A new study added more information to the way we understand how chiropractic adjustments help the brain with pain relief. 13 people with neck stiffness were hooked up to computers that read brainwaves, and were given chiropractic adjustments. When they were adjusted, the machines told them that parts of the brain where pain and suffering occurs has less activity. Adjustments block off pain patterns for pain relief.
This is another study that shows that chiropractic adjustments have more widespread and far-reaching effects on the whole body rather than just in the inflamed part of the spine. Chiropractic adjustments not only relieve back pain, but they also improve dizziness in some patients and other non-spinal problems.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20350670

We had an interesting patient visit our office yesterday. He had acute right shoulder pain, and he could not lift his shoulder above 90 degrees with out severe pain. The pain was not exactly in his shoulder, but in a joint known as the sternoclavicular joint. Where your collar bone attachs to your sternum, or breast bone. He was in so much pain, and he literally could not lift his shoulder. He claimed he didn't do anything to cause this, he just got out of bed quickly, and was in sudden pain.

After a detailed patient history and physical examination, we began treatment on his sternoclavicular joint. Ultrasound therapy for 3 mintues in and around the joint, and a specific manipulation to the joint which removed the adhesions within the joint, and allowing it to return to its normal biomechanical ranges of motion with shoulder elevation. It only took several minutes for the treatment, but his pain was reduced from 9/10 to barely a 1/10. There is some residual inflammation in the area which should subside naturally in the next several days.

Functional neurology is a modality that aims to integrate all of the brain's sensory activities in order to treat a variety of clinical and subclinical symptoms. This modality draws from a number of complementary and alternative health therapies. Advocates claim that correcting neurological problems and restoring functionality in the body may be possible by participating in a variety of exercises whose aim is neurological integration. These exercises involve specific forms of or exposure to movement, scent, sound, light, and touch. Drugs and surgery are not a part of this modality.