March 2004
New Canaan Chiropractic Newsletter
"Experience the Difference"
Phone: 966-9777 Bradley A. Williams, DC, CCN Fax: 966-0778

Chiropractic neurology is a very important field these days – more and more research is giving us the tools to treat many neurological conditions without drugs or surgery. These include brain-based dysfunction, muscle weakness, and more serious central nervous system disorders resulting from stroke, injury and disease.

Many of you have experienced in my office a glimpse of what we can do with "light in one eye" and the "one side hand and arm movement" to correct weakness in the shoulder and hip on the same side of the body. These are mostly brain-based dysfunctions resulting from multiple factors that decrease the activation to one side of the brain.

All of the conditions that result in imbalance in some form cause a decrease in the central integrative state (CIS) of the nervous system. This is equivalent to a computer problem that doesn't let you run your programs adequately. There are many "software" fixes we can use in functional neurology to makeup for or correct these deficits because of the plasticity (adaptability) of neurons.

The key is to activate the appropriate brain areas without exceeding the metabolic capabilities of the individual (the ability to have and use enough oxygen, glucose, minerals and amino acids).

Where a medical neurologist may recommend Botox injection for abnormal muscle tone (dystonia), a chiropractic neurologist might recommend a type of afferent stimulation or non-pharmaceutical intervention not typically used by the medical neurologist (afferent stimulations are environmental stimulations, such as manipulation of the neck, back, or extremity; and the use of light, heat, water, sound, and electricity - things in the physical environment that are noninvasive and non-surgical in nature).

Other healing professions have incorporated these principles from a more energetic viewpoint. In her book Energy Medicine, Donna Eden gives a great exercise you can use daily to encourage the crossover of energy between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. It is called the “cross crawl.” It is a simple as marching in place for about 1 minute – left arm and right leg up and down, then right arm and left leg up and down, in succession. This can also be done in the seated position. Neurological research also shows visualizing the movement alone improves brain function, as well as watching the movement of a good limb in a mirror to foster improvement in the opposite paretic limb.

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