You may have heard of the gag reflex. Not the kind you may get from watching a despicable act play out on TV in the form of unsportsmanlike conduct, but the kind you SHOULD get when the medical doctor sticks a tongue depressor on the back of your tongue.
A healthy gag reflex not only means you're less likely to choke (survival value), but it also could mean that you have a strong immune system.
Brainstem nerve cell bodies are what these two things have in common.
The connection is simple. The brainstem sends the nerve signals to the muscles of the soft palate, larynx and pharynx, tongue, and swallowing & airway functions.
On another branch of the tree, a separate communication line goes to a relay station in the brainstem that controls most of our immune system.
When the brainstem doesn't fire or function properly and there is a lacking or absent gag flex or deficient immune system, studies show that oftentimes this is due to improper nerve signal firing at the level of the brainstem.
Upper cervical chiropractic (NUCCA) helps improve health and function by freeing up the nerve flow that can be restricted as a result of a misalignment of the tiny vertebra at the top of the spine known as the atlas or C1 vertebra. To learn more about NUCCA (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association), click here. Also see this website dedicated to Upper Cervical Awareness.
At Prior Lake Spinal Care, we specialize in the detection and correction of this small (yet large!) problem in the human condition.
When it comes to misalignments in the top of the spine, we know that small problems are large. Just like pollution in the headwaters of a river can affect the downstream water quality, we know that side slip and especially rotational misalignments of the Atlas (C1 vertebra) and Axis (C2 vertebra) can negatively impact the efficiency of the health and healing messages being transmitted along of the Vagus Nerves (you have two of them) which travel from every major organ of your body down to the first part of the large intestine.
To visit with Dr. Pietrek and learn more about his chiropractic, how it may optimize Vagus Nerve transmission and help your body move better, please visit our contact page here.