All Together Now! 

So, let’s all sing together now. ‘Ohhhh, the shin bone is connected to the – knee bone, and the knee bone is connected to the – thigh bone, and the thigh bone is connected to the – hip bone’…….and so on and so forth.

Do you know there is another more biologically accurate version of this old classic? It goes like this. ‘Ohhhh, the brain is connected to…EVERYTHING!!!!!!’  

Simple as that! It’s connected to every cell, tissue, muscle, joint, organ and gland of your body through the nervous system. Which is basically a complex, continuous extension of the brain! It’s constantly receiving and sending information to keep you functioning and alive.  

For example. The brain receives information from specialised nerves called receptors. Receptors detect any change in the environment and the world around you, and the environment and world within you. They stimulate electrical impulses to tell the brain what is going on, so it can then send the right information out to respond, in order to keep you functioning, healing, dealing, surviving and thriving in life. 

Receptors include: 

• Mechanoreceptors: Detect pressure, touch, vibration, and stretch, to help us perceive sensations like texture, pressure, and movement. 

• Thermoreceptors: Detect changes in temperature to help us maintain an optimal body temperature and detect temperature changes in the environment. 

• Pain receptors: Detect tissue damage and indicate pain, alerting us to potential injury or danger. 

• Chemoreceptors: Detect chemical stimuli such as taste and smell, as well as changes in the chemical levels within the body’s fluids.  

• Photoreceptors: Detect light stimuli and enable vision. 

• Proprioceptors: Sensory receptors found in muscles, tendons, and joints that provide feedback about body position, movement, and muscle tension. They play a crucial role in coordinating movement and maintaining balance and posture. 

• Baroreceptors: Pressure sensors found in blood vessels, the heart, and other organs that detect changes in blood pressure and fluid balance. 

Most of this vital life supporting and life-giving information flows through your SPINAL CORD, which is protected by the SPINE. So let me ask you two simple questions: 

• Question1 (it has 2 parts). If you had a beautiful garden, it would need regular watering, right? So, if you stood on the hosepipe every time you went to water the garden; do you think your garden would thrive and survive, or be challenged, wither away and die? 

• Question 2. (it also has 2 parts). Your spine is sending and receiving all the vital information to keep you functioning, healing, dealing with, surviving and thriving in life, right? So, how well is it going to get all that life supporting information efficiently through, if your spine is choked up, stuck, twisted, unstable, blocked, crooked and not moving well? 

Now let me ask two more quick questions. 

• Question 1. Do you think that it’s a little crazy that the general public still only largely knows Chiropractic care as being the best option (research shows this), for low back pain? When in reality; back pain improvement, is only a tiny part of the profound health and life supporting improvements that can occur when the spine is freed up, to ensure THE BRAIN KNOWS WHAT’S GOING ON IN ALL THE ESTIMATED 37 TRILLION CELLS THAT MAKE THE BODY, SO IT CAN ORCHUSTRATE, HEAL AND DEAL WITH EVERYTHING BETTER! 

• Question 2. How many people around you know this, and routinely get their spines checked? Especially considering as we live in a society where people get their eyes, teeth and even their cars checked regularly?  

I cannot be the only one that thinks this is astoundingly amazing. That your brain is processing all estimated 37 trillion cells of the body each second. Each cell performing hundreds of thousands of physical and chemical functions every split second to keep you alive. That most of that information is passing through your spinal cord, protected by your spine. And that it is also astoundingly crazy that not everyone on the planet is routinely getting their spine checked from cradle to the grave, to keep the spine healthy and free to communicate that information with greater ease, instead of waiting for pain to ring the alarm that damage has occurred and now there is work to be done and needs some serious TLC?

The old adage; “prevention is better than cure” never ceases to be true! 

With love,

James

References:

Lelic, D., Niazi, I.K., Holt, K., Jochumsen, M., Dremstrup, K., Yielder, P., Murphy, B., Drewes, A.M. and Haavik, H. (2016). Manipulation of Dysfunctional Spinal Joints Affects Sensorimotor Integration in the Prefrontal Cortex: A Brain Source Localization Study. Neural Plasticity, 2016, pp.1–9. doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/3704964. 

‌Keeney, B.J., Fulton-Kehoe, D., Turner, J.A., Wickizer, T.M., Chan, K.C.G. and Franklin, G.M. (2013). Early Predictors of Lumbar Spine Surgery After Occupational Back Injury. Spine, 38(11), pp.953–964. doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/brs.0b013e3182814ed5. 

‌Schneider, M., Haas, M., Glick, R., Stevans, J. and Landsittel, D. (2015). Comparison of Spinal Manipulation Methods and Usual Medical Care for Acute and Subacute Low Back Pain. Spine, 40(4), pp.209–217. doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/brs.0000000000000724. 

Senna, M.K. and Machaly, S.A. (2011). Does Maintained Spinal Manipulation Therapy for Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain Result in Better Long-Term Outcome? Spine, 36(18), pp.1427–1437. doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/brs.0b013e3181f5dfe0.