The objective of the Upper Cervical (UC) spinal correction has always been about directing force into the body in an effort to move a bone back to it’s place of origin. However, any downward force, or any force going into the body is, by its very nature, compressive to the body. Whether the force is P to A, A to P, or S to I, any inward force is restrictive to the human frame. The time is now right to go beyond our established boundaries.
On a full spine x-ray, the low pelvis creates an imbalance. This pelvic tilt takes us off orthogonal and gravity’s downward pull slowly compresses us from skull to pelvis. This occurs over time and is apparent on the films we work with daily. The compressive effects of a spinal misalignment and gravity are visible as a spinal curvature in the frontal plane (scoliosis) and in the sagittal plane as the reversed curve (kyphosis). Even in the cervical view of the nasium film, the cervical spine is frequently bowing. Go look at it. And our goal to drive this toward center, with the atlas as our lever, only increases this bow. The UC mantra of, ‘drive the plane line down’, and the “bone out of place” paradigm, is a limiting view that should be re-evaluated.
Do you believe this is in our patient’s best interest? Should force be added to the already existing compression as we attempt to drive the body to a centered orthogonal position? Put aside the idea of “a bone out of place” for a moment and ask yourself if we should EVER put force into the body to further compress it?
ALL Upper Cervical procedures apply some type of inward force into the body in an attempt to create orthogonality. Whether by machine or hand, this is a valid statement. This concept isn’t solely reserved for UC either; it is a primary concept in most, if not all, chiropractic. We, as UC Docs, believe that the ‘triceps pull’ delivers minimal depth and therefore is not compressive. This, however, is misleading. ANY inward force is compressive, especially since the vast majority of our height factors are positive and above C/A…hence they drive the spine downward. The spine, therefore, becomes more compressed!
My own personal journey of facilitating better corrections, as well as seeing the bigger chiropractic picture, has accelerated, shifted, and evolved far beyond the ‘bone out of place’ model. The informational field has opened wide and that vision has taken a larger, more comprehensive path. Up to this point, everything that I have learned and taught has been in integrity. Until now I have not seen the larger 3D picture of how the pieces, from top to bottom, relate to the misalignment, breakdown and spiral leading to the re-corrected steady state. I, too, continue to evolve. This means that we are not done and do not have all the answers. It’s actually quite the contrary; information will hopefully continue to evolve, as the drive to improve will hopefully continue. That is where the fun is. Learning and open-mindedness is what separates our work from all other UC procedures. Open to receive and grow always allows information to flow from Universal Intelligence.
I am hopeful that others will recognize this broader picture and realize that we must grow from our 1960’s model. It is essential for our profession to survive and those that say otherwise are merely self-serving.
The tensegrity model that the body is an up and open system is the progressive and current paradigm that will gain traction. Truth always rises to the top. The docs stuck in the old model of the 60’s may rebuff new thoughts only to hold their current organizational presence.
We are built to be up and open and that place is optimally available when we are orthogonal. As UC Doctors, we are the only ones that have the ability to restore orthogonality. We have a foundational system in place that can mechanically restore this perfect orthogonal state where blood, oxygen, nutrition, and ENERGY allow the body to function with least resistance and impedance. Our model is the only one that can restore tensegrity and orthogonality simultaneously. All it will take is to grow from the old, as growth is a healthy and productive process.
Establishing the perfect vector is only a partial segment of our work. The application of the vector as we set it to access the resistant pathways to restore our posture is the other part of the equation. The application (patient placement, leverage points) of the vector based on tensegrity protocol (decompressing and correcting) completes our work. When the human frame is up and open, it is in its least resistant state. I educate my patients on what I do and why I do it. Just as I’ve explained to you, I show them with the ruler. I explain it just like this:
Take your plastic ruler and lean it off vertical… Push down and collapse it, just as gravity does… hold it there… now try to push it to center and orthogonal as we do in the correction. Can you feel that pressure built up in the ruler? That is what we do when we compress the misaligned spine that has been under the effect of gravity over time… it collapses and compresses. Holding a correction is impossible when we increase the potential energy and then compress it. This is like pushing down on a spring.
Take that compressed ruler and RELEASE IT!
This is the place where I now see our patients.
Our system must release the misalignment and not compress it. Restoring tensegrity requires a force that decompresses and opens. I understand this and am in a place to consistently make it happen. This means a patient is in an orthogonal position without compression and without the body’s need to hold it there. It is just there…no stress and no tension.
For the last few months, I have been working on an algorithm that evaluates:
Postural points:
Low hip
Low shoulder
Center sacrum
Center VP
Pelvic twist
Short Leg:
Left or right
X-Ray UC series:
Skull position
C1 tilt and rotation
Lower angle
C2 tilt and rotation
This algorithm is relatively complete. It will optimize our present understanding in restoring orthogonality in a tensegral position. I plan to introduce a protocol APP that will show in detail the above data to help optimize results.
An IPad or smart phone will detail the protocol on this APP
Just plug in the data and out comes the protocol:
Headpiece placement
Patient placement
Side up protocol
Wrist levers
Etc
Restoring tensegrity and orthogonality is common sense. Restoring the body to that position puts it into a place to optimize energy, requiring less energy to hold the correction. It is in this state that we were created and elevates life to its fullest.
Happy Holidays to all.
On Purpose and In Progress,
Russell
Dates to Remember
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even months are case studies and problem solving
Advanced Practicum Class: February 18th
Take a patient through the complete decompress & corrective protocol
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