Chiropractic Changes the Way the Brain Processes Information

Research published in the November-December issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics and reported on by Scoop Health from New Zealand on November 23, 2007, shows how chiropractic helps affect brain and nerve system function. An excited release on the research by the New Zealand Chiropractors Association states, "Ground-breaking research has, for the first time, identified the actual changes that occur in the body, the nervous system and the brain during chiropractic spinal adjustments."

The study demonstrates that chiropractic care sends signals to the brain that change the way the brain controls muscles. Award-winning Auckland researcher, Dr. Heidi Haavik-Taylor commented, "The process of a spinal adjustment is like rebooting a computer. The signals that these adjustments send to the brain, via the nervous system, reset muscle behavior patterns." She went on to explain how this can have a broad effect on a person's health by saying, "By stimulating the nervous system we can improve the function of the whole body. This is something that chiropractors and their patients have known for years; and now we have some scientific evidence to prove it."

According to the Scoop Health article, Dr. Haavik-Taylor has spent the last seven years researching the effects of chiropractic adjustments on the nervous system. On this new research, Dr. Haavik-Taylor was able to measure how brain waves are altered before and after spinal adjustments. She reported, "This is the first time that anyone has used EEGs to prove that there are definite changes to the way the brain processes information after chiropractic care."

Dr. James Burt, President of the New Zealand Chiropractors Association, touted Dr. Haavik-Taylor's breakthrough research by noting, "Heidi's work is ground-breaking on an international level by proving that chiropractic adjustments do alter and benefit the nervous system."