Let me start by stating this in the strongest possible terms: This information is not intended to replace the services of a mental health specialist with a chiropractor. It is designed to explain the potential effects of chiropractic care on mental health.
Throughout much of my career, I have treated hundreds of patients per week, and their feedback has been remarkably consistent. They often reported improvements, including reduced neck and back pain, relief from numbness and tingling, fewer headaches, improved mobility, and a return to activities they had once avoided – whether walking, working, playing sports, or simply enjoying life again. As a traditional chiropractic family practitioner, I found great satisfaction in these predictable and positive outcomes.
Yet beneath those physical improvements, I noticed a recurring theme – something deeper and more intriguing. Patients frequently told me things like: “I can see better. I can hear better. I sleep more soundly. I can think more clearly. I concentrate better. I don’t worry as much. I feel more focused … and honestly, I’m just happier.” These observations occurred so frequently that they became an integral part of my daily practice, although I didn’t fully comprehend the neurological mechanisms behind them at the time.
Still, I never dismissed these responses. I made it a point to listen closely and ask more detailed questions, particularly about their emotional and cognitive well-being. I was also curious, even then, about the full scope of healing that chiropractic care might offer and the science behind it that was not yet uncovered.
Mental Illness: A Public-Health Crisis
In 2018, about 19.2% of adults or 49,536,000 people in the United States experienced mental illness, defined as having any mental, behavioral or emotional disorder in the past year that met criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM–IV), excluding developmental or substance use disorders.
This report describes the percentage of U.S. adults who have taken prescription medication for their mental health or have received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional in the past 12 months by select characteristics, based on data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Estimates are also presented for any mental health treatment, defined as having taken medication for mental health, received counseling or therapy, or both, in the past 12 months.1
This does not account for those who suffer from mental illness, yet seek no care. One in five is considered an epidemic on a national basis and cannot be ignored.
CNS Disruptions and Neural Function
Spinal biomechanical lesions, also referred to as vertebral subluxation, involve altered afferent input from muscle spindles in the paraspinal muscles at the lesion (subluxated) levels. This disruption in sensory input can lead to maladaptive central neural plasticity changes, resulting in impaired sensorimotor integration and control.
These maladaptive central plastic changes in the central nervous system (CNS) can worsen over time, which is thought to contribute to dysfunction, pain, and other symptoms by disrupting normal sensorimotor control. These maladaptive central plastic changes are thought to be reversed or improved through chiropractic care.2-4
Sensory information from deep paraspinal muscles surrounding a CSMC (central segment motor control) problem is thought to be the driving factor in the widespread maladaptive neuroplastic changes within the CNS, with clear evidence indicating that maladaptive dysfunction of the deep paraspinal muscles can occur.
It is likely to reduce the ability of the CNS to accurately perceive what is going on at that level of the vertebral column (which, over time, is reflected by the blurring of the sensorimotor cortical areas and is likely to lead to poor vertebral motor control, maintaining a central segmental motor control problem.5
Central segmental motor control problems change the sensory (afferent) input the CNS receives from the small, deep paraspinal muscles of the vertebral column. This leads to altered sensorimotor and multimodal integration of afferent input, changing the accuracy of inner-body and external-world schemas.
Over time, these changes in the awareness of the CNS of what is occurring inside the body and the world around it are thought to lead to maladaptive changes in neural function, as well as maladaptive changes in body structure and function, worsening its ability to adapt and respond to internal and environmental cues, thus leading to the development of less-than-ideal motor control, and variety of symptoms, diseases and disorders.5-7
Neuroplastic Brain Changes Attributable to Chiropractic
Studying the effects of chiropractic care using techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) revealed that neuroplastic brain changes occur in structures such as the primary somatosensory cortex, primary motor cortex, prefrontal cortex (PFC), and cerebellum cortex (PFC), and cerebellum. Improvements in either prefrontal cortex or cerebellar function could explain many of the clinically relevant changes that have been documented following chiropractic care, such as improved joint position sense error, cortical processing, reflex excitability, reaction time, cortical sensorimotor integration, motor control, upper and lower limb muscle functions, and pain changes, particularly changes in unpleasantness feelings and catastrophizing.8
The PFC is considered the central hub for mental comorbidities associated with chronic pain, including not only pain and unpleasant feelings, but also depressive mood, impaired cognition, and pain catastrophizing, among others. Both the PFC and the cerebellum are fundamental structures responsible for multimodal integration and an accurate inner body schema and external world schema.
It is also becoming increasingly evident that both the PFC and cerebellum influence emotional control and mental health, as well as neuroendocrine responses, autonomic nervous system function and immune function.8
Following a chiropractic spinal adjustment, spectral analysis of resting EEG revealed a significant increase in theta, alpha and beta power, and a significant decrease in delta power, in the chiropractic group post-intervention and at four weeks. A significant decrease in N30 SEP (somatosensory-evoked potential) peak amplitude was found in the chiropractic group both post-intervention and at four weeks. Source localization demonstrated substantial changes in alpha and beta power within the DMN (default mode network) post-intervention and at four weeks.
Significant improvements in the light sleep stage were observed in the chiropractic group, along with an enhanced overall quality of life post-four weeks, including substantial reductions in anxiety, depression, fatigue, and pain. These findings suggest many of the health benefits of chiropractic care are attributed to altered brain activity.8
Chiropractic now has an answer to statements like, “I can see better. I can hear better. I sleep more soundly. I can think more clearly. I concentrate better. I don’t worry as much. I feel more focused … and honestly, I’m just happier.” Chiropractic can indeed contribute to helping eradicate mental health issues, provided we don’t overstate our part in the process.
References
- Terlizzi EP, Zablotsky B. "Mental Health Treatment Among Adults: United States, 2019." NCHS Data Brief No. 380, September 2020.
- Haavik H, et al. The contemporary model of vertebral column joint dysfunction and impact of high-velocity, low-amplitude controlled vertebral thrusts on neuromuscular function. Euro J Appl Physiol, 2021;121(10):2675-2720.
- Chang W-J, Buscemi V, Liston MB, et al. Sensorimotor cortical activity in acute low back pain: a cross-sectional study. J Pain, 2019;20:819-829.
- Brown SH, Gregory DE, Carr JA, et al. ISSLS prize winner: adaptations to the multifidus muscle in response to experimentally induced intervertebral disc degeneration. Spine, 2011;36:1728-1736.
- Haavik H, et al. Neuroplastic responses to chiropractic care: broad impacts on pain, mood, sleep, and quality of life. Brain Sci, 2024;14(11):1124.
- Alcantara J, Alcantara JD, Alcantara J. Spinal subluxation. In: Anrig C, Plaugher G (eds). Pediatric Chiropractic. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2013.
- Holt K, Haavik H, Murphy B, et al. Effectiveness of chiropractic care to improve sensorimotor function associated with falls risk in older people: a randomized controlled trial. J Manip Physiol Ther, 2016a; 39:267-278.
- Haavik H, et al., 2024, Op Cit.
