The Brain-Body Connection

by Judy Soborowicz, Active Health Chiropractic

Opportunities for movement abound—running, lifting weights, yoga, hiking, and biking—and we are so naturally drawn to build physical work into our lives that we continually invent new ways! For over 125 years, the chiropractic approach has been focused on optimal movement and improving the communication between the brain and the body. As the second largest healing profession in the world, this is the very concept the profession is founded on. 

Fortunately for those who suffer, our medical system is beginning to look at the impact of the brain-body connection on overall wellness and well-being. A March 2016 article from Harvard Health Publishing, one of the highest ranked medical schools in the world, printed, “recent studies show that the connection between your brain and your body is a ‘two-way street’ and that means movement can change your brain, too!” This article further states, “Your mind and body are intimately connected. And while your brain is the master control system for your body’s movement, the way you move can also affect the way you think and feel” (1). 

All organ systems, muscles, joints and tissues in the body rely on two-way communication with the brain—it is all connected. Signal inputs from movements affect brain processes that regulate mood, calmness, sleep, balance, posture, stability, alertness, digestion and overall wellness. Rapid and robust communication between the brain and body are observable through coordination and ease of movement. Changes in the brain are evident in movement and can be relied upon for identifying disease significantly prior to the first symptoms. 

Because the way you move affects the way you think and feel, your brain function relies on you to maintain optimal movement. Movement issues can be caused by injuries such as slips, falls, auto accidents, poor sleep habits, stroke, and even the birth process. Your ‘bad’ knee, hip or shoulder may be persisting due to a movement problem that should not be ignored. Specific chiropractic adjustments can release injury on protected areas of the spine column and joints of the body, restoring healthy movement and optimizing brain-body communication. Intuitively and practically, we understand that maintaining stability and healthy movement throughout our lifetime is essential. 

Healthy brain function is inseparably interrelated to the quality of movement. The effects of unhealthy movement cause most of the unwanted health conditions people suffer from every day. Chiropractors have a term for the intimate brain-body connection, for which the profession has been both celebrated and condemned: innate intelligence. 

Millions of people have received the benefits of chiropractic, yet expert researchers have been unable to fully explain the complete reason for the significant health impacts. With technical advances, medical science continues to move toward greater understanding of our brain and body, and how overall healing occurs. 

Chiropractic doctors focus on restoring the master control system of the body and optimizing the brain-body connection. Many experience chiropractic benefits for the physical body, and continue to benefit from mood lifting, improved memory and overall mental health and wellness. 

1. http://health.harvard.edu/blog/how-simply-moving-benefits-your-mental-health-201603289350.