The Vestibular System Influence on Eye Movement, Posture and Cardiopulmonary Function
The vestibular system helps provide our sense of balance and orientation. It can also influence other areas of our body such as eye movement, postural tone and even cardiopulmonary function.
How can a relatively tiny system found in the inner ear have such an impact on our physiology? It is due to its strong connection to the Nerve system, specifically the Brainstem.
The nerve circuitry of the vestibular system is very primordial. In the womb, the first neural input to the brain comes from the vestibular system. The womb is a safe and controlled environment. The perfect place where a growing baby can learn balance and how to orient him or herself. We are born for movement. We develop the skills needed for that movement while still in our mother’s womb.
The vestibular nucleus is the nerve center for the vestibular system. It's located in the brainstem. The vestibular nucleus has a direct nerve connection to eye muscles, the cerebellum and postural muscles. It has secondary connections to other areas such as the heart and lungs. This is how the functioning of the inner ear can effect other areas of the body such as vision, balance, respiration and heart rate.
Moving our head in different directional patterns, stimulates the nerve fibers in the inner ear. This stimulation excites the vestibular nuclei of the brainstem. This excitation projects to the postural muscles and nerve centers associated with the heart, eye muscles and cerebellum.
The communication between those areas of the body are always searching for equilibrium. If there is some type of disruption in the routes of communication, different interferences in balance can present. Interferences in balance can express as vertigo, blurred vision, disequilibrium, heart palpitations, headaches, hyperventilation and ear-ringing to name a few. A vertebral subluxation is one type of disruption to this communication.
Upper Cervical Chiropractic doesn’t aim to treat the symptom of the imbalance. Instead, the focus is on improving the communication between the parts involved in equilibrium. The main switching station for the nerves involved is the brainstem.
A vertebral subluxation of the upper cervical spine can effect the functional integrity of the brainstem. Correcting this problem through a specific adjustment can help promote normal function of the brainstem and nerve system.
- Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP
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