NUCCA helps Passionate Golfer
Upper cervical help golfer’s back pain
Dr. Cecilia Yu was featured in an Upper Cervical Blog in helping an avid golfer’s 16 years of back pain. You can find the piece @ golfer's healing journey.
Are you suffering in your game? Are you ready to play at your best level? Let’s see if NUCCA can be the addition you’ve been looking for.
Covering the symptom? or getting to the cause?
fix the cause to fix the symptoms. There’s a time and place for bandaids. When the upper neck is off balance, the posture will compensate that leads to pain and symptoms.
With a cut; the first things I would do is to clean the area, put antiseptic on, and then bandage. Its an order of things that we follow. Just like putting socks first before the shoes. Those examples are no brainers. But what if there’s an object lodged within the cut. I would then have to remove the source to prevent an infection.
Now, let’s get more complicated than that. What happens when we have a headache, neck pain, or back ache? If there are no obvious causes, then we do we usually do? Exercise? Massage? And/Or take pain killers? Abuse of opioids has been a hot topic in the recent decade and for good reason. Its an epidemic that has destroyed many lives. Please don’t get me wrong. I believe there’s a time and place for everything. A firefighter would be the first to call if there’s a fire and a plumber would be the one to fix a broken water pipe. Don’t send a plumber in to do a firefighter’s job. When there is a misalignment of the upper neck, the body bio-mechanically compensates by distorting the spine. This can lead to pain and symptoms. Would repeated dosage of pain killers fix the underlying cause? or is it treating merely the symptoms? Until the bio-mechanical distortion is addressed, the symptoms naturally will continue.
Biggest Stressor on the Human Body?
What’s the biggest stressor to the human body? How is this stressor a culprit of our aches and pains?
There probably has not been a need for you to think about the question: What is the biggest stressor on the body? But knowing the answer can be a HUGE “ah-HA!” moment for your health & wellness. In this day and age of fast paced society + technology, the typical answer to said question would be…Fast food/diet? Work? Financial stress? However, this answer rise above all the other correct answers. *drum roll* Its GRAVITY! You’re probably thinking…what on earth? How does Newton’s falling apple have any association with biggest stressor on the human body? Well, if you can imagine the downward pressure of gravity on an object, then you can imagine a force pulling your head straight down towards the earth. Think about you (representing gravity) and a soda can as the human body. If you’re trying to crush it with a vertical - straight down force…it is actually a bit more difficult than if there’s already a twist in the soda can. So if your atlas is misaligned, then it cannot support the weight of the head with its centre of gravity. The head “kinking” off at an angle would then create a twist in the spine much like that of a twisted soda can. This becomes a physical stress onto the body. Until the head is positioned again in its true centre of gravity, the stress on the body will remain.
Our spine compensates to the abnormal pressure resulting in a high shoulder and pelvis; maybe a twist to the hips also. This often then presents with symptoms of neck, back pain, headaches, knee pain, etc. We become the human version of Leaning Tower of Pisa.
What’s the remedy? Careful mathematical calculation of how the atlas is misaligned in relationship to the skull and also its relationship to the rest of the spine. It is only when we know where the problem is the only way to know how to fix it. To see if you may be out of alignment, contact your local NUCCA chiropractor.
Part 1: What's "holding" the correction?
Any time body work is done, how much of that work are you retaining? What does it mean to be holding the correction? What should you be looking for?
If you’re reading this; you’ve probably been under some form of chiropractic care or maybe you’re super interested in why NUCCA is so different. As a chiropractor, I’ve heard patients say any of these combinations
1. “I know I NEVER hold the adjustment.”
2. “I can only hold the correction several days.”
3. “I pop right out the moment I get off the table.”
& this one is my favorite….
4. “My atlas is holding, but I have problems with A, B, & C.
The common denominator to these issues is that there is still an interference with the communication between the brain and the rest of the body. Regardless of what the symptom may be. Regardless of where said symptom is. I question what’s going on with the Atlas. Think of the alignment as a work in progress. “We are just not quite there yet.” and the solution is to keep working on the alignment until all checks indicate the brainstem is free of ANY and ALL interference…not in a week’s time or a month’s time…but NOW.
HOW? & WHAT do we look for?
Posture is not just about keeping your back straight, shoulders down, and holding the head upright. Its about Atlas alignment that allows for the nerves to fire properly that allows for proper posture to occur. Its not your consciousness of your posture, but the nerves working optimally, automatically the moment you’re upright.
Leg length check: when a patient is laying down on their back and the body is resting( the weight of the head + force of gravity is no longer resting on the spine); the leg length SHOULD be even. Nerves should be calm (there’s no signal for the extensor muscles to contract) therefore the muscles of the back should also be completely relaxed, giving us the visual of even leg length. HOWEVER, when there is a misalignment of the atlas, the nervous system simply cannot be calm leading to nerves firing off. So extensor muscles will contract even though the brain is not telling it to fire…and a short leg will be apparent. That’s an indicator of the spine not being in alignment. Atlas is still off and there will be symptoms within the body.
Anatometer: The anatometer is a machine that looks at the posture of a patient. We’re looking at hip level, hip rotation, and the body’s centre of gravity. Every part should be on 0 (zero) degrees. Think of the body in its simplest anatomical position. If the body is cut in half legthwise…our shell (not speaking of organs) should be even: Left Vs. Right. Any deviation from 0 degrees indicate there’s something off with the ways nerves are firing, which signal to their corresponding muscles to react accordingly. This simply means, the alignment is off.
Pinch Nerves: This is more or less a generic term. Some patients already come into the office knowing they have pinch nerves. Whether it is someone else telling them or they feel a “bump” in their neck. Perhaps, they have done enough research and have tried many remedies for their nerve pain to know what they have is in fact a pinched nerve. Pinch nerves come directly from the misalignment of the spine. If the head is off kilter and the Atlas is not in its perfect relationship between the head and the spine, then there will be pinch nerves. & its not going to be just one or 2…but throughout the whole spine. Just because you do not have the numbness & tingling or pain running down does not mean the pinch nerves are not there. It takes an elongated time of nerve irritation for many people to seek help. Typically, by the time someone is done giving anti inflammatory, over the counter pain meds, exercises, at home therapies to the likes of professional therapies and remedies…months if not years have already passed.
Want to know HOW to hold the alignment? Read on Do’s and Don’ts
Do I have a short leg?
Do I have a short leg? What does it mean? When the head is not balanced well on the atlas, the body will have to fight to compensate to keep the body upright. This results in physical pain where the compensation is highest. Visually, that leads to the illusion of a short leg. Once the atlas subluxation (misalignment) is corrected, the leg length will even out and the body can function optimally again.
"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/