A patient once said to me, “I can’t talk therapy my way out of the anxious feeling in my body.”
That statement stopped me in my tracks, because she’s right.
For so many people, anxiety isn’t just a racing mind or intrusive thoughts. It’s a body that won’t settle. A chest that feels tight for no reason. A heart that races even when life is calm. A constant undercurrent of tension that doesn’t respond to logic, breathing exercises, or even years of therapy.
This is where understanding the difference between cortical and somatic anxiety becomes so important; and where a nervous system-focused chiropractic approach can make all the difference.
Cortical vs. Somatic Anxiety
Think of your anxiety as having two parts:
Cortical anxiety lives in the thinking brain — the cortex.
It’s the racing thoughts, overanalyzing, “what ifs,” and worry loops. This is the part most traditional therapies target — cognitive behavioral therapy, mindset work, journaling, etc. These approaches help the brain reframe anxiety and regain perspective. All of these are incredibly beneficial and are great tools to have ready and available to use.
But then there’s somatic anxiety, which lives in the body.
It’s the anxiety that shows up as:
- A tight chest or lump in your throat
- Racing heart or shallow breath
- Feeling “on edge” or restless
- An inability to fully relax, even when your mind knows you’re safe
This kind of anxiety doesn’t come from your thoughts — it comes from your nervous system.
The Body’s Role: Dysautonomia and “Stuck” Stress
When the nervous system has been in “fight or flight” mode for too long, it can lose its ability to switch gears and return to rest. This imbalance is called dysautonomia: when the autonomic nervous system (the one that runs everything from heart rate to digestion) isn’t regulating properly.
You can think of it like a car with a stuck gas pedal: always revving, even when you’re parked.
When that happens, your body sends constant signals of danger, even if your mind knows you’re okay. So while therapy can help calm the thoughts of anxiety (the cortical part), your body still feels unsafe — and that feeling wins every time.
That’s why people often say, “I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but I do.” Because their nervous system doesn’t believe them yet.
Where Nervous System-Focused Chiropractic Comes In
In nervous system-based chiropractic care, we look deeper than the spine and muscles: we look at how well the brain and body are communicating.
When there’s tension, misalignment, or interference along the neurospinal system, it can disrupt the flow of information through the nervous system. Over time, this keeps the body stuck in a stress response, what we call sympathetic dominance, and the parasympathetic “calm and heal” side can’t do its job.
Through gentle, specific adjustments, our goal is to help the nervous system shift gears to reconnect, reset, and rebuild adaptability.
Many patients describe feeling like their body can finally take a deep breath again because their body finally learned how to let go.
Healing From the Bottom Up
Therapy and mindset work are powerful tools, but they work best when the nervous system is flexible and regulated enough to respond. We need both.
When your body feels safe, your mind can finally believe it.
If you’ve ever felt like you “can’t talk your way out of” the anxious sensations in your body, that’s not failure: it’s feedback. It’s your nervous system asking for help regulating. And that’s exactly what we focus on through neurologically based chiropractic care.
You don’t have to live in a body that’s stuck on high alert.
By supporting your nervous system, you can experience more calm, clarity, and connection from the inside out.