For the past three weeks I have mostly been buried under the administrative tasks that come with the annual accounting cycle of a small business (after hours, of course, the office days have kept us hopping). This year has been a little worse than usual with the re-platforming of some software on the cloud , some very icy and slow driving conditions, and the residual paperwork of adding two new staff members, Anne and Dr. Kaila (although the latter is clearly the only bright spot of the trio).
I finally decided to treat myself this morning to a brief “nerd safari” through a big backlog of research podcasts that have been displaced by the admin work, and boy, I was in for a real treat! A colleague had recommended a book by the late Dr. Flanagan, a bit of a chiropractic genius that did research well ahead of his time and with late recognition. His book “The Downside of Upright Posture”, is on my reading list once I finally emerge from my administrative dog house, but in the meantime I still had a chance to peruse his fantastic research paper published in 2015. Dr. Flanagan’s research focused on the little explored relationship between the transition of humans from the four legged stance to the upright two legged posture, and how this shift of the head and neck in gravity has been the source of much problems as the design of our lower brain stem and upper neck junction is very vulnerable to compression and backflow with minor injuries. The venous backflow in the largest vein of the neck, the jugular, can be measured on MRI imaging.
While this excitement may seem irrelevant, there are some profound implications for the chiropractic profession, with focus on upper neck post trauma intervention. In his paper, Dr. Flanagan points to research showing that some of the most life altering chronic residuals from neck and head injuries can be autonomic symptoms (POTS, dizziness, anxiety, arrhythmias, fainting etc…), and in the long term, an increased rate of neurodegenerative disease (Parkinson’s, ALS, dementia). Those residuals may be the results of the venous backflow cascade to the brain, and may be improved by specific manual interventions to the upper cervical spine with a “draining” effect on the venous backflow. Obviously, there is a lot more research to be done to quantify that correlation, but the take home message for now is that chiropractors should really pay close attention to signs of upper neck trauma residuals in individuals with presenting autonomic symptoms and address them.
