They say that the only constant in life is change. During adolescence, change becomes very constant. Not only is the teenager faced with a steep social and emotional learning curve, but also with a rapidly changing biological reality that represents a constant challenge to homeostasis. Impulsivity is high during adolescence. Neuroscientists can tell us why…
In terms of stress and adaptation, few examples are so emotive as the currently-topical issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is estimated that 1.4 million Australians have PTSD at any one time, this number making up 6.4% of the population. Not all of these cases are combat related either. In fact, they come…
“Are you really allergic? Or are you just intolerant?” It’s a question often asked of a food intolerant person. It can often be disparaging, perhaps not intended to make to the sufferer defensive, but disheartening none-the-less. Oftentimes, people with food intolerances are treated as fussy eaters with no real problem. But the truth is that…
“Neurons that fire together, wire together,” says Max Cynader, a well-regarded Canadian Ophthalmologist and Neuroscientist, as he takes the TED Talks stage. It might be a common phrase to anyone who studied psychology at school, but to scientists and researchers, its applications are far from academic. It’s all rooted in the idea that “Contiguity breeds…
For decades, the central dogma of genetics told us that our DNA dictated our future, that at the moment of conception our health destiny was set in stone. We believed that DNA was the molecule that controlled our life, programming us towards certain health realities. It was an inheritance that shaped our future. The DNA…
Palmer College of Chiropractic recently commissioned Gallup to design and conduct a study of more than 5,000 adults aged over 18 in the USA. The purpose was to discover attitudes to chiropractic care and the chiropractic profession. The results were released on September 8 2015. This study is the first of its kind, being that…
The philosophy of vitalism that many chiropractors subscribe to holds that the force that sustains the body, heals the body. It’s a philosophical standpoint that some love and others are neutral to. After all, we have a mounting pile of proof that chiropractic works. We have thousands of happy people leaving our practices feeling better,…
Ten short years ago, a great postural concern for chiropractors was the way backpacks were worn by students and young people. They were commonly slung over one shoulder, often heavily weighted with text books and other items. It took some time for this trend to change. In 2015, it is far more common to see…
The percentage of Australians aged over 65 is increasing by the year, as part of a near-global trend towards ageing populations. As this trend progresses, chiropractors may find themselves caring for an increasing number of elderly people. Gregory Petsko, an American biochemist and scholar, says the ageing population presents us with a problem: “Unless we…
Brain plasticity, or neuroplasticity, is a topic that many neurologists, scientists and chiropractors have known about for quite some time. Todd Sampson’s ‘Redesign my Brain’ is a TV miniseries that set about trialing the concept in practical ways, making the topic easily understandable to people from all walks of life. Series one aired in 2013,…
For some, bedtime is relaxing. The cares of the day fall away as you are lulled into the land of nod, where you rest and recharge before awaking fresh and ready to face the new day. For many others, this scenario is but a dream. Bedtime for them is a time of frustration marred by…
“When I get sick, I’ll go to the doctor. When I have a bad back, I’ll head to the chiropractor.” How many times have you heard it said? This ill-fitting cliché around what a chiropractor does is something we battle when taking our message and the power of our adjustment to the world. We aren’t…
Of all the organs in the body, the brain is surely the most complex. So much so that despite the all the advancements of the modern age, no computer equaling its flexibility and processing power has yet been developed. There are literally billions of neurons and synapses that make up this complex system, hence mapping…
