Introduction:
The atlas or C1, is the first cervical bone in the cervical spine. The C1’s ability to protect all the nerves that goes through it, determines how the whole person feels and heals each day. The bottom part of the brain, called the brain stem, actually reaches down to the second bone of the cervical spine. This means that C1 is actually not only protecting the nerves that go from your body to your brain, but actually protecting the brain itself.
As a Linwood chiropractor the C1 cervical bone is evaluated for each and every person that comes into our office. C1 protects the part of the brain that controls breathing, blood pressure, and heartbeat.
What C1 Nerves Control
The nerves originating from the C1 vertebra include the suboccipital nerve and branches of the cervical plexus, extending from the uppermost cervical spinal nerves.
C1 nerves control blood supply to the head, pituitary gland, scalp, bones of the face, brain, inner and middle ear, sympathetic nervous system.
C1 Nerve Muscle Innervation
These C1 nerves innervate important muscles involved in head and neck movement, such as the suboccipital muscles responsible for head extension and rotation, the trapezius for shoulder elevation and neck extension, and the sternocleidomastoid for head rotation and flexion.
What Symptoms can occur if the C1 Bones Aggravates the C1 Nerves?
If the C1 bone is stuck or misaligned, the nerves that go through the C1 can become irritated from the C1 bone. This irritation can cause pain or a change in the communication between the brain and body that is transported over the nerve. This causes the original communication signal to be different, faster, slower, more, or less than it was intended to be. In return the implementation of the answer to that message from the brain, which is intended to meet the needs of the body can be improper as well, because the response can be miscommunicated by a C1 bone that needs to be adjusted.
Most common results of a C1 bone that needs to be adjusted are headaches, nervousness, insomnia, head colds, high blood pressure, migraine headaches, nervous breakdowns, amnesia, chronic tiredness, dizziness.
Spine Model Adjustment:

The C1 bone is the bone that the base of your skull sits on, connecting your skull to your spine. This is where every nerve in your body must go through to communicate with the brain, which is the master control center of all your nerves and all the needs of your body. If you have an C1 bone that is stuck or misaligned it can have a negative impact on any area of your health. Getting an adjustment from a Linwood Chiropractor can restore health and proper nerve communication.
If you Struggle to Find Relief, Consider a C1 Evaluation
At our chiropractor Linwood NJ office we see many people who have been living with symptoms from C1 problems for years. They have known that they had headaches or the many different symptoms that occur from C1 bones that need adjustments, but never knew that the C1 bone was the cause of their symptoms. This would lead them to try a number of things to get relief for their problem with little success.
The reason their success would be limited is because they were addressing symptom relief by trying to take headache medication, for example, without correcting the C1 bone which was causing their irritation on the C1 nerves that lead to headaches. In this situation headache medication would not work long term because medications can not adjust a bone. As a result over the years, their symptoms would just come back and many times continue to get worse.
With a chiropractic exam, x-rays if necessary, and an adjustment plan to adjust and restore health to C1 bone and nerves people experience amazing results and relief.
Testimony
”I suffered with migraines almost everyday for 50 years. They told me I would have migraines for the rest of my life and I was starting to believe them. I’ve had medicine and botox treatments for 2 years with limited results. I have had weeks now, where I don’t have migraines. I wake up in the morning and say to my husband, wow, is this how you feel everyday.” Ms.B.
Conclusion
Understanding the nerve pathways from the C1, first cervical bone, is crucial for diagnosing and treating conditions affecting the head and neck region. Anytime you improve the alignment and health of the C1 bone you are improving the health of the nerves that go through the C1 bone, and ultimately the health of every cell, organ, and tissue that is innervated by those nerves.
Fresh Start Chiropractic 609-926-8900 a chiropractor Linwood, NJ can evaluate your spine for C1 problems that cause headaches and neck pain and provide you with relief through the benefits of safe, gentle chiropractic care.
If you need help with anything, you can always leave a comment in the section below or email me at drjohnfresh@gmail.com.
My book, The Health Equation has tons of great information about getting and staying healthy, active, and young.
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