12/28/2025
🧠🦠 The Gut-Neck Axis: Why Your Microbiome Might Be Driving Neck Pain, Dizziness & Neurological Symptoms — And What You Can Do About It
Most people think of neck pain, stiffness, headaches, or dizziness as mechanical problems — something to “fix” in the cervical spine with exercises or manual therapy.
What if the real driver isn’t just the neck?
What if your gut microbiome — the ecosystem of microbes in your digestive system — is actually influencing your nervous system, cervical spine health, inflammatory signaling, and even pain perception?
A new study using Mendelian Randomization (a powerful genetic causal analysis) suggests exactly that:
Gut microbiome profiles are causally linked to cervical spondylosis (neck degeneration).
This research is groundbreaking because it goes beyond correlation — it shows that changes in the gut may influence degeneration in the neck, headaches, dizziness, and other chronic symptoms we see every day in complex cases.
📄 Full study here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11835084/
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🧬 What the Study Found — In Plain Language
The researchers examined:
• Genetic markers (SNPs) that influence gut microbiome composition
• Whether those genetic influences also showed a causal link to cervical spine degeneration (cervical spondylosis)
They found:
✔ Certain gut bacteria profiles appear to cause changes in cervical spine health
✔ This isn’t just association — it’s directional influence
✔ Meaning: Gut dysfunction can precede and contribute to neck degeneration
And importantly, they looked at both directions — gut ➝ neck, and neck ➝ gut — to understand how systems talk to each other.
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🔄 Why This Matters
This study supports what experienced clinicians in functional neurology have been uncovering:
1️⃣ Inflammation Isn’t Local — It’s Systemic
Gut microbiota help regulate:
• Immune system tone
• Inflammatory cytokines
• Barrier integrity (leaky gut)
When the microbiome is out of balance (dysbiosis), systemic inflammation rises — and that can affect:
➡ ligaments, discs, and connective tissues
➡ nerve sensitivity and pain pathways
➡ brainstem and autonomic regulation
Inflammation becomes a driver of degeneration, not just a symptom.
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2️⃣ The Vagus Nerve and Brainstem Connect Gut and Neck
The vagus nerve and autonomic nervous system form a bidirectional highway between the gut and brainstem.
This explains why:
• Gut symptoms often coexist with neck pain
• Dizziness and balance changes appear alongside digestive dysfunction
• Mood and cognitive symptoms are part of the clinical picture
Neck mechanics, nervous system regulation, and gut signaling are not independent — they’re integrated.
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3️⃣ Pain Perception Is Modified by Microbiome Signaling
Microbiota influence:
• Neurotransmitter synthesis
• Microglial activation in the CNS
• Central sensitization processes
This means dysbiosis can amplify pain signals and make symptoms harder to treat if you’re only addressing the neck mechanically.
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🧪 Enter the GI-MAP: A Clinical Window Into Your Microbiome
To put this research into practice, we use GI-MAP (Gastrointestinal Microbial Assay Plus) — a sophisticated stool analysis panel from Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory.
What GI-MAP measures:
✔ Bacterial pathogens and overgrowth
✔ Beneficial bacteria balance
✔ Opportunistic organisms
✔ Parasites and protozoa
✔ Yeasts (like Candida)
✔ Viruses affecting GI health
✔ Markers of inflammation (e.g., calprotectin)
✔ Immune activation (e.g., secretory IgA)
✔ Digestion and absorption indicators
Full panel info:
🔗 https://www.diagnosticsolutionslab.com/tests/gi-map
That means we aren’t guessing about the gut — we are measuring it, driving clinical decisions with data.
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🧠 Why This Matters for Neck, Dizziness, Headaches & Neurological Symptoms
If dysbiosis or chronic GI inflammation exists:
✔ Systemic inflammatory signals increase
✔ Autonomic balance shifts (sympathetic dominance)
✔ Vagal regulation can worsen
✔ Central nervous system becomes sensitized
✔ Tissue healing in the cervical spine is impaired
This can help explain why many patients with:
• Cervical spondylosis
• Dizziness/vestibular complaints
• Persistent headaches
• Neck pain resistant to therapy
• Balance dysfunction
• Brain fog, fatigue, mood changes
… don’t fully respond to mechanical care alone.
The driver may be upstream in your system — in your gut.
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🧠 Integrated Evaluation: Neck, Nervous System & Gut
At the Functional Neurology Center, we don’t look at body systems in silos.
Instead we assess:
🔹 Cervical mechanics & proprioceptive control
🔹 Brainstem function & autonomic regulation
🔹 Visual-vestibular integration
🔹 Inflammatory and immune signaling
🔹 Gut microbiome balance (via GI-MAP)
🔹 Neurological load and central sensitization
This helps us:
✨ Identify the true drivers of dysfunction
✨ Personalize rehabilitation sequencing
✨ Monitor improvement objectively
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🛠 What We Do With a GI-MAP
Once we have GI-MAP data:
✔ We interpret microbiome imbalances clinically
✔ Correlate findings with neurological symptoms
✔ Address overgrowths, pathogens, or dysbiotic patterns
✔ Support immunity and gut barrier function
✔ Create personalized dietary + supplement strategies
✔ Integrate gut health with neuromotor rehabilitation
Improving the gut microbiome supports:
✔ Reduced systemic inflammation
✔ Better autonomic regulation
✔ Improved pain modulation
✔ Enhanced nervous system plasticity
✔ Faster tissue repair and recovery
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🌍 A New Model of Complex Care
No longer can we treat:
❌ Neck pain as just structural
❌ Dizziness as just vestibular
❌ Headaches as just musculoskeletal
These systems overlap and influence each other because the body is a connected neurological network.
This research on the gut-neck axis confirms:
👉 You can’t fully heal what you don’t understand.
And you can’t optimize recovery without treating the whole system.
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💡 Final Thought
Your neck pain may not start in your neck.
It may start in your gut.
When we address the root drivers — systemic inflammation, vagal dysfunction, microbiome imbalance, nervous system sensitization — we create real, lasting change.
There is hope.
And the latest science is showing us how to find it — not just in the cervical spine — but through a network that connects gut, brain, spine, and nervous system.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11835084/
Gut-disc axis: A Mendelian randomization study on the relationship between gut microbiota and cervical spondylosis
Jiling Zhang a, Baodong Wang b, Peng Du b, He Song b, Lihui Yang b, Yu Zhou b,*
