Chiropractic improves balance!
Do you worry about falling? Chiropractic adjustments can improve balance and reduce falls in the elderly!
If you thought Chiropractic adjustments were only for back pain: keep reading!
While our patients do report relief of back pain through Chiropractic adjustments, the adjustment also benefits the brain and whole body in other ways! In fact, the adjustment actually changes the way your brain uses information. This is why older patients under Chiropractic care may be at less risk for falls.
How does the adjustment help with balance?
One study examined several reasons that contribute to the risk of falls. After just 12 weeks of chiropractic adjustments, patients in the study had significant improvements in ankle joint position sense and reaction time.
Let’s explain what “ankle joint position sense” really means, and how they tested it.
Position sense is how the body tells the brain where it’s feet are while walking and standing.
During this study, participants stood on a wobble board and were asked to move their ankle into certain positions to test the body’s “position sense”.
An example of position sense is when you eat a sandwich while watching TV. Your body has to know how to get your hand from your plate to your mouth without watching your hand. Having a good sense of where your body is in space is a major indicator of balance. A decrease in our position sense makes it more likely to trip or fall.
So how could Chiropractic improve position sense?
Each joint of the spine has lots of sensors that tell the brain the position we are in. The adjustment activates these sensors and sends a flood of information to the brain. This flood of information helps with position sense and can help to improve balance!
Another important cause of falls in the elderly is dizziness. Another survey reported that Chiropractic care helped with dizziness also. Looking at a group of patients at the average age of 70 years old, most patients saw improved balance and less dizziness after 8 weeks of Chiropractic care.
Click here for more information on what chiropractic can do for you!
Resources:
https://www.jmptonline.org/article/S0161-4754(16)00050-6/fulltext
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2156587215604974#_i1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2786230/
