allow for a stress free brainstem, leading to a betters sleep for a better morning after, which leads to a healthier you.

How do we achieve that neutral head/neck position? Choice of mattress is a very personal one and it needs not be discussed for the purpose of this piece. Find one that you are comfortable with and can fall asleep with easily based on comfort and temperature. With more and more mattress companies including a free trial run with purchase, its easier to find the perfect mattress to your spinal liking. The pillow, however, can be a little bit more complicated. The ultimate goal of a pillow is proper (and neutral) neck and head support. Imagine as you are upright, a straight line running midline down from centre of your skull, thru the glabella (between the eyebrow), nose, and sternum (aim for midline between your shoulders).  That line as you are vertical needs to be maintained when you are on your side.  Any pillow that influences the integrity of said line is not a good pillow.  Seems simple enough right? When in doubt, ask your local chiropractor for help. Sometimes, your general physical discomfort upon waking up or even pain during the night can be a result of the nervous system misfiring due to the atlas misalignment.

Sleep is as important as eating and breathing. Without it, our bodies will shut down.

Why am I having Neck Pain?

According to the Australian pain management association, neck pain affects 1/5 people right now as you are reading this sentence. The 4th leading disability worldwide? Neck Pain! 30% of neck pain sufferers will develop chronic symptoms. Are you a statistic right now?

The basic background of the head and neck junction is essential to understanding why neck pain occurs. The lower 2/3 of your neck is fairly stable due to the anatomy of the bone structures. However, the upper 1/3 of your neck is far more mobile. This typically translates to be a complex and fairly unstable joint region. The atlas, the very first bone that supports the big bowling ball head, is a ring structure. Because there are no interlocking aspect to this bone, it sits freely sandwiched between the head and rest of the spine. This craniocervical region has major influence on brain communications with the rest of the body, including that of the muscles holding the head upright. Trauma, accidents, or injuries to the head &/or neck can disrupt this balancing act of the atlas and its surrounding supportive muscles which can lead to neck pain. The muscles of the neck must then work harder to maintain the head level and balanced against gravity.

Atlas: the very 1st cervical vertebrae supporting the head. If the atlas is out of alignment in relationship to the head and neck, pain and discomfort can result.

Although neck pain can come from a variety of causes, by far the most common is muscle tension. Disc pain and other soft tissue strains can also be a culprit. Misalignment in the upper cervical spine can exacerbate these conditions. Thereby, correcting of the craniocervical junction (the atlas misalignment) can typically allow those muscles to relax and the neck to return to a more balanced and relaxed state. This also has the potential to relieve strain on discs of the cervical spine.

*** Neck pain often times can be a precursor to headaches. Read more about headaches here

To see if you may benefit from a craniocervical assessment, contact your local NUCCA chiropractor.

Modern device causing physical pain?

A new side effect of the ubiquitous smart phone called “text neck” is the result of constantly looking down onto the screen at an uncomfortable angle. Because summer travel may present long waits at airports and riding long distances while texting and gaming, the potential for developing problems associated with the poor positioning of the head and neck increases. Handheld devices are particularly problematic because of their small size and the fact that they are often held while hands are resting on the lap. This means the screen is positioned at an angle requiring the viewer’s head to be tipped downward in order to see the small screen.

If we were to look under the skin and see this problem as an architect would see weight distribution of a bridge or building, we would note that the head, which usually weighs eight- to-14 pounds, is cradled, supported and attached to the rest of the body by a two-ounce atlas bone, or cervical bone 1 (C1). This bone not only supports the head, but also surrounds the brain stem, so any disruption of the head and neck relation- ship can also disrupt neural flow to any part of the body. Some of the life events that often act upon this little bone include forces experienced during a car accident, falling down, sleeping on an ill-fitting pillow and even the birthing process itself.

To understand the importance of the C1 and its affect on our daily life; imagine holding onto a big platter, as a waiter or waitress would. If we balance the plate around its center of gravity, we can hold onto it for a long time. But if we try to balance it off that center of gravity, it is a struggle to keep it from falling and the weight will also seem magnified. In order to keep the plate in that position, our finger muscles would have to tighten as they struggle to hold up the weight, as would the muscles of the wrist, forearm, elbow, shoulder, back and even the legs as they compensate for the shift in weight distribution.

If the body is forced to experience this misalignment daily, that causes muscles to become accustomed to being in this position— the new normal. Unless we experience the body’s alarm system (pain), we may not even notice that it is occurring. If there’s pain, the body is giving us a warning that something is wrong, and you have the opportunity to correct it before further damage occurs.

Many people silence or turn the volume down on the pain alarm with medications, and eventually, the alarm signal is managed or just shuts off. The problem is that while one can no longer hear the alarm, the reason has not been corrected, causing slow, internal and external deterioration, including degradation of posture, gait and nerve impulse conduction. All these problems can have unexpected, long- term negative health consequences, in addition to exacerbat- ing and creating other health issues.

To minimize stress, start by being aware of poor positioning and take action to correct it. When reading, working on a computer or using a cellular or handheld device, consider improving the body’s alignment by elevating the screen; working at a table or placing a purse, bag or jacket on our lap and resting the screen there. Always maintain at least a fist-size space between the chin and the chest. Looking any further down will put a strain onto the neck and the muscles all the way down to the low back. Also consider having at least a biannual check-up of the C1 by a dedicated upper cervical chiropractor.

“Text Neck”