I have been experiencing a raft of unusual symptoms including sensations in my face, nausea, irritable bowel, tinnitus, a large numbers of floaters in my eyes and more recently, constant pins and needles in my feet and sometimes my hands. My husband is a chiropractor, so it has been frustrating that the techniques he uses weren’t making headway with my condition.
The traditional concept of hemisphericity (now false) refers to the idea that people may rely on a preferred mode of cognitive processing, which is linked to activity in the left or right cerebral hemisphere.
Modern concepts in functional neurology, which describe hemisphericity as differing firing rates between the left and right sides of the brain. With various kinds of stress placed upon the body and brain – some as simple gravity – there will be a lower performing cerebral cortex and a higher performing cerebral cortex. According to Roger Sperry, the 1981 Nobel prize winner for brain research, a large proportion of the brain’s output is directed simply towards maintaining your body posture in its gravitational field, which is why posture is so important to maintain a healthy brain.
The left brain tends to be the “accelerator” of the body, whereas the right brain tends to be the “brake” system. If the brakes cannot be applied, we have a runaway nervous system with everything that would imply: allergies, overactive immune activity, hypersensitivity reactions and emotional instabilities. A left brain hemisphericity would mean a decreased accelerator, so we would think of conditions whereby the body or brain would not be stimulated enough, e.g. depression.
The cortex is also responsible for inhibiting our “primal brain”, the brainstem. The brainstem regulates the fight/flight response through the thoracic spine. So if a stressed individual is beginning to exhibit signs of hemisphericity, their fight/flight response will be elevated and will present as ulcers, reflux or irritable bowel syndrome. The cortex controls motor output to muscles too, so hemisphericity can create pain syndromes on one side of the body over time like carpal tunnel syndrome, Golfer’s elbow or sciatica.
Correction of hemisphericity is achieved by the two hemispheres of the brain reaching temporal coherence, i.e. firing at a similar rate and in harmony with each other. The role of upper cervical specific in hemisphericity is critical when choosing where and why to adjust on any given day; as well as incorporating similar non-invasive neurological stimulation such as specific limb adjusting, light, balance, magnets and supplementation.
Recent award-winning research has shown that the process of a chiropractic adjustment is like rebooting a computer. EEG signals prove that there are definite changes to the way the brain processes information after chiropractic care.
Correction doesn’t happen overnight though. Brain plasticity is a long process (how long did it take to reach that point in the first place?). Sally and I spent countless hours together working on many things. How do you know whether you might have hemisphericity? Read through the check list below ?
For the last 3 years, on and off, I have been experiencing a raft of unusual symptoms including sensations in my face, nausea, irritable bowel, tinnitus, a large numbers of floaters in my eyes and more recently, constant pins and needles in my feet and sometimes my hands. My husband is a chiropractor, so it has been frustrating that the techniques he uses weren’t making headway with my condition.
I also tried the conventional medical route, including a visit to a neurologist, an MRI and various blood tests. The medical doctor diagnosed atypical migraine and tried to put me on anti-depressants?!? Not an option for me.
Fortunately, at a particularly frustrating point in my health journey, I was offered the opportunity to receive chiropractic care at Spinewave with Dr Bossenger. My husband was certain that Dr Bossenger’s upper cervical technique and applied neurology would help me. I was hopeful. I had already met Dr Bossenger through the chiropractic community but did not know him well. This did not stop him from being extremely warm, welcoming and open on my first visit to his clinic. His thorough neurological examination instilled great confidence in me and my hope started to grow.
Over the next 12 weeks, I got checked 3 times per week. There was no miraculous overnight “cure” but there was definitely a marked improvement, which was very encouraging for me. At all times, Dr Bossenger was focused, caring and confident during my visits. My appointments were always on time and Pip was always a friendly face on the front desk. They clearly make a great team, as Pip seems to make the clinic run like clockwork which is something every chiropractor looks for in his assistant.
Unfortunately, I do not normally live in Auckland, so I’ve had to stop care with Dr Bossenger. However, the ongoing positive effects on my health from my visits to Spinewave remain. I have enjoyed many “symptom free” days and feel confident that my husband can continue building on the great work Dr Bossenger did on my spine and nervous system. There are many, many chiropractic techniques available to chiropractors to use in their practices. In this case, I required some specialist attention. I feel so grateful that I was able to see Dr Bossenger for this. He is clearly gifted at what he does and I cannot recommend Spinewave enough.
Sally Guest
How do I know if I have hemisphericity?
- Attention and concentration difficulties.
- Reading and speech problems.
- Difference in pupil size.
- Trouble with vision.
- Asymmetrical muscle tone from side to side.
- More muscle tightness on one side.
- Pain more on one side of the body.
- Emotional instability.
- Dizziness or vertigo.
- Movement disorders like Parkinson’s Disease or MS.
- Sweating or cold hands.
- Fibromyalgia.