A good friend of mine asked me a question about the stellate ganglion in regards to a family member’s injection procedure and asked me how chiropractic interacts with that structure, which reminded me that at some point I had wanted to write a quick blog about it.

The stellate ganglion is a larger node of the autonomic nervous system that is deep in front of the lower cervical spine. It's a large cluster of peripheral autonomic nerve cells that are involved in regulation of several important autonomic functions in the neck and chest including: heart rate and regularity, opening and closing of the blood vessel in the upper extremities, some pain perception and anxiety threshold, regulation of tears and saliva production.

The stellate ganglion is of interest to chiropractors because of its proximity to the anterior lower cervical spine and the fact that it's sensitive to injury especially from rapid extensions such as whiplash. This may explain some of the symptoms that patients often report after an extension cervical rapid injuries such as palpitations, nausea, abnormal cold and hot sensation in the face and hands, feeling anxious, unusual runny eyes nose or dry mouth.

Manual adjustments to the lower neck, upper back, and anterior first rib as well as deep tissue myofascial release deep in the anterior lower cervical spine can have an impact on the regulation of the stellate ganglion and associated autonomic functions. I have found in 30 years of clinical practice that especially addressing the muscular injuries of the anterior cervical spine in patients post whiplash and concussion can make a huge difference in long term symptom management. And I believe that some of that impact is probably due to relieving stress on the stellate ganglion from Injured and scarred surrounding soft tissue structures.