How The Spine ‘Feeds’ The Brain

Spinal movement is a strong driver of input into an area of the brain called the cerebellum.

I know, it sounds complicated!

We’ll keep it simple and look at why the spine is so important to our nervous system in this post.

The spine is a primary driver of cerebellar and amazingly all brain function.

We’re wired this way because movement is critically important to survival and movement takes advantage of the only constant source of environmental energy, gravity.

The spine is in the center of the body and is used to support us and help with every movement we make which is why the spine drives so much of brain function.

The cerebellum relies heavily on this movement of the spine including the muscles, tendons, and joints to allow it to know where we are in space and to function properly.

How does this relate to the Chiropractic adjustment of the spine?

The chiropractic adjustment improves spinal movement and also creates a very strong input or activation into the cerebellum as seen clinically with so many patients.

Changes in brain activation with spinal adjustments has been a focus of Dr. Heidi Haavik’s DC, PhD work.

Here are just a few of these article discussed on our blog…

• Spinal Problems Cause Brain Problems VIDEO
• The Adjustment Causes Changes In The Brain’s SensoriMotor Activation VIDEO
• Several other short and entertaining videos about what Dr. Haavik has found in her research can also be found here and here.

This is one of the ways an adjustment can change things like posture, coordination, balance, vertigo, and other activities associated with the cerebellum.

Recent research again by Dr. Haavik looked at how the Chiropractic Spinal Adjustment effects the cerebellum as well as it’s output into the cerebral cortex.

They found that the adjustment changes the way that the cerebellum processes information.

They also found that the cerebellar output, the way it talks to the higher area of brains was changed.

Finally, the researchers looked at how the adjustment effected overhead throwing movements (VIDEO) like those seen in many sports and other activities.

This is important because we know that the skill of throwing is heavily dependent on the cerebellum.

People with damaged cerebellum fail to release the ball at the right time because of lack of coordination, timing, and accuracy of movements.

The researchers found that having good overhead throwing movements was heavily reliant on proper spinal function.

Improper spinal function results in changes in the input into our brain, including our cerebellum, regardless of whether we have pain.

This results in changes in the way we perceive where our bodies, our arms, and our legs are in space both consciously and importantly unconsciously.

Changes in input and knowing exactly where we are in space changes how we move, our coordination, our posture, even our thoughts and higher areas of brain function like attention, focus, language, and emotion.

So the importance of cerebellar function goes FAR beyond sports and athleticism.