Stiff Neck+Low Back Pain=Anxiety

How Physical Alignment Can Keep You Calm.

A racing mind and anxiety are heavily influenced by the alignment of the neck and the lower back, the sacrum. The sacrum is the flat bone at the base of the spine and makes up the center piece of your pelvis.

The common name for this type of work is called Cranio-sacral work. The reason I write about this with connection to racing thoughts and anxiety is the link of these body parts to the parasympathetic nervous system.

The parasympathetic nervous system is a portion of the nervous system that controls our bodies ability to stay calm. The vagus nerve is a major portion of the parasympathetic system, and it runs down the neck and attaches to muscles within our respiration, heart, digestion, and diaphragm. The sacral nerves are also a major parasympathetic area, and they help control lower digestion and hormone production.

I see patients daily who have a racing mind tell me that they are so relaxed that they could fall asleep during the session. Structural body work on these areas increase the parasympathetic TONE. The organs connected to these areas(adrenals, thyroid, ovaries, testes) by these nerves to keep us calm chemically. As you naturally increase parasympathetic tone, you decrease the body’s sympathetic tone. Too much sympathetic stimulation leads to “fight or flight” or adrenal exhaustion.

The neck and lower back areas contains the acupuncture points that help energize the thyroid, adrenals, digestion, gall bladder, and detoxification pathways. Keeping these two areas aligned and in free motion will increase your bodies ability to relax. Treating these areas with solid cranio-sacral work along with proper support of the stress glands like the thyroid, adrenals, and ovaries/testes, will create calm and peace in the body.

Find a good cranial sacral practitioner:
– Chiropractor
– Massage Therapist
– Physical Therapist
– Body Worker

Once a month is good:)
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Illustration by @lindsayblaze