July 2005

The living matrix

by David Prescott, MA, JD, DC, FIAMA

Much is being said these days about "wellness" and I count it a privilege to be allowed to put my two‑cents worth in on that subject. Wellness has two aspects, prevention and/or early intervention. I'll leave the general prevention aspect to others and focus on the more traditional chiropractic concept of early intervention through the body's innate bio‑regulation system. I intend to challenge much of the contemporary thinking about early intervention and the whole issue of bio‑communication.

Much of what I have to say is more fully developed in the 2003 book, "Energy Medicine Therapeutics and Human Performance" by James Oschman, PhD. Oschman's book is dedicated, in part, to Jeff Spencer, DC, who is, among many other things, the personal chiropractor to some of the world's premier athletes, including Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods. Simply put, Oschman's book is one of the most exciting, informative and easy to read books I've ever read and is a "must‑read" for every chiropractic educator, student and practitioner.

I have previously written quite a bit about what I referred to as the regulatory matrix and/or the extracellular compartment. Oschman refers to this same system as "The Living Matrix" and considers it a "system of systems" that has been largely overlooked by orthodox medicine and others. I think his terminology is a significant improvement over mine and will use it hereafter. But, what is it?

The Living Matrix

As I've mentioned in prior articles, one of my favorite chiropractic authors is Ronald Watkins, DC, one of the founders of Life Chiropractic College and a former director of the clinics at both Canadian Memorial and Cleveland Chiropractic College. Last year, he sent me one of his articles published in the April, 1975 issue of Chiropractic Economics [17(5), pp. 18‑21]. In that article he challenged the assumption that the "all‑or‑none" (nothing) concept of the "action potential" adequately captures the qualitative aspects of regulatory (neural and/or neurovascular) activity discussed early on by DD Palmer. In closing he stated:

"Yes, there are different viewpoints (about neural activity). Like the blind men describing the elephant as 'a rope,' 'a tree trunk,' and 'a wall,' each was partly right. Let us wake up, open our eyes and see the grandeur of the nervous system and the magnificence of the body in its entirety. Then we can all grow and realize that 'all‑or‑none' is just the beginning. It is not a stumbling block but rather it is the first step in a long stairs of better understanding ourselves."

In the spirit of Dr. Watkins, the chiropractic community should "open their eyes" and ascend the "stairs" made available due to newly emerging information about the body's innate bio‑communication system, the living matrix.

The living matrix is important at the macroscopic (anatomic) level, the cellular level, the molecular (protein) level and at the submolecular (electronic or energetic) level. The book from which the picture included here is derived focuses primarily on the macroscopic, cellular and molecular aspects of the system whereas Oschman focuses more on the molecular and submolecular aspects.

I'll now address several points about the macroscopic level.

A portion of the living matrix

The picture shown is worth careful study. At least three points jump out. First, the axons are communicating with all other components of the system, including the free nerve‑endings of other axons within the matrix. Second, it will be noted that all the other components of the system are also communicating with, and therefore affecting, each and every axon. Third, the "ground substance" is a major component of the system. Of course, this is primarily water.

Actually, the system is much more complex than as shown in the picture, with many additional structural and functional components. This is not the time or place to focus on those elements but two additional macroscopic points will be made.

First, the living matrix is a single compartment from the top of the head to the tip of the toes, reaching into every nook and cranny of the body and extending into every cell ‑‑ even the nucleus and genetic material of every cell. The matrix extends and generally runs parallel to just below the outer surface of the body. In addition, the matrix actually projects to the outer surface of the skin at many locations around the body (Heine cylinders). These point locations are windows into the living matrix accessible for specific assessment and treatment purposes.

Second, the extracellular, connective tissue component of the living matrix has piezoelectrical properties so that every movement, tension, pressure, etc. within the connective tissue generates a variety of bio‑communication signals. Interference with normal movement and abnormal pressure (blockage), etc., produce abnormal "tone" and aberrant messages within the system as a whole, including to within the cell and to the nuclear level.

Macroscopic assessment, treatment

Focusing on the primary chiropractic principle that disease, in many instances, starts with interference with the body's innate capacity to regulate itself ‑‑ as Claude Bernard (milieu interieur), DD Palmer, and Fred Barge, for example, insisted ‑‑ here is a brief look at one general assessment modality and one treatment modality relative to the regulatory aspects of the living matrix.

The pH within the ground substance is critical to the functional capacity of the whole system. Jeff Greenberg, DC has developed diagnostic equipment to determine the pH within the living matrix. Appropriately, he calls the process "biological terrain analysis" (BTA). I'm not promoting anyone's products, but attempting to show that assessment and treatment opportunities exist for analyzing the living matrix for the purpose of early intervention into the disease process before cellular pathology has manifested itself. This is one means to do that. Of course, diet is central to the pH of the system and the biological terrain analysis process allows one to reach a new level in nutritional care.

As previously indicated, toxins, scars, etc. within the connective tissue component of the living matrix disturb the piezoelectical signals within the system. Traditional "cupping" from Chinese medicine appears to address these problems. An alternative method for removing such interference (disintegration of the living matrix) has been developed in Germany. It is called "matrix regeneration therapy" and functions somewhat like cupping but is machine driven, specific and can be performed over major sections of the body during a relatively short period of time. Again, the focus is on early intervention.

Here I've been concentrating on early intervention. It's worth pointing out that biological terrain analysis and matrix regeneration therapy are, among other things, utilized at the Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland, the largest natural health and wellness clinic in the world. In future articles, I'll be focusing on the molecular and submolecular (electronic/energetic) aspects of the living matrix and some of their implications for a wellness/early intervention practice.

(David Prescott is a former prosecutor, law school dean, professor of constitutional law, and a trial attorney with more than 30 years experience. He is also a 1989 Cum Laude graduate of Cleveland Chiropractic College. He may be contacted through The Prescott Group, 888‑989‑0855.)