https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320306138_Heart_Rate_Variability_to_Assess_the_Changes_in_Autonomic_Nervous_System_Function_Associated_With_Vertebral_Subluxation

The last part in the “beyond pain” series is about the correlation of spinal functional lesions and their impact on the regulation of your autonomic nervous system (referred to as ANS).

When I received my education 25 + years ago, autonomic dysfunction was thought to be a relatively rare disorder and there were few, much less non-invasive testing for it. Much has changed since then, and ANS dysfunction of various severity is recognized as prevalent, even leading to the current terminology DYSAUTONOMIA.

The ANS regulates automatic, unconscious vital functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, digestive enzyme production, heat/cold thermostat and many, many more. The ANS is on a constant feedback loop gathering information from the periphery, analyzing in the lower brain centers and sending signals down the spinal cord for appropriate response: elevating your heart rate for exercise, moving your bowels when full, increasing sweating when hot etc… So dysautonomia can be very confusing to diagnose or define, since it can involve very different symptoms that may be vague.

Chiropractors from many decades ago may never have heard of the term dysautonomia, however their work back then and our work today continues to powerfully help regulate the ANS by eliminating unnecessary breakdown in the feedback loop, both sensory as well as the ANS motor system. I have found that to be especially true in children, and more recently infants dealing with physically challenging births. I believe that many of the cases of unexplained colic, fussy babies, is actually a manifestation of autonomic dysfunction especially to the delicate digestion of newborns.

The “diagnosis” of dysautonomia is a broad and complex topic that cannot be addressed in this blog, but hopefully soon. There are simply physical tests that can be a clue (asymetrical blood pressure and SPO2 for example), advanced medical testing (table tilt, sweat test), and some newer non-invasive and inexpensive in office diagnostics such as heart rate variability.