How Does The Chiropractic Adjustment Work? Does It Really Change The Nervous System?

The chiropractic adjustment causes different effects depending on many factors, some of which have to do with the individual and some due to the way it is applied. 

I previously wrote a blog post about some of the effects of the adjustment here…

“Why Do Chiropractors Adjust A Joint?” 

Chiropractors have claimed since the very first adjustment was given to Harvey Lillard in 1895 that the Chiropractic Adjustment helps restore nervous system function.

This was a theory to explain what happened with the adjustment.

Of course, back then science did not have the tools to really measure some of these neurological changes.

In fact, it was many decades before we could measure changes in the nervous system following an adjustment.

Since we couldn’t measure a change with an objective computerized test, it led to some criticism about the neurological theory of chiropractic.

Even today some people suggest that there is no evidence of an adjustment causing a neurological effect/change.

The problem is that you can’t even move without changing the nervous system, let alone do a chiropractic adjustment.

A simple movement will cause activation of little receptors that fire up a nerve to the spinal cord and into the brain causing changes in activity of various regions.

It’s simply ignorance of how the nervous system functions to suggest otherwise.

You can’t move without causing a neurological change in everything from motor control to autonomic function.

If you’re walking, your body will have to change motor output (obviously) to use muscle and provide stabilization.

You’ll fire autonomics to change fuel delivery to the muscles you’re using and to other areas.

Brain activity will change.

How it changes varies on different factors, but there will be some change.

If it doesn’t change you’re not walking, you’re dead. 

There are many neurological effects, just taking a little walk, let alone an adjustment.

A chiropractic adjustment can have profound neurological effects.

In fact, that is the only way that pain perception is altered.

Changes in pain perception following an adjustment have been demonstrated in many studies (some related references at the bottom of this post).

Evidence suggests that a Chiropractic Adjustment can have a significant impact on Brain Function.

One such piece of evidence, a recent study published in the journal of Experimental Brain Research by Heidi Haavik et al found a very significant change in the way the brain drives leg motor activity following a single adjustment.

The researchers looking at the neurological effects of the chiropractic adjustment found…

• about a 60% increase in the electrical activity of the musculature following a chiropractic adjustment.
• a 16% increase in force output,
• and a 45% increase in the drive from the brain to the muscle following a single adjustment.

The lead researcher, Haavik, reported that the changes following a single adjustment,

“were almost identical to 3 weeks of strength training.”

Changes in H-reflex and V-waves following spinal manipulation.
Experimental Brain Research. Vol 233, 4 , pp 1165-1173

This occurred because the brain received a neurological stimulus from the adjustment that allowed the brain to better process information and control the musculature.

There you have it… Chiropractic changed neurological function.

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