Conditions & Concerns
Brain Health & Healthy Aging
How well the brain and nervous system coordinate movement, balance, stress and recovery matters to how we experience aging.
Two questions become more important as people get older: “What am I going to be like when I'm older?” and “How well will my brain and body be functioning?” At Foothills Chiropractic, we think those two questions are closely connected.
Healthy aging involves far more than reaching a certain age. How well someone moves, balances, responds to stress, stays active, coordinates movement, sleeps and interacts with the world can all influence quality of life.
Our role is not to diagnose or treat diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Our focus is evaluating aspects of neurological, musculoskeletal and functional health that help us understand how a person is functioning today.
Why this matters
Living longer is one thing. Living well is another.
For many people, the real goal of healthy aging isn't simply adding years to life. It's maintaining as much function, independence and enjoyment of those years as possible.
That's why we ask what you actually want to keep doing. The answer is rarely a number on a chart — it's a round of golf, a trip, a grandchild to keep up with, or confidence on a flight of stairs. Those goals are about function, and function is something we can look at and re-measure over time.
- Staying physically active
- Playing golf and staying in the game
- Traveling comfortably
- Maintaining balance and confidence on your feet
- Keeping up with children and grandchildren
- Remaining independent at home
- Recovering well from stress
- Continuing to challenge the brain and body
The brain & nervous-system connection
Your brain is constantly receiving and responding to information
The brain and nervous system are continuously taking in information and responding to it. That information arrives from many sources at once, and the brain has to integrate it into something coherent.
Those signals contribute to movement, coordination, postural control, adaptation and how the body responds to stress. When one of those inputs changes — vision, joint movement, balance signals — the rest of the system has to adapt around it.
This is why we consider neurological function worth looking at when someone asks about aging well. It doesn't mean chiropractic addresses brain disease. It means how you move, adapt and respond to the world is worth evaluating, and much of it can be measured.
Information the brain integrates
- Vision
- Balance systems of the inner ear
- Muscles and joints
- Movement itself
- Sensory input from skin and body
- Internal physiological signals
- The surrounding environment
What we look at
We look for patterns, not a single test
We don't evaluate someone based on a single symptom or a single test. We look for patterns across several areas of function, and those patterns are what guide the care we recommend.
- Detailed health history and consultation
- NeuroInfiniti Stress Response Evaluation
- Posture and movement
- Balance and coordination testing
- Eye movement or neurological screening when appropriate
- Grip or motor-function testing when appropriate
- Palpation and spinal function
- Other examination procedures based on the individual
Not every person receives every test. What we perform depends on your history, your age and what the examination shows as we go.
How we approach care
Evaluation comes before treatment. Foothills Chiropractic is a neurologically based office, which means we start with how your brain, nervous system and spine are functioning, and let those findings — not simply where you hurt — guide what we recommend.
Not everyone is adjusted the same way. Technique and force may vary with age, examination findings, health history, comfort and clinical judgment. Dr. Geran is trained in several chiropractic techniques and chooses based on findings rather than preference alone.
Chiropractic is one part of a broader health picture. When findings fall outside our scope, Dr. Geran may recommend referral or co-management, and progress is reassessed over time rather than judged only by how you feel on a particular day.
Dr. Mike Geran practices at Foothills Chiropractic in Travelers Rest, SC, and sees patients from across the Furman University area and the surrounding Upstate communities.
Scope of care
What this does — and doesn't — mean
What we do
- • We evaluate chiropractic and musculoskeletal function.
- • We look at nervous-system-related functional findings that fall within our scope.
- • We assess movement, balance and coordination findings.
- • We measure stress-response patterns with the NeuroInfiniti evaluation.
- • We make individualized chiropractic care recommendations and re-measure over time.
What we don't claim
- • We do not diagnose, treat or cure diseases.
- • Chiropractic care is not a treatment for dementia, Alzheimer's disease or other neurological diseases.
- • Chiropractic care is not a replacement for medical care, testing or medication.
- • No outcome is promised. Results vary from person to person.
Medical evaluation, diagnosis, treatment or co-management may be needed when findings or symptoms warrant it, and Dr. Mike Geran will say so.
Evidence
What does the research say?
We separate two different kinds of evidence: research into the brain, the nervous system and healthy aging, and research on chiropractic or manual therapy itself. Each summary is labelled, and each links to the primary source rather than a secondary summary.
We are continuing to review published research relevant to this topic and will add sourced, linked studies here as that work is completed.
We periodically update this section as new research becomes available.
Explore this topic
Explore Brain Health & Healthy Aging
Articles and, over time, short videos on this topic. Anything still in draft is marked as such rather than presented as finished guidance.
3 Things You Can Do Today to Help Your Brain
Small daily inputs that support how your brain is working.
Brain HealthWhy You Need to Get Off Your Cell Phone
What constant screen input asks of your nervous system.
Healthy AgingThe 5 Factors That Influence How You Age
A practical way to think about aging beyond genetics.
Related topics at Foothills Chiropractic
- Balance & Coordination — Balance is a whole-nervous-system task. It is also one of the easier things to measure and re-measure.
- Stress, Sleep & Nervous-System Regulation — How well you shift between stress and recovery is something we can measure with the NeuroInfiniti evaluation.
Common questions
- What does chiropractic have to do with brain health?
- Chiropractic care involves the spine, movement and the sensory information that movement produces. Because the nervous system uses that information to organize posture, balance and coordination, we consider neurological function when we evaluate someone — rather than looking only at where it hurts.
- Are you saying chiropractic prevents dementia or Alzheimer's disease?
- No. We make no such claim. Chiropractic is not a treatment for dementia, Alzheimer's disease or any other neurological disease, and nothing on this page should be read that way. Those conditions require medical evaluation and care.
- What kinds of things do you evaluate?
- A detailed history and consultation, the NeuroInfiniti stress-response evaluation, posture, balance and coordination, eye movement or neurological screening when appropriate, spinal palpation and motion, and other procedures depending on the individual. Not everyone receives every test.
- Why do you test balance and coordination?
- Balance and coordination reflect how well several systems are working together — vision, the inner ear, and information coming from muscles and joints. They also give us something measurable that we can look at again later.
- Why does movement matter as we age?
- Movement is one of the main sources of information the nervous system receives, and it is closely tied to independence. Research consistently associates staying physically active with better function in later life.
- What is NeuroInfiniti?
- It is a computerized evaluation that records physiological responses — such as heart rate, breathing patterns and muscle activity — while you go through a short series of stressors and rest periods. It gives us objective information about how you respond to stress and how well you recover. It is one part of the evaluation, not a diagnosis on its own.
- Is this only for people who already have symptoms?
- No. Plenty of people come in without a specific complaint because they want to understand how they're functioning. The evaluation is the same starting point either way.
- What if I already have a neurological diagnosis?
- Tell us. Chiropractic care does not replace appropriate medical evaluation or treatment, and we will not ask you to step away from medical care. Depending on your history and examination, Dr. Geran may recommend co-management with your physician, or may recommend that chiropractic care is not the right step right now.
When medical evaluation may be needed
New, sudden or progressive neurological symptoms warrant appropriate medical evaluation rather than a chiropractic visit. If any of the following occur, seek urgent or emergency medical care.
- Sudden weakness or numbness
- New difficulty speaking
- Sudden severe headache
- Significant new confusion
- Sudden vision changes
- New severe balance problems
- Loss of consciousness
- Rapid neurological decline
Interested in learning more about how you're functioning?
If our approach sounds like what you're looking for, learn how our new-patient process works and decide whether Foothills Chiropractic may be the right fit.