Exciting New Research On One Of Our Favorite Tools in Zionsville

A new study was published in the past month that we are extremely excited to share!

This study looked at the benefits of correcting the neck curve using a Denneroll - a product that we carry and use frequently in our office in Zionsville.

Maintaining a Healthy Spinal Curve in Zionsville

In some of our past blogs we talked about the importance of our spinal curves. Curves allow our spine to act as a spring and help us deal with the forces of gravity - kind of like a spring. Maintaining the curves in our spine is also very important for the soft tissues around our spine(nerves, ligaments, tendons, and the intervertebral disc). When the curves are in the proper orientation, we're able to use our biomechanics properly and there is less likelihood that an early degeneration process will take place. This means less chance of disc degeneration and arthritis, and less irritation on the nerves! This is important to allow for better communication across our nervous system and to the rest of our bodies.

Unfortunately, we have been seeing more problems lately with the curves and functionality of our patients' spines. One of the main culprits is how we are spending the vast majority of our day. Most people have been working from home, or just spend the majority of their day looking down at a computer or other technology. Over time this changes the natural curve in our spine from being in a normal "C" shape to being straight or even reversed! This loss or reversal of the cervical curve can have many negative consequences on our overall health and body functionality.

Neck Curve Rehabilitation

This study published in Nature - Scientific Reports, one of the most cited and prestigious journals, examined the benefits of cervical lordosis (neck curve) rehabilitation in asymptomatic patients.

This study had 80 participants - 40 of which received a Denneroll (Neck orthotic) and the remaining 40 were used as a control group. After 10 weeks of using the Denneroll, the study group had an average increase of 13 degrees to the curve of their neck! A "normal" cervical curve typically measures at about 43 degrees so this increase in curve was very significant.

One of the coolest pieces of this study is that they also found significant improvement in the participant's central conduction time after using the Denneroll! This means they measured how fast messages were able to travel from the brain down the spinal column and across the nerves. They found that the nervous system was actually more efficient and faster in communicating with the body following neck curve rehabilitation!!

Don't Wait Until You're In Pain

A big takeaway from this study is that pain is a poor indicator of the function of our bodies. The patients in this study didn't have pain to start with but did have less than ideal cervical curves. Once the curve improved, they were able to also see improvements in the function of their body even though they probably didn't realize they weren't functioning at their best to start with.

We often see this is the case in our clinical practice as well. So often, our patients have had issues going on with their spines for a long time but hadn't realized the impact until it's too late. We also hear all the time that our patients don't even realize how bad they felt until they start experiencing how good they feel once their body is functioning at its best!

One aspect of care that we focus on at Foundations Chiropractic is spinal curves and spinal curve correction. We are experts at curve correction and giving advice when it comes to minimizing the effects of our workstation and helping with poor posture. If you are considering seeing a chiropractor or are interested in what the condition of your spine is in contact our office for a complimentary consult and posture check to see if chiropractic care is right for you.