The 3 Stages of a Subluxation: Understanding How Nervous System Stress Impacts Your Life
Subluxation isn’t just a term chiropractors throw around—it’s the foundation of how your nervous system can become overwhelmed, affecting every part of your health. According to Dr. Tony Ebel, subluxations develop in three distinct stages, each impacting your body differently. Recognizing these stages can help you understand not just where your health is, but how to regain control over it.
Stage 1: Acute Subluxation (The Initial Stress Response)
This stage is like the body's first alarm system going off. It happens after a physical, emotional, or chemical stressor that your body can’t fully adapt to. Think of a difficult birth, a car accident, prolonged emotional stress, or even a poor diet.
What It Looks Like in Your Life:
Tension in your neck or back
Headaches that seem to appear out of nowhere
Trouble sleeping or sudden fatigue
Irritability or mood swings
Digestive issues
How It Affects Children:
Colic, reflux, or difficulty sleeping in infants
Irritability, constant crying, or trouble self-soothing
Developmental delays, poor latch during breastfeeding
Frequent ear infections or digestive issues
At this stage, the nervous system is in a high-alert mode, often stuck in the fight-or-flight response. While the symptoms might seem minor or sporadic, they are your body’s early warnings that something isn’t right.
Stage 2: Chronic Subluxation (The Adaptation Phase)
When subluxations aren’t addressed in Stage 1, your body starts to adapt to dysfunction. The problem is that while adaptation helps you function day-to-day, it comes at a cost: chronic stress wears down your system.
What It Looks Like in Your Life:
Recurring pain that becomes part of your "normal"
Anxiety, brain fog, or difficulty concentrating
Chronic fatigue, even after sleep
Immune system issues (frequent colds, allergies, inflammation)
Hormonal imbalances or irregular cycles
How It Affects Children:
Behavioral challenges like ADHD-like symptoms, emotional dysregulation
Speech delays or learning difficulties
Sensory processing disorders or anxiety
Recurrent illnesses, asthma, or allergies
In this phase, the nervous system begins to operate in a stressed baseline, meaning it struggles to regulate properly. Your body compensates, but symptoms start to stack up, often affecting multiple systems.
Stage 3: Neurodegenerative Subluxation (The Breakdown Stage)
This is the most advanced stage, where subluxations have been present for years, causing neurological damage and systemic dysfunction. Your body can no longer effectively adapt, and health starts to break down.
What It Looks Like in Your Life:
Autoimmune conditions or chronic illnesses
Severe anxiety, depression, or neurological disorders
Developmental delays in children
Digestive disorders like IBS, Crohn’s, or severe food sensitivities
Poor recovery from illness or injury
How It Affects Children:
Severe developmental delays or regression
Diagnosed neurological conditions like autism spectrum disorders
Failure to thrive, chronic digestive issues, or immune dysfunction
Ongoing emotional struggles, inability to regulate mood
At this point, the nervous system is severely compromised, and the communication between the brain and body is fragmented. Recovery here requires consistent, focused neurological care to restore function.
How Do Subluxations Develop?
Subluxations don’t just appear overnight. They are the result of accumulated physical, chemical, and emotional stressors, often starting as early as birth. Consider:
Birth Trauma: Forceps, C-sections, prolonged labor, and even maternal stress prior to birth
Childhood Stress: Falls, accidents, emotional stress
Lifestyle Habits: Poor posture, screen time, processed foods
Emotional Stress: Chronic anxiety, trauma, lack of coping mechanisms
Each stressor chips away at the nervous system’s ability to adapt, leading to subluxation over time.
Healing Happens in Stages Too
Just as subluxations develop in stages, healing happens in stages as well. Recovery isn’t linear, and it doesn’t happen overnight. It involves:
Release (Initial Stage): Reducing nervous system stress and restoring basic function
Reorganize Phase: Rebuilding resilience and strengthening brain-body communication
Rebuild: Achieving long-term health, adaptability, and nervous system balance
Stay tuned for our blog on the stages of healing to dive deeper into this process.
Chiropractic: Not a Treatment, But a Path to Healing
It’s important to understand that chiropractic isn’t a treatment for your symptoms or conditions. Rather, it’s a method to help your body heal and repair itself by restoring proper nervous system function.
Through gentle, specific neurological adjustments, chiropractic care helps to:
Reduce stress on the nervous system
Restore proper brain-body communication
Improve adaptability and resilience
Early detection and consistent care can prevent subluxations from progressing, while ongoing chiropractic care can help your body adapt, heal, and thrive.
