Symptoms & Conditions | Upper Cervical Care

Upper Cervical Care is an effective, alternative treatment to drugs and surgery for a wide variety of symptoms. Below is just a a partial list of some of the most common, but if you do not see your health problem on this list do not assume we cannot help you. If you have a central nervous system, then it needs to be unrestricted for your body to function correctly.

Epileptic Seizures

Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which clusters of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain sometimes signal abnormally. In epilepsy, the normal pattern of neuronal activity becomes disturbed, causing strange symptoms such as sensations, emotions, and behavior or sometimes convulsions, muscle spasms, and loss of consciousness. Epilepsy is a disorder with many possible causes. Anything that disturbs the normal pattern of neuron activity - from illness to brain damage to abnormal brain development - can lead to seizures.

�The spinal cord sends and receives nerve impulses to and from the brain and the rest of the body. Immediately above the spinal cord is the brainstem, the oldest part of the brain. The brainstem controls eye movement, facial movement and sensations, sleeping and waking, breathing, taste, heartbeat and other bodily functions. At its base is the cerebellum, which coordinates balance and body movement.

�The upper part of the brainstem contains the thalamus and the hypothalamus. The thalamus regulates levels of consciousness and directs nerve impulses, including sensation, sound, vision, touch, and pain. The hypothalamus regulates hormone production. It is the site of the all-important pituitary gland that controls other endocrine glands such as the ovaries, testicles, thyroid and adrenal glands.�1

Some of the patterns of disturbed neuron activity include nerves found anatomically in the brainstem, as the Epilepsy Foundation states above. The delicate brainstem rests within the hard spinal canal created by holes in these bones : skull, Atlas (C1 vertebra) and often also the Axis (C2 vertebra).

Improper position or function of the upper cervical spine vertebrae could adversely influence normal patterns of nerve activity (see scans below). Just think about what happens when you start pinching or even twisting a hose � what flows through it changes! Some of the symptoms of epilepsy can be alleviated by proper position and function of the upper cervical spine. While it may not provide a cure � it could improve the symptoms.

1 Epilepsy Foundation. http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about/science/structure.cfm