A First Look At What’s Been Missing in Full Spine Analysis of Spinal Biomechanics.

The full spine x-rays on the following page were taken on the same patient, on the same day, with the patient standing relaxed letting their body slump and then sitting relaxed letting their body slump one minute apart.

There are enough changes of spinal configuration visible in this one set of films – changes which are not supposed to happen in minutes – to show most of the current chiropractic, medical, osteopathic, and physical therapy models of spinal motion and biostructural pathology are in need of some large modifications.

It is not so much that the models are incorrect as that the models are so rudimentary and lacking they have led to relatively ineffective treatment technologies.

For our public, layperson viewers: You might want to skip this page as it is more technical in nature than most of the other pages and harder to understand if you are not familiar with
x-ray viewing.

Having the objective observations and the objective evaluations of treatment effectiveness that come with re-examination on standing and sitting full spine radiography leads to a much greater understanding of biomechanics. Having that improved understanding leads to improvements in biostructural treatments of the body such as chiropractic adjustments, for the first time allowing them to work consistently effectively with every patient. This does not mean it is magic and gets every one well immediately. It does mean the results are consistent and can be predicted. This is well beyond the dreams of most doctors. The fact that the results are generally much better than other methods is well beyond the dreams of most docs or what they have thought possible until now.

It was a long period between the discovery that mass is concentrated energy (Einstein’s E=mc2 which, in 1928 was initially called the biggest hoax in mathematics) and the development of the ability to utilize that data to create observable physical effects (atomic bombs and power plants) It has also been a long period between the discovery that abnormal body mechanics is the basic etiology of many neurological pathologies and syndromes and the development of consistently effective methods of biostructural treatment — those that will consistently and predictably correct the mechanical pathologies and reverse effects of those neurological pathologies and syndromes. Our time span has been a bit longer since there was no impetus of war to increase the funding and general effort of turning the data into usable treatment methods while there was and still is, a concerted effort by many who have a vested interest elsewhere to impede the development of effective physical methods of treatment. That is not a condemnation, just a statement of fact.

I am well aware of previous failed efforts to correlate postural vulgarities and other variations of physical position of the spine as measured on x-ray with neurological and musculoskeletal pathologies. (The spine is certainly not the only factor but it is where I started being a chiropractor.)

Though these previous researchers recorded their observations accurately they did not evaluate the data relative to the motion in the entire spine. They also did not evaluate the data relative to the function of the meninges as a mechanical stabilizer of the entire spinal column that instantly shifts mechanical stress throughout the column though this was specifically noted and published by the neurosurgeon Breig in articles and mongraphs starting before 1960.

Leaving out evaluation of the x-ray data relative to those factors and, missing observations during investigations (one such researcher stated a patient’s body had been not moved before rex-ray though stating the leg position of the patient was changed!) has led many doctors, therapists, anatomists and other researchers to misevaluate x-ray data relating to diagnosis and treatment of mechanical pathology as unreliable or useless. Many even call measuring body mechanics on full spine x-ray a hoax. This is strange since the x-rays are a factual picture of what is there at the time of the picture with known calculatable distortions. Some theories created from the observations are a bit funky (pardon the technical term there) but the x-rays and measurement of them are factual.

Evaluating the entire spine is a must for research on structural treatments because the spinal column works in a synchronized fashion. Every part instantly affects every other part. Doing evaluations of the ENTIRE SPINE in motion is a must for the same reason. Missing the synchronized workings of the entire spine has been the "hidden factor" blocking discovery of the basic mechanical pathology initiating musculoskeletal, neurological and even some organic pathologies that lead to dysfunction and pain. This is a fact the neurosurgeon Alf Breig described very specifically in 1978s.

Historically, Lhermitte and other researchers of the early 1900’s had postulated mechanical causes for neurological pathologies such as Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, and other "diseases" exhibiting similar neurological phenomena. In fact, all the physical orthopedic and neurological testing for these conditions are maneuvers attempting to increase the mechanical stresses creating the condition to evoke the signs associated with these conditions. As was stated by the neurosurgeon Ernest Sachs in 1949 "even some degenerative diseases of the nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis and the muscular dystrophies, may respond to surgical measures."5 indicating mechanical factors were known even then.

The development of a method of biostructural treatment that consistently and predictably yields the results postulated by developers of various methods of biostructural treatment of disease has a history dating to ancient times just as the use of chemical compounds, herbs, and energy therapies such as acupuncture does.

Relatively recent breakthroughs leading to the development of consistent and predictably effective biostructural treatment are mostly due to two researchers, the neurosurgeon Dr. Alf Breig, author of Biomechanics of the Central Nervous System (1960), Adverse Mechanical Tension in the Central Nervous System (1978), and Skull Traction and Cervical Cord Injury (1989), and the chiropractor, Dr. Lowell Ward, author of The Dynamics of Spinal Stress (1977) and the Spinal Stressology Manual of Standard Practices (1986).

Dr. Breig’s contribution consists of the experiments leading to specific confirmation that the major mechanical factor precipitating these neurological conditions was axial tension (head to tail) on the spinal cord and brain stem (Central Nervous System). That tension was mostly precipitated by mechanical pathologies ranging from space occupying lesions to misalignment of the vertebrae which partially fixed the spinal column in flexion stretching the pons-cord tract.

In experiments and trails of therapy Dr. Breig noted the instant transmission of mechanical stress by the meninges along the entire spinal column and up into the skull. Those experiments laid the foundation explaining the mechanism by which pathologies and syndromes of the nervous system do not necessarily have their origin at the level of the spinal column or cord directly relating to the nerves affected but are originating as sequelae of mechanical misalignments (pathology).

Making that discovery and coming from a neurosurgical viewpoint, his solution was to develop the very effective Cervicolordodesis surgery. Cervicolordodesis is an operation that, using a plastic fastener to tie the head and neck back into a position of slight extension, slackens the pons-cord tract relaxing the tension on the central nervous system.

Breig’s research showed that "applying spinal cord relaxation it is possible to alleviate not only the neurological symptoms produced by outside forces on the pons-cord tract, but also those evoked by alteration of the cord tissue resulting from inflammation and reactive scar formation." Note the statement is "by applying spinal cord relaxation" and not just using his surgical procedure. Though he did not delve into conservative treatments to discover the basic mechanical pathology which forced the spinal column into flexion, Breig did note that any approach truly relaxing the tension on the CNS would consistently and predictably alleviate the symptoms. In fact, he started his research by using various

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