Question
Hi May I call you Rebekah?  I had 3 years of hell in '94-97..coughed 24/7 until I cracked 4 ribs, incontinent, at least 9 different specialists and over a dozen diagnostic procedures.  It was a chiro that adjusted my neck on the first visit that gave relief of the cough. Had this neck wringing for 14 mos. Then saw a nsgn, had ct scan, myelogram, discectomy with bovine graft at C6/7.  Cough cured for 5 wonderful years. In '03, cough returned, saw same nsgn, MRI disc pressure at C5/6. Nsgn denies operating for a cough..says I had a gait problem (nobody knew about?) and says the neck does'nt make you cough. Can you help me to get the info needed to verify cough/neck connection. There are a lot of respiratory patients who are not getting the help they need.  Will you help me?  lovepat  

Answer
There are nerves from the head and neck that could affect the trigger for you to cough. There are nerves directly from the cervical spine to structures, as well as autonomic nerves, which run your "automatic" functions. Most likely these would be the ones causing a cough, because the "cough" function is related to the gag reflex...a protective mechanism. The act of coughing actually comes from the diaphragm, which is lower at the junction between the thoracic and lumbar spine, while your trigger sensors for the cough are up higher.

It's not unusual for a patient to have problems above and below an area of degeneration, especially once they've had surgical intervention.

As far as respiratory patients, there are a lot of different reasons and locations of problems. For instance, I know asthmatics that have been able to come off inhalers, etc, with regular thoractic adjustments. Allergies can be affected by cervical adjustments. Sinus problems usually relate directly to C2. It goes on and on...there really isn't one magic bullet as far as the level goes, but I know that chiropractic is highly effective for many types of problems.

Hope this helps!
Dr. Schell