07/16/2026
I had a great new experience last weekend. I did my first motorcycle camping trip. It was a great combination of two things that I love doing and it was entirely new. I actually learned a good bit from it.
So how on Earth is motorcycle camping relevant to chiropractic?
It was a new experience; an opportunity to learn. Learning, from a neurological perspective, is change in the nervous system in response to the environment or an experience. This is usually understood as new synaptic connections being made (synapses are the connections between brain cells). This is what happens when a new experience is something your nervous system can tolerate at that time.
But what if the experience is not something your nervous system can tolerate? If the experience is too much, the nervous system makes changes in the body to protect you. Tension increases in muscles, blood pressure increases, cortisol (stress hormone) enters the blood, fascia stiffens, etc. this response was great when we were hunted by saber toothed cats and fighting neanderthals and bears on a somewhat regular basis.
Now too much happens more subtly. Most of us are never physically attacked and we don’t even have to hunt our own food. Now too much comes in the form of stress. We have jobs, bills, taxes, and 24 hours isn’t a lot of time anymore.
When you get adjusted, your body has the chance to shed some of these defensive layers and your nervous system gets a second chance to learn from an experience that was too much at the time.
Moral of the rambling: try new things; it’s good for you and maybe take care of your nervous system. Get adjusted.