Neural plasticity is great news for our health
Neural plasticity refers to the changes our nervous system - the control system of our body - is able to make in terms of the pathways it lays down and the messages it sends the body.
If we take a common example, if you are exposed to high levels of physical or emotional stress day in and day out, our nervous system becomes finely tuned to being in a state of high alert (fight or flight), even when stress isn’t there! Our muscles stay tense and ready to pounce, our mind races, we don’t sleep well or digest our food properly… the list goes on. The formation of this pattern is an example of neural plasticity.
However, if we start to send new messages to our brain - and the chiropractic adjustment is a powerful and unique way to do this - we can retrain the way our body responds to the world around us. We can help the body to lay down new pathways. Our body is remarkably good at doing what we tell it to do - it just needs new input sometimes.
The longer a pathway or pattern has been in place, the longer it takes to retrain. However, neural plasticity means that our body can change at anytime, at any age - it’s never too late to teach our body to respond differently.
When talking about different aspects of your health, how often do you catch yourself saying, “Oh, that’s always been that way”?
You might be referring to something like your posture, a particular weakness that holds you back from doing more of what you’d love to do, or maybe even your energy levels or your digestion.
Well, here’s the good news: there is a very small percentage of conditions that we are actually born with. Everything else is a result of our body responding to the environment around us.
Now, maybe your body has been responding this way most of your life, but even so, your body is still a self-healing, self-regulating organism. Meaning that when interference is removed from this process, your body is still capable of improved function, adaptability, and much, much more potential than maybe you ever thought possible!
Consistent chiropractic care allows your body to spend more time in this state. So why not see what your body is truly capable of?