Recently, a patient of mine said, “I feel great after I see you but I don’t really understand what you’re doing”. This statement prompted me to write this month’s article.
What’s going on in your body is a reflection of what’s going on in your life. Stresses placed on the nervous system — whether they are physical, chemical, or emotional in nature — can show up as obstructions in a person’s spine. As we maneuver through life, we must adapt to, and accommodate, the events that we encounter. Our brain must interpret the information and activate the body to respond accordingly. Our body and our brain communicate with each other via the nervous system located in the spine. Interference in this communication (NeuroStructural Dysfunction) can lead to secondary conditions or symptoms that can affect your health and wellbeing. When your body and brain are not communicating optimally it can impact you both in the way you feel and what you feel.
Often when people come to my office, it is because the secondary conditions or symptoms are interfering with their quality of life. Secondary conditions may present as back or neck pain, headaches, fatigue, anxiety, or mental and emotional stresses. As the name implies, “secondary conditions” are the result of an underlying primary condition. Unless the primary condition is addressed, secondary conditions will not resolve, or they will just shift from one secondary condition to another. NeuroStructural Optimization addresses the source of your secondary conditions and symptoms by correcting the underlying NeuroStructural Dysfunction to allow your body to function optimally.
To further understand the nature of a NeuroStructural Dysfunction, consider a house. If it has a poor foundation, you may find cracks in the walls, windows that may not close correctly, and floors that may squeak. One can choose to continuously address these individual issues (symptoms) by filling in the cracks, lubricating the windows and hammering another nail into the floor, but in all likelihood, they will continue to recur until the underlying cause is corrected.
Your spine is the foundation of your body, and all of the organs, muscles, and connective tissue are built around it. NeuroStructural Optimization frees your nervous system to allow the body and brain to communicate optimally and effectively. If the body is “stuck” in a defensive state as a result of a stress (physical, chemical, emotional), it can impact you structurally (the way you hold yourself). Ninety percent of the brain’s stimulation comes from the spine. Proper structure of the spine (bones, muscles, ligaments) allows for optimal communication via the spinal cord to the brain. When the body is better able to interpret and adapt to their current circumstance, a greater sense of awareness is attained. The correct information is being relayed between the brain and the body so it doesn’t respond in defense (out of stress) unless there is an actual need. Often, when the body releases stored tension, there is an ease and overall sense of wellbeing that accompanies it.
Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) addresses NeuroStructural Dysfunction and allows for the maximum correction of the spine and nervous system without any forceful manipulation, twisting, or cracking of the spine. Symptoms and challenges are often warning signs that there may be an underlying, primary issue. Continuing to focus on the symptoms instead of getting to the foundation of the problem may only serve as a temporary band-aid fix.
So, to answer the question: when the body and brain are working in harmony with one another, greater levels of health and wellbeing become possible.
“Most psychologists treat the mind as disembodied, a phenomenon with little or no connection to the physical body. Conversely, physicians treat the body with no regard to the mind or the emotions. But the body and mind are not separate, and we cannot treat one without the other.” (Candace Pert)
Copyright Dr. Julie Doobay 2017