Dr Haavik will cover, in a fun and entertaining way, the latest scientific understanding about the function of the spine and its impact on brain function. It is aimed at chiropractors, chiropractic assistants and students that would like to be able to confidently communicate about chiropractic in a manner that is congruent with the latest scientific evidence. Recent scientific studies are revealing a new understanding about how spinal adjustments work. Heidi Haavik, a chiropractor and PhD trained neurophysiologist has spent the past 16 years studying the changes that occur in the brain when chiropractors adjust chiropractic subluxations. Contrary to earlier beliefs within the scientific community, a recent wave of discovery has quite clearly revealed that the brain retains its ability to adapt to its ever-changing environment throughout life. Furthermore, it is becoming clear to neuroscientists how important it is for our brains to maintain an accurate and up-to-date inner ‘map’, of the location of our muscles and joints in 3D space and relative to each other, and how detrimental a faulty inner map can be for an individual. If you think about it, it’s really very simple. Most of what you perceive as reality is simply what your brain considers reality to be, or your brain’s translation and interpretation of all the information it gets from its sensory receptors (in your ears, eyes, skin, muscles, etc.). With this in mind, can you be sure that what you see is a complete and accurate reflection of what is in front of you? Neuroscientists know that this is not the case. For example, our eyes interpret the colour of an object based on what colour we think it should be, which is influenced by the colour of nearby objects. Our brain basically fills in the gaps, as needed, based on past experiences and expectations. You cannot really be certain that any of your sensory experiences accurately reflect what is going on within and around you! Your brain will not provide you with an exact translation of what its sensors tell it, but just how this affects a person’s health and wellbeing will be explored in depth throughout this conference. During this session Dr Haavik will cover the clinical manifestations of vertebral subluxations and the science behind this. Dr Heidi Haavik will take a closer look at some of the basics of scientific investigation and translate the relevant neurophysiological studies as well as some important clinical studies and will highlight what it means for our patients. Dr Haavik will discuss why it’s important that our chiropractors, CAs and chiropractic students learn about this new understanding. She will clarify what we as chiropractors can and cannot claim to help you thrive in an evidence informed world. Heidi will translate for you a variety of very relevant studies (covering both clinical and basic science research, and the difference between them).