Just when we silly humans think we know a thing or two, we discover new information that changes everything... In 2015, researchers stumbled across a finding that turned over longstanding doctrine in the neuroscience field: the existence of a lymphatic system within the cranium, which serves as a conduit for flushing out fluids containing metabolic waste products from brain tissues (for a deeper read, click here and here). This discovery, in the context of the also-recent discovery of the brain's glymphatic system (click here for a review), which "cleans out" the deepest of brain tissues at a cellular level, suggests the importance of pressure gradients and of the patency of effluent architecture for maintenance of neurochemical homeostasis. So where might Chiropractic care fit in? Well....click here to read the abstract of a hypothesis paper discussing the possibility that subluxation of the top segment of the vertebral column, C1 (also called "Atlas") might create a "clog in the drain" preventing efficient outflow of metabolic waste from the cranial cavity. (Full article available by journal subscription, or by request at Path of Life Chiropractic.) Research will be necessary to elucidate whether this hypothesis "holds water;" however, on an observational basis, the improved mental clarity reported by many chiropractic patients after their adjustment certainly supports this possibility. As with all science.... only time and more research will tell!
