Chiropractic treatment for Allergies and Asthma

Posted on25 May 2024,in

By Dr. Rusty Lavender, D.C. — upper cervical chiropractor, Lavender Family Chiropractic, Sarasota, FL. Reviewed and updated October 2026.

Our complete guide to upper cervical chiropractic care in Sarasota explains what the top two vertebrae control, how we measure them with 3D imaging, and what a correction feels like.

Allergies and asthma

Are conditions closely related which affect many people around the world? The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology statistics say that approximately 40 and 50% of school children around the world have sensitization to one or more common allergens.

Asthma is also very common, this academy statistics also say that at least 8.3% of children in the United States are diagnosed with asthma. But, if you really want to understand why these conditions are so common, you must listen to Tom’s story.

Tom is a 9 years old boy

Who came to us brought by his parents. Despite his young age, Tom had been suffering from severe allergies and very frequent asthma attacks, his parents had looked for many approaches, treatments, and options to relieve his symptoms, but none of them was really helpful. In this long search for a solution, they heard about us and came to our office to try a new kind of treatment which turned up to be the definitive solution to your child’s problems.

Traditional solutions for asthma include using inhalers and prescribed medications for a long time, even for life. This kind of treatment can trigger a lot of side effects, especially when they have to be used from a very early age. Common allergies treatments are also based on the relief of the symptoms, but they do not attack the real problem, so you only experience a temporary improvement of the disease, but once you stop the treatment, the symptoms reappear.

Asthma and allergy symptoms

Can be very annoying for you and limit your ability to perform your daily activities. In both conditions, you can feel shortness of breath, wheezing, irritating cough, or sneezing, and all these symptoms can be worsened by environmental factors or triggers, including air pollutants (dust, smoke) or certain types of food.

The main reason why I want to share Tom’s story with you is that most people think that chiropractic is only useful to treat neck or back issues, and this is very far from reality. By applying a cervical chiropractic treatment, you can experience an important relieve in symptoms of many conditions that do not seem anything to do with back or neck issues.

Chiropractor treatments help to relieve other diseases for anatomic reasons. By realigning the upper neck vertebrae and relieve the tension in the surrounding muscles, we can fix the communication between the brainstem and the rest of the body. Said in another way, chiropractic manipulation can adjust your upper cervical spine to eliminate the nervous obstruction and the nerve impulses conduction blockage from the brainstem to the lungs and the other structures of the airway.

The brainstem coordinates the motor control signals sent from the brain (and on the contrary) to the body and it contains most cranial nerves. It also controls life-supporting autonomic functions, such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, among others.

Now you can understand that every cell and tissue of your body is connected to the brainstem and it has a very important role in breathing function. We focused Tom’s chiropractic treatment on the theory that the nerve which communicates his brainstem with his lungs was not working well and, after several sessions, the kid is not suffering anymore.

With upper cervical chiropractic techniques, we were able to restore the communication between the brainstem and the respiratory system and turn all the power on this nervous structure to properly stimulate the lungs functioning. A proper spine alignment allows the nervous system to communicate in a proper way with the rest of your body, so your organs, in this case, your lungs, will function as they should.

The same thing occurs with allergies because the brainstem also controls the immune system. So, people who have was born with reoccurring allergies or have developed them later can benefit from upper neck chiropractor treatments to relieve the symptoms of their condition.

If your body is not functioning properly, you can develop severe allergies that will be very difficult to control with traditional treatments. So, if you’re suffering from asthma, unexpected/ongoing allergies or you know somebody with these health problems, you must undergo an upper cervical evaluation with a qualified and experienced chiropractor.

You must also know that chiropractic treatments can also benefit you by fixing musculoskeletal alignment problems in the ribcage and spine, a very common problem for people with chronic asthma. Chiropractic treatments also have the advantage to be non-invasive treatments, so it is a pretty safe alternative to traditional treatment with medication, especially if you have not obtained good results from this kind of treatment.

This is very important because you must understand that you don’t need to suspend your current medication to undergo a chiropractic treatment and you will not have any adverse effects like those that can occur when combining various traditional medicines. You will only stop taking your current medication if you really do not need it, but only your doctor is authorized to suspend it.

You can contact us to undergo a quality upper cervical evaluation and subsequently determine if you need one of our chiropractic treatments we will have one of our excellent doctors waiting for you to examine you and let you know what kind of treatment and how many sessions do you need.

We will be very glad to meet you and talk to you about your condition to find the real cause, only this way will we be able to resolve your problem and find a long-lasting or definitive cure.

What the Research Says About Allergies, Asthma and Chiropractic

Asthma and allergies are driven by airway inflammation and immune reactivity, and the honest answer about chiropractic care for them comes from a well-designed trial. In a randomized study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, children with asthma received either real chiropractic manipulation or a simulated version; both groups reported better symptoms and quality of life, but the real adjustments gave no added benefit over the simulated ones on lung function (Balon et al., N Engl J Med 1998). A later UK evidence report reached a similar conclusion, rating the evidence for manual therapy in asthma as inconclusive or negative (Bronfort et al., Chiropr Osteopat 2010). Inhalers, allergy management and your physician’s plan remain the foundation, and nothing we do replaces them.

So where does the upper neck fit for someone with asthma or allergies? It fits where the neck itself is part of the picture. Many people with chronic respiratory conditions also carry neck tension, headaches and poor sleep, and for neck pain the evidence is solid: a Cochrane review of 51 trials found that cervical manipulation and mobilization produce meaningful short-term gains in pain and function (Gross et al., Cochrane 2015). The largest prospective study of upper cervical chiropractic, covering 1,090 patients in 83 offices, found high patient-rated improvement with reactions that were mostly mild and short-lived (Eriksen et al., BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2011). Our role is that upper-neck component, measured with 3D imaging of the atlas, corrected to match the images, and re-measured afterward.

Frequently Asked Questions

How could the upper neck relate to allergies and asthma?

Airway tone, mucus production, and immune reactivity are influenced by the autonomic nervous system, whose control centers sit in the brainstem. The atlas surrounds the brainstem, and the vagus nerve exits the skull beside it. A misaligned atlas can disturb that regulation. Upper cervical care corrects the alignment and uses thermography before and after each correction to measure how the autonomic system responds.

Will upper cervical care replace my inhaler or allergy medication?

No. Inhalers, antihistamines, and other medication decisions stay with your physician or allergist, and asthma should always have a medical management plan in place. We work alongside that care. Our role is the structural one: identifying an atlas misalignment on 3D CBCT imaging and correcting it. Many patients notice easier breathing or fewer flare-ups as the correction holds; results vary by person.

Can children with asthma or allergies receive upper cervical care?

Yes, with a pediatric evaluation first. Children often develop an atlas misalignment from birth, falls, or sports. Our correction is low force with no twisting or cracking, which parents appreciate. Imaging is taken only when needed and kept to the minimum, and thermography is a non-contact scan children tolerate well. We coordinate with your pediatrician and share findings on request.

What asthma and allergy symptoms do upper cervical patients report?

Patients commonly describe chest tightness, wheezing, chronic congestion, sinus pressure, itchy eyes, and seasonal flare-ups, often alongside neck tension or headaches they had not connected to breathing. Serious or worsening asthma symptoms need immediate medical attention. In our office, a baseline thermography scan and 3D imaging tell us whether the atlas is contributing to uneven nervous system regulation.

Do you see allergy and asthma patients from Lakewood Ranch and Bradenton?

We do. Our Sarasota office at University Parkway and Whitfield is minutes from Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton, and University Park. The evaluation includes a history, 3D CBCT imaging of the upper cervical spine, and a baseline thermography scan. Care plans are individual and reassessed at each visit, with no preset packages. Call (941) 243-3729 to schedule an evaluation.