https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8610241/
I am reading through a backlog of research articles in the very few minutes available in my “free time” (of which there is little during Dr. Alvarez absence). I still remember the anatomical breakthrough research that was coming out as I was finishing chiropractic training, because it was a bit of a vindication for what our colleagues had been reporting from the longstanding clinical observations of many decades: there is a unique anatomical relationship between the upper cervical spine, especially some of the deepest and smallest posterior muscles at the base of the skull, the meninges (AKA outer connective tissue layer of the spinal cord and brain), and a host of poorly explained neurological symptoms: headaches, sensation of pressure, and tingling in the head etc. Chiropractors were reporting the ability to resolve some of those mysterious problems with specific adjustments and muscle work to the upper cervical area, but the camp of traditional neurologists were saying this was not possible since there was no anatomical basis for it. Until the newer dissection methods, tissue fixation techniques and higher resolution MRIs proved them wrong.
The so-called myodural bridge is a band of connective tissue that connects two very small suboccipital muscles to the dura mater at the lower brainstem. It is relaxed under normal conditions. It can be subject to increased tension after upper cervical injuries such as sports concussions, whiplash, and often from birth straining to the delicate upper cervical spine of a newborn. The resulting symptoms of increased meningeal tension are difficult to describe, but most commonly involve poorly localized headaches, a sensation of head pain when the neck is flexed, sharp pain at the base of the skull when looking up, a sensation of increased pressure in the head, eyes, sinuses and ears, a sensation of pressure and tingling in the face, a sensation of the head being too heavy for the neck etc. Specific chiropractic intervention and muscle work can be helpful and worth exploring.
