With any luck, when you get up from the bench after your adjustment, you’ll feel fantastic. Many people describe feeling ‘light’ (which always makes me think of the old Quavers advert “Ohh, the floaty light” but that’s enough about my inner voice). They feel their movement is free-er or they can stand a little taller. A great benefit is when movements that irritated the pain before treatment can be done with less discomfort after treatment.
Others, though, take a little longer to feel any difference; and you might not feel any difference for a day or two after your treatment. Neither is better than the other, but we’ll talk about that in another blog, someday.
What I wanted to talk about today was the reaction your nervous system can have.
Your Nervous System
Your nervous system is the equivalent of the mother board and all the wiring within a computer. But whilst a computer’s wiring is simply that, ‘wiring’, your nervous system can be divided in many ways.
Here, we’re going to look at the Autonomic Nervous System. This system looks after all the stuff that your body does automatically: the stuff that you don’t control consciously (like digestion, breathing and heart rate).
And it can be split into two - the Sympathetic and Para-Sympathetic nervous systems. These two systems work in balance to each other (homeostasis) to permit your body to work at the level required at that moment in time.
Sympathetic Nervous System
Your Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is responsible for your “Flight or Fight” response. In caveman terms, your SNS will get you ready to fight that tiger to get your child or dog (or lunch) back. Or it’ll get you ready to run like the wind!
It raises your heart rate, increased your breathing, pumps more blood to your muscles and heightens your awareness. It also reduces your immune response and your digestion, amongst other things. (That’s why you wet yourself or make a larger mess if you get really scared.) The body has other things to focus on, so it gets rid of these jobs.
In essence, it gets your body ready for WORK.
ANY stress will engage your SNS (not just facing that tiger) and that includes ‘pain stress’. So, guess what nervous system is fired up with you stub your toe!?
Para-Sympathetic Nervous System
Of course, everything has an equal and opposite. It is the job of the Para-Sympathetic Nervous System (PNS) to counteract the SNS. That means, your PNS calms you back down and allows you to relax.
It is only when you’re relaxed when your body can heal itself, digest your food, fight off infections and even allow you sleep! So, guess why you get a cold when you have a day off, finish exams or go on holiday.
It is also the reason why a few people feel tired after their chiropractic treatment. And by tired, I mean really TIRED, in a pleasant way! One patient of mine was so zoned out after their first treatment they were asked if they’d taken something!!
This isn’t a regular occurrence for people, but it’s not unexpected. Usually, as the joints start to work better, the SNS isn’t switched ‘on’ so much and the post-treatment tiredness becomes less marked.
The answer to getting over this reaction – It’s simple… a good night’s sleep!
…and returning for your next session (of course!) 😉
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