Beyond the Neuron Integrative Bodywork: Towards Unifying Principles

Pick MGInternational Conference, London: University of Westminster and Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies 16/18 Nov 2001

Computerized slide shows, prosected human specimens and video presentations will be utilized to take you on a journey through the nervous system and introduce you to its functional accommodation to structural aberrancy & therapeutic manipulative intervention. Beyond the Neuron is designed to give the practitioner a simple yet comprehensive review of neurology as it pertains to chiropractic and other manipulative protocols. The presentation will begin with a view of the nervous system’s anatomy and integrative functions, including a summative description of afferent sensory signals as they course from key receptors through their axons to synaptic connections within the cord and supra as well as infra-segmental neuronal pools.

The presentation will then address the segmental implications of a thoracic eight right facet vertebral subluxation. This will encompass the lesion’s destructive effects upon the pain gate and segmental stretch reflexes and then cover the global loss of neuronal integrative function, which results from anterograde degenerative infiltration. Hence, the lesion’s course will be traced from its spinal segmental entry, through the spinal cord, to the brainstem, through the cerebellum and ultimately the cerebral cortex. The presentation will follow the degenerative pattern as it reenters the brainstem and spinal system to terminate as expressed clinical signs, which distort the fascia systems of the body resulting in the patient’s decreased quality of life. Each neuronal division will be broken down and an explanation of its normal contribution to function will be noted before its degenerative role is explained in the sample lesion complex.

As the degenerative process infiltrates throughout the neuro-axis, its effects of decreased gene expression and transneuro-degeneration diminish the body’s metabolic capacity to maintain functional and structural stability. This often results in fatigue or breakdown of the myofascial integrity and distorts the very foundation of the cranio-sacral respiratory system. The connective relationships between osseous, meningeal and neuronal structures will be reviewed, as will the intricate association between structures as they generate the rhythmic impulses of the cranio-sacral and pulmonary respiratory systems both in their normal state of motion and their compensatory motion during a lesion.

The primary goals of the chiropractic profession are to increase cellular fuel delivery and insure or enhance neuronal survivability. As health care providers, we should all recognize that no two individuals are alike. Nor should we assume that any individual would be the same from treatment to treatment. Therefore, we must realize that no two treatments can ever be the same. Since, the lesion depicted within this lecture represents a specific injury to thoracic eight and the progressive retrograde & anterograde degenerative infiltrations described could result from such a lesion during a given moment in time, the manipulative procedure should incorporate a continuous protocol which reevaluates the patient’s condition during each visit. To address the afore mentioned lesion a form of chiropractic know as Sacro-Occipital Technique (SOT) will be implemented. Whereby, an explanation of each maneuver will be given to explain how the SOT approach enhances global integrative function without exceeding the patient’s metabolic capacity.

References

Romanes, G. J, editor. Cunningham’s Textbook of Anatomy. 11th ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1972:693-4.
Gray H, Gross CM, eds. Anatomy of the human body. 29th (Am) ed. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1973:883.
Kandel, E.R., Schwartz, JH, Principles of Neural Science. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill Co., 2000: 5-881.

Bashline SD, Bilott JR, Ellis JP. Meningovertebral ligaments and their putative significance in low back pain. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Nov-Dec 1996, 19(9): 592-6.
Frymann VM. A study of the rhythmic motions of the living cranium. J Am Osteopathic Assoc. 1971; 70:928-45.
Andr P. Carpenter’s Human Neuroanatomy. 9th ed. Philadelphia: Williams & Wilkins, 1996: 131-622.
Guyton, AC, Hall, JE, Textbook of medical physiology. 9th ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co. 1996: 565-789.
DeJarnette MB, Sacro occipital technique. Nebraska, M.B. DeJarnette, 1984: 18-100.

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