Reviews Suffering From an Upper Cervical Misalignment?
If you are experiencing any kind of health issue, it’s important to get checked out by a chiropractor to see if there is a misalignment in your upper cervical spine. Many people don’t realize that this can be the root cause of many health problems. This blog post will discuss how to determine if you have an upper cervical misalignment and what Dr. Norris Golberg’s NUCCA approach can do to help you. Book a consultation today.
What is an upper cervical misalignment?
It is a shift in how the atlas (C1) and axis (C2), the top two bones of the neck, sit in relation to the skull. Also called a neck misalignment or cervical spine misalignment, it often shows up as a tilted head, uneven shoulders, limited head turning, or headaches and dizziness that have not had a clear explanation. Dr. Norris Golberg, a NUCCA Level 2 certified upper cervical chiropractor in Louisville, Colorado, measures it with 3D CBCT imaging rather than estimating it by feel
How do you determine if your neck is out of alignment?
One of the easiest ways to determine if you have an upper cervical misalignment is to look at your posture. If your head is tilted to one side or your shoulders or pelvis are uneven, this is a good indicator that something is out of alignment in your spine. Another way to tell if you have an upper cervical misalignment is by checking your range of motion. If you find it difficult to turn your head from side to side or look up and down, this could be a sign of an issue. Pain may or may not be present in the upper cervical spine so this is not a good indicator, in fact, most pains in the body are caused by problems in a different area.
Neck Misalignment Symptoms
There are two ways misalignments in the neck can affect your body:
- Posture is directly affected by the suboccipital muscles which connect the upper cervical bones and the skull. Think of these muscles as not regular muscles, but half muscles, half sensory organs that send important signals to the brain, which then coordinate the larger muscles to have more or less tension in an attempt to best protect and compensate for the negative effects of the upper cervical misalignment (essential damage control).
- Another effect of the misalignment is dentate ligament tensile forces into the brain stem and spinal cord. The brain stem is the most important part of the nervous system and controls all vital functions like heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. When these ligaments tug on the brain stem, it can cause a myriad of health problems.
The symptoms from a misalignment in the neck can be far-ranging as it can have an effect on the whole body, symptoms include:
- Neck and shoulder pain
- Headaches or Migraines
- Dizziness, Vertigo, and Meniere’s Disease
- Chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and occipital neuralgia
- Dysautonomia
Can a neck misalignment lead to wear over time?
Many people reading this are asking a second question: if the top of the neck sits out of place, is it wearing down, and can anything slow that down? Over years, the body compensates around a structural problem, and compensation can turn into wear. That is degeneration, and slowing it down starts with knowing where the structure stands today. Dr. Norris measures the alignment first, corrects it only when the measurements call for it, and re-measures to see whether the correction is holding.
How Can a NUCCA Certified Upper Cervical Chiropractor Help You?
The good news is that NUCCA can help! NUCCA is a chiropractic approach that focuses on correcting misalignments in the upper cervical spine. This is done by gently realigning the bones in your neck without making any forceful adjustments. NUCCA has been shown to be very effective in reducing pain and improving overall health. Sometimes patients have other spinal and extremity joint misalignments, and Dr. Norris can effectively help with those as well.
What does NUCCA do?
NUCCA uses precise measurements to identify the location of the misalignment and then makes a very small and gentle adjustment to realign the vertebrae. This type of chiropractic care is safe for people of all ages, including infants and children. This approach is very effective in relieving pressure on the brain stem and restoring proper function to the nervous system. If you think you may have an upper cervical misalignment, please contact us today to schedule a consultation!
If you think you may have an upper cervical misalignment, please call today at 720-593-9796 to schedule a consultation. NUCCA can help improve your overall health and quality of life!
We would be more than happy to do free a consultation, if it sounds like you are a good candidate for care then the next step is the initial Neuro-Structural Testing. This initial testing is where Dr. Norris thoroughly evaluates neurological function, posture asymmetries, and leg length inequality and then takes 3D CBCT imaging to very precisely measure the degree of misalignment and how to best correct it (hint: it’s not as simple as cracking the neck).
Frequently Asked Questions
Common signs include a head that tilts or sits forward, shoulders or hips that look uneven, and a harder time turning the head to one side. Pain is not a reliable guide because the upper neck often misaligns without hurting, and symptoms tend to show up elsewhere, such as headaches or dizziness. Only measurement confirms it. At Koru, that means consultation first, then Neuro-Structural Testing with 3D CBCT imaging to measure how the atlas and axis sit.
Often a past injury: a fall, a car accident or whiplash, a sports or head injury, or a difficult birth. The injury may be years in the past and long forgotten. Long-term posture habits can contribute too. Not everyone with one of these histories has a misalignment, which is why measuring matters more than guessing.
NUCCA correction is calculated from imaging for each person’s own alignment, delivered without twisting or cracking, and checked afterward against the original measurements. How long a correction takes to hold varies from person to person, so Dr. Norris re-tests along the way and lets the measurements, not a set schedule, decide the plan. If the testing shows an upper cervical misalignment is not present, he says so and helps direct the person to a more appropriate provider.
It can contribute. The upper neck is dense with sensory receptors that report to the brain about head position and balance, so a structural problem there can be part of a headache or dizziness picture. It is not the cause of every case. Sudden severe headache, weakness or numbness on one side, trouble speaking, or changes in vision need emergency medical care, not a chiropractic appointment.
Koru Chiropractic is at 956 W. Cherry Street, #102, in Louisville, Colorado, and sees people from Louisville, Boulder, Broomfield, Lafayette, Erie and Superior. Dr. Norris Golberg is NUCCA Level 2 certified, and the office has on-site CBCT imaging. Call 720-593-9796 to schedule a consultation.
Koru has more than 300 Google reviews at 5 stars, many from people who had tried several providers first, and has helped thousands of people whose symptoms had been filed under “just how it is.”
Conclusion
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE: Dr. Norris knows that most people are unfamiliar with this specialized approach let alone chiropractic care, or the fact that their chronic condition has not responded to much and many prior tests have been inconclusive. If Dr. Norris finds that during or after completing the examination you do not have an upper cervical misalignment he will know he will be unable to help and will simply give you your money back and even help to refer or direct you to a more appropriate provider.