A study published in Experimental Brain Research in January of 2015 demonstrated that Chiropracic care can increase strength, decrease fatigue and improve the brain’s ability to drive muscles to enhance performance.
This particular study is groundbreaking because it demonstrates how chiropractic is more about THE BRAIN and NOT YOUR PAIN! Once again, only getting Chiropractic adjustments when you hurt is like waiting for a heart attack or stroke until you decide to get your heart checked. It’s just dumb and the science has proven it over and over again.
Over the last decade, scientists have demonstrated that spinal manipulation or Chiropractic Adjustments can change various aspects of nervous system function, including muscle reflexes, cognitive processing, reaction time, and the speed at which your brain processes information.
In this latest study, a New Zealand research group hypothesized that Subluxations (found and corrected by chiropractors) results in altered signals and communication to the central nervous system (CNS) ultimately changing how the brain relays information back to the body. This processing (i.e., sensorimotor integration) is a central nervous system (CNS) function that appears most vulnerable to miscommunication.
Many studies show that chiropractic adjustments result in changes to sensorimotor integration within the central nervous system. But do these changes correlate with beneficial clinical outcomes?
Apparently so.
What the researchers found was that a single chiropractic adjustment resulted in greater strength, muscle function and less fatigue than the control groups. One of the lead scientists went on to say that when chiropractors adjust subluxations, they change the way the brain processes what’s going on in the body; ultimately allowing the brain to control the body better.
The study specifially showed:
- an increase of almost 60% in the electrical activity readings from specifically targeted muscles
- a 16% increase in absolute force measures
- a 45% increase in the drive from their brain to their muscle
Another interesting finding was that of comparing a chiropractic adjustment to people who strength trained for 3 weeks. What they found was that the results were almost identical to three weeks of strength training for participants.
These are compelling research outcomes which backup what chiropractors and people under chiropractic care already know: that people function better with chiropractic care regardless of pain decreasing or not.
The point here is that you should get your chiropractic adjustments as often as possible, not simply because you hurt, but because it’s a vital nutrient that your brain can use to operate your body in a better way.
Reference: Niazi IK, Türker KS, Flavel S, Kinget M, Duehr J, Haavik H. Changes in H-reflex and V-waves following spinal manipulation. Exp Brain Res
