Ying Yang

 
THE SCRAMBLED INNER MESSAGE

    It does not take much scrambling to render a message unintelligible.  For instance, try to read the following:  "Up fwfsz uijoh uifsf jt b tfbtpo."  This message has only undergone a slight alteration. Each letter has been replaced by the next letter "to the right" in the alphabet.  For example, the first letter in the original message is "T". This slight alteration, this "one-letter shift" made complete nonsense out of:  "To every thing there is a season."

    In your body, coordinated activity requires the accurate transmission of biological messages. For instance, you can generally tell where your hand is located without looking at it. you can also tell how quickly it is moving and whether the object it carries is heavy or light. This "joint and muscle sense" (technical term: "kinesthesia") is made possible by a complex array of nerve endings in the ligaments, tendons and muscles that surround every joint.

    When a joint subluxates (goes into abnormal alignment or movement), it shifts the pattern of forces acting on the surrounding ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves. As a result, kinesthetic messages may be distorted.1

    Imagine the havoc that can be produced by slightly altered kinesthesia. Joints moving slowly may feel as if they are moving rapidly. joints lifting light loads may feel as if they are moving heavy loads. As a result, activities involving these joints may become clumsy for no apparent reason.

    Even more importantly, false kinesthetic messages can place false demands on vital bodily functions. For instance, if a joint at rest feels as if it is working hard, reflex action will cause certain blood vessels to enlarge to meet the apparently increased demand for oxygen. Reflexes of this sort are called "somatovisceral reflexes".2

    The spine supplies nerves to every region of the body. As a result, vertebral subluxation can scramble vital kinesthetic messages. Not only can this distorted kinesthesia cause postural distortion and loss of coordinated movement, it may set up somatovisceral reflexes which place false demands on the heart, lungs, stomach, and other internal organs. Over time, a person's over-all health and wellness may suffer.

    While we often refer to vertebral subluxations as "pinched spinal nerves", this is a very limited image. Perhaps "biological computer virus" is a better metaphor for the cascade of misinformation potentially created by the vertebral subluxation.

1 Slosberg M. Effects of Altered Afferent Articular Input On Sensation, Proprioception, Muscle Tone and Sympathetic Reflex Response. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1998; 11: 400.

2 Cleveland CS. "Neurobiologic Relations". In: Redwood D. Contemporary Chiropractic. Churchill livingstone, New York, 1997.

© 1998, All Rights Reserved.
Marion Todres, M.A., D.C. and Charles Masarsky, D.C.


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