The Extraordinary Power of Upper Cervical

The Extraordinary Power of Upper Cervical: The Home Runs

One out of every dozen cases I receive are an absolute home run. These cases are the ones where their first adjustment changes their entire life. Their trigeminal neuralgia pain is instantly gone, their headache is stopped the second they get up off the table, their low back shifts during their rest time and melts away, even after years of chiropractic care, physical therapy, and even surgery. 

Not every case is like this, and again they are few and far between, but in the chiropractic world these are our favorite cases. These are the ones we share with students and new patients to help them to see and understand the power of an upper cervical adjustment. While the adjustment, or correction, may seem like a small thing, for that person it’s a big thing. BJ Palmer talks about this in his speech, “The Big Idea”, feel free to look it up on YouTube. Many people think of an adjustment as a simple click, crack, or pop, but that’s just not the case. All that “noise” is just the release of gas within the joints of the spine. There can be other reasons also, like the shifting of the bone, tendon, or ligament, which some patients can feel. However, the most powerful part of the adjustment is something that they almost never notice right away. 

The adjustment is all about the nervous system. We measure it with our scans, before and after. Our x-rays tell us how the upper neck bones, the atlas and the axis, have misaligned, almost like the formula for unlocking the nervous system. We use these as guidance to direct the force into the spine, but it’s this force that initiates the change of the nervous system. Without going into great detail, this force is taken in by the body and begins to change the underlying neurology and physiology, which is basically how the body is functioning. Through a large feedback loop within the brain, a change is made and the effects are sent back out to the body. Things that can change with an adjustment include: heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tone, postural corrections, blood flow into the brain, cerebrospinal fluid flow within the head and out of the head, and many more functions we may not even know at this time. Regardless, it is the communication of this different signal out to the rest of the body that begins the change. 

Once the change is initiated, like everything it can take time, or in some cases it doesn’t. For most people this may take a few hours or days, but for these miracle cases like I previously described, it can be instant and powerful. Almost like walking into a room with the lights off, and suddenly flipping them on. Just imagine what that looks like when it’s your vertigo or dizziness that’s been bothering you for months. You’ve been struggling to function as every waking moment is spent dizzy, and the medication and physical therapy isn’t working. Then in an instant it stops. That’s the power of an adjustment. 

People consider the care we provide based on the service that’s delivered, in our case the adjustment or the physical act that they see the Chiropractor perform. But, that’s not what our care is about.. It’s about the result! What does the adjustment do? What are the results? What are the lasting effects, and more importantly benefits? 

If you’re struggling with any of the following conditions, you need to experience the power of an upper cervical adjustment: 

• Headaches or Migraines
• Vertigo or Dizziness
• Trigeminal Neuralgia, or intense pain in the face
• Occipital Neuralgia, pain that radiates up from the base of the skull or top of the neck
• Ear fullness, eustachian tube dysfunction, ringing in the ears, tinnitus, or ear pain
• Drooping of the eyelid, ptosis, easily visually overstimulated, or nystagmus
• Whiplash injuries or car accidents
• Pain in the trapezius muscles, the shoulder, the upper back, or between the shoulder blades
• Digestive issues, IBS, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis
• Lower back pain, pain in the sacroiliac or SI joints, pain in the glute muscle, sciatica
• Trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, chronic fatigue, or brain fog
• Anxiety, sympathetic overactivation, easily stressed, constantly on-edge

If you’re struggling with a health issue or symptom that’s not on this list, drop a comment below, fill out our contact form, or call/text us at 319-343-8540 so we can let you know what results we’ve seen with what you’re experiencing! 

The reason I went through the trouble of listing out these conditions for you are because I have had miracle cases with each one of these symptoms. As an Upper Cervical Chiropractor, I see patients with chronic conditions all day long. And I know how frustrating it can be for patients to go to multiple doctors, have CT’s, x-rays, MRI’s, ultrasounds, EMG’s, etc and be told that everything is “normal”. They keep getting the same answer no matter how many times they have the tests run and even traveling across the country to different doctors and specialists, “Everything looks normal, I don’t know why you’re experiencing this”. While this can be frustrating, it is good news. Nobody wants to see anything on these tests, although at the same time they want to at least have an answer.  What we’re looking for is different from what they’re looking for. Nobody else is looking for, analyzing, and correcting this tiny problem that’s destroying patient’s lives. BUT, when we can correct this, that’s when we can have these miracle cases. Even if you’re not a miracle case, I still know that this could be the answer to your problems, that this could be the thing you’re looking for, and that this can help you. It just might take a little time for us to get there. 

Opened in January of 2022, we’ve been here in Hiawatha, Iowa for almost 3 years, and have been serving the Eastern Iowa Corridor, including: Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Marion, Palo, Atkins, North Liberty, Center Point, Independence and more. Our farthest patient has traveled from Oregon state, and we frequently have patients travel 90+ minutes to see us. We have seen all the conditions above and more with great success and are confident in our ability to help you achieve the same results. Give us a call at Atlas Specific Chiropractic!

-Dr. Isaac Reis, Owner at Atlas Specific Chiropractic.