The Importance of Upper Cervical Spine Care

Because the upper cervical area is the most neurologically dense part of the entire spine and the most important area of your body’s spinal column, we adjust it because of the impact it can have on your overall brain and body function.

Greater than 95% of the people we see in the office-no matter what issue they come in with-the true cause of their problem is more likely to be due to an upper cervical subluxation that has manifested itself elsewhere as various symptoms and compensations.

Whether they’re small traumas or big traumas, repetitive stress may lead to issues in the upper part of the neck. “They can start at birth and we believe that this birth trauma really is one of the most underpublicized issues in healthcare today that is not being addressed,” said Dr. Mike.

Other things that cause issues in the upper cervical area include:

A lot of those issues can lead to low back problems. People will come into our practice complaining of low back pain, but it’s a result of what’s happening in the neck. The neck is the cause! The brainstem, which is protected by C1 is like the breaker switch and the communication lifeline from the brain to the body and the communication back from the body to the brain. It’s the main sensory interchange as well, so that’s why this specific area is vitally important.

During times of stress, you will typically go into a forward flexion position which causes your head to go way out in front of your shoulders. This puts more stress and tension in the upper part of the neck in addition to adding increased mechanical stress in other regions of the spine. The region of Occiput to C1 has a really big impact on the rest of the body and the spine.

Subluxation creates stress and tension in the nervous system that compromises function and it creates a lot of what we would call distortion patterns throughout the rest of the spine. Different neurological compensations happen that stem from issues that start in the neck. These include the righting reflex and the pelvo-ocular reflex.