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Episode #60: Are Cervical Spine Chiropractic Adjustments Safe? Neck Pain, Cervical Instability, & Headaches With Chiropractor & Hypermobility Coach Dr. Taylor Goldberg, DC
Chiropractic adjustments are often used for the treatment of neck pain and headaches. However, there is an increasing awareness that cervical spine manipulation may not be safe, therefore it’s important to know the risks, benefits, and alternatives when determining if cervical spine adjustments are best for you.
There is a strong relationship between the structures of the neck and head with balance and performance in barbell training and powerlifting. This is why we coach people to maintain a neutral neck posture in line with the rest of their spine and to focus their eyes on a specific point close to their bodies while executing the powerlifts.
Not considering and adhering to sound technique in the cervical spine may lead to neck pain, headaches, dizziness, or injuries in barbell training. This may lead you to seek out the care of a chiropractor for manipulation or adjustment of the cervical spine for neck pain or other disorders of the head and neck. But is chiropractic adjustment of the cervical spine safe and what you need?
In this episode of the PRS Podcast, our hosts sit down to discuss Dr. Taylor Goldberg, DC who discusses the efficacy and safety of cervical spine manipulation.
There are many other treatments that can provide the same benefit in a safer capacity
One of the iIssue with traditional chiropractors is they market themselves as the only way to fix symptoms and make someone healthier.
The narrative and language used by traditional chiropractors scares people into believing they need adjustments forever and it is the only way to feel well
Chiropractic manipulation isn’t doing what it says it’s doing because…
a. Bad palpation skillsb. Not adjusting the level we think we are adjusting
c. Bones don’t moveMedical Subluxation & Chiropractic Subluxation are different confusing people about the mechanism of their pain
Contraindications to manipulating the cervical spine and when WOULD she recommend and use cervical spine manipulation?
How are the neck, ears, jaw, and eyes connected to dizziness and balance
How might movement of the neck while lifting cause dizziness or fainting
Is there truly bad posture and how does that influence neck pain?
Types of headaches stemming from our traps and how they are different from migraines
a. Cervicogenic headaches
b. Tension headachesWhere does botox fit into the treatment of cervicogenic and tension headaches?
Some of Taylor’s Educational Articles:
Connect with Taylor @theyhypermobilechiro on Instagram
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Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:00:00] I just want to start this by saying how significant eye gaze is for pain, because I address eye gaze with almost every single one of my rehab coaching clients and it makes, even if it's just making a 5% difference, 5% can be a lot for someone who's experiencing pain.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC: [00:00:23] Welcome to the Progressive Rehab & Strength podcast. We're your hosts, physical therapists, strength coaches, and clinical coaches Dr. Alyssa Haveson and Dr. Rori Alter. Join us on our journey of barbell strength training and rehabilitation.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:00:41] Welcome back to the Progressive Rehab & Strength podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Rori Alter, back with the lovely Dr. Alyssa Haveson here at Progressive Rehab & Strength. She is also a clinical coach. I said that backwards. I don't normally say it like that, but you want to know what? I'm backwards today. I guess I'm all over the place. I've been in vacation mode for the last three weeks. It's the end of the summer and I've definitely just been chilling. How's your summer been going? I feel like we haven't talked in a while.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC: [00:01:10] I don't know if it's happening. I feel like there's been so much going on. I don't know. I've been busy.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:01:18] Oh, you've been busy with what? Well, you had wedding. You traveled across the country. You've been to competitions. You did your own competition. Rescued more cats.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC: [00:01:26] I don't know. I feel like it's going very quickly. And it gets shorter every year.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:01:35] No, I always say that when we're little, we're like ten, that summer is a large portion of our life. Every year that we add, our summer a smaller portion of our life, and it just gets shorter and shorter every time. But this summer is the first summer that I've actually enjoyed a lot of it. I've been going to the beach a lot, went on a long vacation, going out to the pool a lot. Anyway, I guess it's because I have a kid who needs to do things and be outside. So in any event, we're back at the podcast here recording one of the episodes I forgot about before I went on vacation. We're going to catch up here and talk a little bit more about the neck and barbell training and specifically your eye gaze, the neck position, and eye gaze position that we recommend for each of the lifts. We're not just going to talk about the low bar back. We're going to talk about the low bar, back squat, high bar, back squat, and front squat, because I think that those are common squats that people will do, whether they're using an accessory, they're using them as supplemental exercises, or their main lift. You know, I think we should cover that. We'll talk about the deadlift, the bench press, and the overhead press, and what we feel is the optimal neck position and eye gaze based on how we would execute them.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:02:58] You can go back to our ten minute tip episodes on each of these lifts. I don't think we have one on the front squat, but we have a ten minute tip on how to execute the back squat, the conventional deadlift, the sumo deadlift, the bench press, and the overhead press. In those that's the technique that we're referring to when we're talking about eye gaze and neck position in this podcast episode. One thing that is important to understand is that we do not speak in absolutes. I think that one of the things that people will experience in social media or the internet or when they're listening to people that they learn from is absolute ideas, dogmatic ideas, this is right, this is wrong, this is how you have to do it, fix this, don't do that the right way, the wrong way, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. I think a lot of that is because some people truly believe that, but also people respond to extremes. They respond to hooks and catch phrases and they just want to draw you in. They might say these things to be in opposition to people that are their competitor. Alyssa, you said this in one of our last recordings that one of our favorite sayings here is everything is adaptable, but not everything is optimal. Right? We just want things to be as optimal as possible for you. Even if that means that it's not perfect relative to the way that we teach our model, or we just have a model as a reference point and then have to modify things for the individual. Alyssa, you and I talk about this a lot, right? Remember when you're listening to those podcast episodes on how to squat bench deadlift and overhead press, there are models that we base movement off of and are teaching coaching off of, but it's a starting point. It's not the end all be all, so when we talk about eye gaze and neck position and joint neutrality, I think that is kind of when we... Alyssa, why don't you explain just so we can get on the right page here with the person who's listening? The neck is an accessory joint, so basically it does not contribute to the bar moving, right? So, what are our loose rules about that in barbell training?Dr. Taylor Goldberg: [00:00:00] Exactly like standing isn't the solution. And there was a whole wave of like sitting is the new smoking. No sitting is sitting, standing is standing. We need both in our life. We need to just keep changing our positions as much as we can when something doesn't feel comfortable, do something else. And sometimes we're not aware of that because we're so in the zone when we're working. So having some external reminders can be really, really helpful.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:00:24] Welcome to the Progressive Rehab & Strength podcast. We're your hosts, physical therapist, strength coaches and clinical coaches. Dr. Alyssa Haveson. And Dr. Rori Alter. Join us on our journey of barbell strength training and rehabilitation. All right. Welcome back to the Progressive Rehab & Strength podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Alter, head clinical coach here at Progressive Rehab & Strength with my lovely co-host, as usual, Dr. Alyssa Haveson, also a clinical coach here at Progressive Rehab & Strength. And we are concluding our cervical spine month with speaking with Dr. Taylor Goldberg. She's a chiropractor and a virtual hypermobility coach located in Colorado Springs. We're going to be talking all about chiropractic manipulation, when it's indicated and when it's contraindicated in the use of treating neck pain or neck dysfunction and disorders and the safety and efficacy of it. So Taylor, why don't you tell us a little bit about before we dive into all that stuff, your athletic training, your athletic background, your training history, and your journey to becoming a chiropractor who specializes in working with people who have hypermobility.
Dr. Taylor Goldberg: [00:01:38] Yeah, so I'm Taylor. I was a competitive cheerleader my whole life. Cheerleading was my life, and then I went to college, didn't really exercise, took the kind of retired athlete route, and realized very quickly that that was not going to work for my body. Then when I went to chiropractic school, I started strength training again, started incorporating things that I enjoy, like handstands and tumbling back into my life, which took me some time to get there. I'm currently strength training. I have my own coach because I think coaches need coaches too, and trying to enjoy movement again in a way that feels good for me and incorporates things that I love, like handstands and tumbling in general.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:02:18] I have a question for you. When you say strength training, how do you define that or what does that mean to you? So for Alyssa and I, strength training means barbells focusing on the squat bench, press, deadlift, and overhead press. But for other people it can mean different things. So for you, what does strength training mean?
Dr. Taylor Goldberg: [00:02:35] So for me personally, strength training is the basics like squats, deadlifts, and bench press. I think strength training in general is very goal specific and something that's going to get you stronger to whatever your specific goal is. So personally, one of my biggest goals this year is to do my first fourteener, which is when you hike 14,000 elevation. My strength training has been tailored to that specifically. I'm doing a lot of step ups and box jumps and because there's a lot of rocks when you're climbing a fourteener, weighted and loading them accordingly, but also still incorporating deadlift squat bench press.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:03:14] Awesome. So we do lift with the barbells. We do. I love to hear it. Okay.
Dr. Taylor Goldberg: [00:03:20] Definitely not afraid of a barbell over here.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:03:22] You also said you were looking for like, why didn't not training or not exercising work for your body. What was that and what made you realize that you needed to do something?
Dr. Taylor Goldberg: [00:03:35] Yeah. So I have hypermobile ehlers-danlos syndrome, which is what I specialize in. Specifically with hypermobility, we need really strong muscles because our ligaments cannot handle the load. They can't provide the stability we need. Our muscles have to do that, and if you don't have strong muscles to do that it can cause a lot of issues and we can become really unstable. I was starting to sublux my shoulders a lot more. I was starting to be in a lot more pain and I also just didn't feel good. I didn't have good energy. I felt like a knot. I didn't feel like myself. My fog was at its all time high and I think strength training is just a really good way to not only train yourself physically but mentally as well and have goals to work towards and have something to accomplish I think is really important for everybody to have. Not having that definitely impacted me negatively.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC: [00:04:27] Before you started to incorporate strength training, were you doing any other treatment for that that you didn't find effective or wasn't really cutting it for you?
Dr. Taylor Goldberg: [00:04:38] Yeah, I was going to the chiropractor when I was in undergrad, I had extreme neck pain. I've dealt with neck pain my entire life. I would go to the chiropractor and it didn't really do much. Even in chiro school, I was still the first beginning of it when I wasn't fully back into my routine of strength training and slowly gradually adding it in. I was getting adjusted way too much because in chiro school they adjust you way too much. It's causing more harm than good.