The prefrontal cortex, known to handle the “executive functions”, is responsible for directing and working various neural functions in the body. When you are walking and talking on your phone while responding the loud city hustle and bustle, that cortex is working its magic. As you walk to work, your brain is mapping out the path and remembering landmarks so it becomes familiar with the surroundings. It knows how far you need to lift your leg for that high curb and it knows when to step aside before it runs into another person.
The brain receives information from the environment and our body through our sensory organs which are our eyes, nose, ears, skin, tongue and muscles. Our body has hundreds of muscles, but the ones that give the brain information about our core are the paraspinal muscles. These small muscles tell us what our spine is doing. Each segment in the spine plays an important part on how the body functions so making sure the spine is moving well is vital.
When we move, these muscles are stretched and send information to the brain. When certain aspects of the spine are not moving properly due to poor posture, injury, thoughts, toxins, or maybe trauma there is a miscommunication between the body and the brain, which can lead to injury. If they are not working properly, you might find yourself tripping over that curb and running into more people than you’d like. Some might even call it clumsy behavior.
Let’s step away from the morning traffic and go to another familiar place, like home. It’s night time and suddenly the electricity goes out and its pitch black. (Let’s pretend we don’t have a cell phone attached to our hip as well!) You know the circuit breaker is in the guest room on the other side of the house. Can you get to the other side without hurting yourself? You have an estimate of how many steps it may take and you know which door to enter. You are familiar with this path and can probably get those lights back on safely.
But what if in the middle of your path a foam roller was left on the floor and you were not aware of it? You still know the path, but can you make it safely to the other side? You might get lucky, but it’s likely you will walk across that hallway, trip and injure yourself. Chances are you managed to turn the lights back on, but now you are hobbling to the couch.
This is what happens when the brain is not fully aware of its own body positioning. The task tends to get accomplished, but with consequences. Try to think of the body having many cameras that send all visual input to the brain. Sometimes the cameras get a little fuzzy and the image is not clear. So, what do we do? We fine tune the cameras. This is what a Chiropractic adjustment can do.
An adjustment fine tunes the brain to have better awareness about what’s going on with the body and environment. Excitingly, studies are now showing Chiropractic adjustments stimulates the prefrontal cortex and also stimulate our core muscles. This is extremely important, not only do these little core muscle send loads of information to the brain, they are the muscles to initiate and stabilize our joints before the bigger muscles start working. It makes sense to make sure these muscles are working properly. Who wouldn’t want to fine tune their brain and body?
If you are interested or want to learn more please schedule a Chiropractic visit or email Dr.Elze@senspa.com for more information.