Bell’s Palsy is a condition in which a person becomes paralyzed or weaker on one side of the face. Damage to the facial nerve that controls muscles on one side of the face may cause that side of your face to droop, as well as affect your sense of taste and how your body produces tears and saliva. This condition can develop suddenly, often overnight and can cause severe discomfort. In most cases of Bell’s Palsy, the nerve that controls muscles on one side of the face is damaged by inflammation.
Symptoms of Bell’s Palsy include:
- Sudden weakness or paralysis on one side of your face that causes it to droop. This is the main symptom and it may make it hard for you to close your eye on that side of your face
- Drooling
- Eye problems, i.e. abnormal amounts of tearing or a dry eye
- Loss of taste
- Pain in or behind your ear
- Numbness in the affected side of the face
- Increased sensitivity to sound
How Our Chiropractors Can Help
The Atlas Family Health Center uses a revolutionary healthcare procedure called the Advanced Orthogonal technique. This procedure identifies subtle misalignments of the top vertebrae in the neck, and corrects them using a percussion-wave adjustment. As the facial nerve exits the brainstem and the skull, it passes alongside the first bone in the neck (called the Atlas) on its way to the face. In addition, there is a structure called the vagus nerve that also passes in close proximity to the Atlas. The vagus nerve has many tasks, and one of them is to play a key role in inflammation. Because of this, the facial nerve and vagus nerves can both lose proper function when there is a misalignment of the Upper Cervical spine.
Adjustment of the Atlas bone using the Advanced Orthogonal technique allows the for a realignment of the spine and a release of nerve tension in the brainstem structure. This positively affects the performance of both the facial and vagus nerves, allowing them to resume proper function and providing relief and positive results in regards to the Bell’s Palsy condition. In fact, a recent case study in the Chiropractic Research Journal documented the successful resolution of Bell’s Palsy conditions for two patients during a period of Upper Cervical chiropractic care.