063- Can Chiropractic Adjustments Make You Stronger?

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Hello and welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor. I AM your host, Dr. Jeff Langmead. This week we are looking at a piece of research which really gets to a very interesting question. Can chiropractic adjustments make you stronger? Brain Sciences Journal took a look at some research which starts to hint at the answer to that question. But before we dive into that paper, I'll say a few words as we do each and every week about Rock Tape. Rock Roc Tape, makers of the world's best kinesiology tape, are proud to introduce completely redesigned Rocksauce and Rocksauce Chill powerful topical muscle and joint pain relief now available in 3 ounce roll ons and 32 ounce clinical pump tops. Give long lasting pain relief to your patients. Learn more@rocktape.com topicals Again, that is Rocktape. So this week's research piece is very intriguing, very interesting. I've seen a few people share it across social media this past week and it's been getting a lot of love and a lot of action and I wanted to make sure we took the time today to dive into it. The other thing that I will say about it before we dive in is that this was actually highlighted. This is a piece of research released by Brain Sciences in 2017. I actually have already released this as a piece of research to the members of the Evidence based chiropractor for January 2017. So we are on top of it here at the Evidence Based Chiropractor. As you know, I talk about all the time the biggest opportunity for growth in chiropractic is interdisciplinary referrals. Members of the Evidence Based Chiropractor have sent out tens of thousands of positive chiropractic messages to medical doctors at this point in time. And I'm proud to say thousands of incoming referrals to chiropractors have taken place that never would have otherwise. We give you the A, B, C all the way to Z Tools and system in order to get more MD referrals into your practice. If you're listening to this, there's a couple thousand chiros listening to this each and every week. If you were listening to this and last month you had 1, 2, 3, maybe 0 referrals coming from medical doctors in your community, I would be happy to help you. And it certainly is time for a change. If you're in that, if that's the case with your practice, it is time for a change. So find out more about what we do@the evidencebasedchiropractor.com but without further ado today, today we are going to talk about the impact of spinal manipulation on cortical drive to upper and lower limb muscles. Again, the title of this paper, it will be highlighted in the show notes Impact of spinal manipulation on Cortical drive to upper and Lower Limb muscles released by Brain Sciences in 2017. So while we know spinal manipulation is considered to be the primary conservative care option for low back pain, neck pain and headaches, emerging research such as this, this has really demonstrated central neuroplastic effects post manipulation. This is something that we've perhaps in chiropractic thought about or hinted at for many years, but did not have the top tier research to support. Manipulation can attenuate cortical sensory motor evoked potential responses, improve proprioceptive processing and provide motor control alterations. These responses appear to have a significant impact on central cortical processing and may indicate the use of spinal manipulation for a variety of special patient populations. So the researchers also noted individuals who are recovering from muscle degrading dysfunction such as stroke, et cetera, or high level athletes may benefit from increased strength as a result of cortical drive after an applied spinal manipulation. So this is very, very interesting research that is really emerging. It's really at the cutting edge and it's looking at post spinal manipulation, post chiropractic adjustment. Ultimately are people who are receiving that, are they getting more drive to the central nervous system? And does that attenuation, does that stimulation, does it result in the ability to have increased strength? And what the researchers on this paper are finding in Brain Sciences, again, this is not necessarily a chiropractic journal by any stretch of the imagination. It's Brain Sciences. They looked at motor evoked potential recruitment after a manipulation and again, what they found, I'll repeat it again, what they found is an attenuation of cortical somatosensory evoked potential responses, which sounds very complex, but that's a stimulation to the central nervous system, improved proprioceptive processing and motor control alterations. And ultimately what the researchers and brain sciences are indicating is that this may be one mode, one treatment, one option, the chiropractic adjustment for anybody from a high level athlete to a patient who may be suffering from stroke or the effects of stroke, because it's going to give them increased, basically increased central neuroplastic effects after that manipulation that is unbelievably powerful. And let's look at a few quotes that the researchers found as well. Researchers in this paper found quote spinal manipulation leads to short term changes in cortical excitability as measured by a significantly larger MEP max for TMS induced input output curves for both an upper and lower limb muscle and with larger amplitudes of MRCP component post manipulation. Wow, that sounds like a mouthful. But basically what they're talking about is motor evoked potentials and the changes post manipulation. The researchers also found this increased excitability occurs at the cortical level due to the increased amplitude of movement related cortical potential amplitudes following spinal manipulation. These findings are consistent with previous findings that have suggested increases in strength following spinal manipulation were due to descending cortical drive and could not be explained by any changes at the level of the spinal cord. So again they're talking about cortical drive. The stimulation and excitability created after an adjustment can lead to inhibitor creased strength and it really plays in with cortical drive and it plays in with the motor evoked potentials. So this study again Brain Sciences impact of spinal manipulation on Cortical drive to upper and lower limb muscles just came out in 2017. Been getting a ton, a ton, a ton of play on social media and certainly again, I cannot emphasize this enough. The evidence based chiropractor. I strive each and every month to give our members the best, best content to build the bridge, to build the gap, excuse me, to bridge the gap between what we do and what other practitioners and healthcare providers are doing each and every day in the community. And thus getting those referrals into our practices, getting more referrals into chiropractic practices. And this paper is one that is a nice touchstone. Now it's emerging. It's not the end all be all. But it is a great new paper that highlights some new avenues that chiropractic care or spinal manipulation may be utilized in a care setting. So I hope you love this paper as much as I do. Again, you can find this paper or a link to it in the show notes. And the other thing I will ask of you if you've been listening to this podcast again, I am up over 2,000 chiropractors that are listening to this each and every week and if you've been listening, if you are new or old, I absolutely thank you for trusting me and taking the time to listen to what we talk about each and every week. Because it is all for you. And I would love to reach even more chiropractors. So if you could share a link to this with a friend of yours, even if you could just go onto itunes, you can do it directly from your phone. Go onto itunes, give us some honest feedback, give us a rating or a review. It helps more and more chiropractors find out about the Evidence Based Chiropractor podcast. And one of the big things that I would love to see in 2017 as we cruise through here, I'd love to get 2000 chiropractors listening as we do now. I would love to get that number up to 10,000 chiropractors listening, getting information on research, getting information on marketing and getting tools that anybody, any chiropractor can use to better build their practice, impact more people and create more revenue in their bottom line by a result of the wonderful care that we offer. That's my goal in 2017 and beyond. I would love it if you would take a moment and help me with that. And the easiest way you can do that again is give us a rating or a review on itunes, give us some honest feedback. And if you ever want to communicate with me me directly, it is jeffeevidencebasedchiropractor.com I would love to hear from you. I hope you have a fantastic week in practice Doc and I will talk to you soon.

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