When Asleep, Does Your Body "Jump"!

by John Degenhart, DC

An 82-year-old woman came to my office and exclaimed, “Only when I lie down to rest, my whole body “jumps”. No doctor can help me, can you?”

I explained to her that many patients in my practice, if their spine misaligns, it causes like an electrical “jolt” to the body, where the entire body shakes for a split second. And as I make gentle chiropractic adjustments, the nerves of the body heal, and the jolts gradually just fade away.

Then she asked, “But why does it only occur when I lay down to rest?” What I have observed for 42 years and seeing thousands of patients, is that while we are awake and moving and doing our chores, the muscles are kept in motion and the body won’t jerk. But once we lie down, as the body tries to rest, then the body gives us the signal that a nerve is pinched. So the body jolts due to pinched nerves that are busy while we are busy, but the muscles of the body “jump” when at rest. She said, “Let’s give it a go!”

So I started. Her left leg was ½” longer, and I corrected her misaligned left sacroiliac joint. Her neck was out to the right. She sits up to watch T.V., lets her head sag to the side, and it misaligns her neck. So I don’t want to crack an 82-year old’s neck. I used a gentle drop with the table. She came in two times a week and in three weeks she exclaimed, “My body-jumping is gone—I could see why they voted this office the best chiropractic office in town four years in a row!”

To be honest, we strive to be our best, but the truth is, the body is magnificent. I know you get better results by being gentle with the spine; especially an 82-year-old spine. So if you know somebody who upon rest, their body “jumps” send them in. I love seeing the excitement on people’s faces when you solve a problem that other doctors didn’t understand