Your neck pain may be of many types and varieties.  Many causes of neck pain are generally overlooked and when untreated then inevitably lead to degeneration of the discs, bones and joints.  Early arthritis and pain ensues.

Knowing this outcome is inevitable and practicing as a chiropractor for many years I was more than just interested the other day by an article in a prestigious Medical Journal which revealed that the degeneration of the spine, particularly of the neck, is strongly associated with osteoporosis at that site as well. 

Osteoporosis, the loss or lack of structural integrity from a loss of bone density is a common finding especially among the North American population. There is a direct relationship between osteoporosis and vitamin D3 production which is greatly enhanced through metabolic generators prompted in the skin while being irradiated by sunlight.  Vitamin D also promotes healthy arteries, supports blood pressure as well as the immune functions and glucose metabolism.

All that is of interest but if you have neck pain it is unlikely that just getting more sunlight, supplementation of vitamin D3 or any of the other “plethora' of treatments out there will slow down never mind reverse degenerative disc disease of the neck even if you can reverse some of the osteoporosis present.

The article I mentioned caught my interest because it dealt with something that chiropractors have been saying publicly for over 100 years.  Chiropractors have been extolling the virtues of spinal manipulation particularly exact vertebral adjustments of high velocity but low impact on the “subluxated” or misaligned bones of our human body.  Chiropractic adjustments are done by hand.

The article said the degeneration of the bone and disc along with local osteopenia or reduced calcium density at the level of degeneration of the neck is due to the loss or lack of mobility of the pieces making up the human spine. Evidently the motion of the bony segments stimulate the automatic nerves on how to tend to their flock, the parts and pieces making up the whole. 

For years and years chiropractors have been extolling the necessity to mobilize the subluxations of the human frame, particularly the spine.  We as a profession are not alone in our desire to reproduce a healthy and mobile segmented body frame and structure.  Other professions such as medicine and physiotherapy along with the practices of yoga, massage and exercise especially with a trainer, which includes weight lifting, have a desire and some impact on improving the range of motion (ROM) of the joints of the body.  If you are stiff you are old.

However, and I would like this to be perfectly clear to all of you interested in restoring your health, historically it is only the chiropractor that is trained and duty bound to find and then adjust to mobilize and restore the maximum ROM of the bodies joints, throughout the human frame, but especially those of the vertebrae that make up our spine.

It is now evident that the nervous systems depend upon low resistance to their “flow,” their “force” in order to inform the brain about what is necessary to nourish its body parts in an ongoing manner.  Furthermore resistance to the force of the vital signals carried by nerves throughout our body compromise function electrochemically as well.  And we are an electromagnetic manufacturing plant.  First we breathe then we eat, from the womb to the tomb.  We eat to turn the vitality within our food first into sugar and then into energy which when combined with oxygen in the brain forces the current flow within the nerves.

So how does this affect your neck pain?  Loss of mobility of the neck bones is both frequent and common.  That jerk to the neck in the car or that strain of the muscles from painting the living room or that long shopping trip with those heavy bags can all cause a loss of mobility of the boney segments of the neck and upper back with the ribs.  Frequently tossing a set of dumbbells even if they are light in weight may cause a subluxation of the bony joints at many and various joint levels.

Once present the loss of ROM at that level resists the flow of the nerve signals and the body loses information to and from the brain about how to take care of itself.  Then the loss turns to structural compromise as the uninformed brain cannot take care of its body parts. Segmental distortion and then degeneration ensues and of course the pain from stress of dysfunction is what we inevitably feel.

Drugs will never return the loss of motion to the body parts.  Neither will yoga or traction or massage nor any other attempted procedures get deep enough to rout out the loss of full and healthy segmental movement from subluxation.  When a body is compromised and the muscles holding it upright fail, the leaning and stressed column of the spine will never heal. The spine or any other joint axis must be held in a normal fully functioning position for them to heal and restore nerve functions.

Thus the chiropractor still stands alone in his vigil of helping mankind by willing the ability of his brain and his hands to go deep into your body to the stressed bony tissues and with his knowledgeable and powerful will he specifically adjusts the body segments at their joints to get them to wake up and become part of the whole again. 

Apparently this method of the chiropractor, his adjustment, also restores the go and flow of the nerves which then nourish both the hard and soft tissues and returns to normal the functions of the human systems.

So if your neck is sore and you haven't attempted to reduce the pain and dysfunction with chiropractic care then I would advise you to quickly get on with that before the degeneration and the subluxations, the loss of the range of motion, allow you to wither and age prematurely.

And be assured that chiropractic neck adjustments are safe for all ages. When administered by a trained professional you can be confident your neck and its vertebrae are in safe hands.

Feel free to contact Dr. Blower with any of your questions or comments at BodyByBlower@yahoo.com

About the author: Dr. Brian Blower has been a licensed chiropractor for over 35 years practicing Applied Kinesiology and has been in private practice on Grand Bahama Island for the past 10 years. He is a founding member of Applied Kinesiology Canada and was educated at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. He is a founding member of the Bahamas Association of Chiropractic. He has treated many celebrities and also specializes in sports medicine.  He can be reached at 242-374-5424.  You can also find Dr. Blower on Facebook HERE