Truckee, CA Chiropractor

What is the “Mind”?
In our not so distant past, the brain was thought to be a giant pump. It made sense to the early anatomists as they observed the nerves connecting to all the parts of the body. They theorized that the brain was like the heart and pumped vital juices almost like another kind of blood. The spinal cord was thought to be a big hose and the nerves like an irrigation system. This brain juice however carried the life force and the soul. I find it fascinating how inaccurate they were but, at the same time how metaphorically correct their assumptions. Given that neurology (the study of the nervous system) is truly the last frontier of medical science, I wonder if medical students of the future will be chuckling when taught what we think about the brain today.
The modern metaphor of the layman is that the brain is like a super computer. Actually it couldn’t be farther from the truth. A computer does have a circuit board but doesn’t really self-organize, has a battery, and when slightly damaged the whole thing stops working. The brain however consists of approximately a billion cells. Each one is both a chemical and electrical factory all on its own, and uses glucose for fuel. What makes the brain work is that these cells are communicating to each other. These “connections” or as I like to call them communications are called synapses, there are well over a trillion of these. These communications are nothing like a monologue as the neurons can communicate different things at different times. So, the brain is much more like a social network about the size of china with everyone passing messages along to each other.
What’s really cool is where we are going with all this. Some of the most amazing discoveries in the field of neurology are happening by chiropractic neurologists. While like the early anatomists the early chiropractors had the specifics of what they were doing wrong, their philosophy was metaphorically correct in assuming that if you remove interference or miscommunication the body corrects itself. What the chiropractic neurologists such as Dr. Mellilo and Dr. Carrick have discovered is that many common disorders from autism too ADD are the result of miscommunication between the two halves of the brain. Like in autism one half becomes over active and one half becomes under active. It’s common for autistic kids to not be able to communicate with you but they know how many cracks there are in a city sidewalk between two streets. Basically one half of the brain is playing heavy metal the other half a lullaby. DrMellilo has been working with autistic kids and has come up with a program to use balance exercises, music, and other stimuli to balance out the brain with truly amazing results. Neat stuff! I can’t wait to see what’s next. For more information about Dr. Mellilo’s work read his book called “Disconnected Kids”.
Dr. vasey