January 2006

Wellness: Treating the living matrix

by David Prescott, MA, JD, DC, FIAMA

This month, I will address some of the options available to treat the living matrix. Rather than attempt any type of complete review of all available options, as in the last article about assessment tools I will limit myself to a few of the available modes of care. These treatment options include substances that have long been part of non‑drug treatment (wellness care) such as herbs, nutraceuticals and homeopathics but with the addition of the ability to more carefully monitor response to treatment with some of the equipment addressed in the last article.

Additionally, I will introduce two German instruments specifically developed to directly treat the living matrix and also briefly touch upon "neural therapy," which is a form of treating the autonomic nervous system (and indirectly the living matrix) that has been in use, especially in Europe, since the early part of the 20th century.

Clinical homeopathy

As mentioned in the last article, the "matrix imaging technologies" [e.g. the "Vega" (as in the vegetative nervous system) instrument] is capable of assessing the regulatory function of the living matrix and also the response of the body to medications.

The first commercially available (matrix imaging) instruments were manufactured by Pitterling Electronics of Germany and named the Dermatron. They were manufactured at the request and direction of a Dr. Reinhldt Voll who referred to his assessment process as "electroacupuncture according to Voll." In the early‑to‑mid 1980s, Dr. James Parker (founder of Parker Chiropractic College) sought clearance from the FDA to import the Dermatron instruments into the United States. He did not complete the FDA clearance process but other instruments are presently being imported from Germany (Vega, etc.) and some similar instruments are being manufactured here. The US manufacturers typically refer to this assessment process as "electrodermal screening."

Dr. Voll initially used the Dermatron (in the 1950s) only to evaluate the reactivity of the matrix (or, as he saw it, the meridian system). Thereafter, he fortuitously learned that substances, especially homeopathic remedies, when introduced into the electronic circuitry of the measuring device, could alter a patient's readings. He further discovered that the altered readings could be correlated with a beneficial or detrimental impact upon a patient's health status. (Some Europeans consider this process to be similar to AK evaluation processes.)

This matrix imaging technology has become a cornerstone of European functional medicine, both as an initial evaluation tool and as a monitoring device to measure the patient's response to treatment. Such instruments can be utilized not only with homeopathic remedies, but also herbs, neutraceuticals and even allopathic drugs. The use of homeopathic remedies with this technology is, of course, not classical homeopathy and is referred to in Europe as "clinical" (or resonance) homeopathy. Perhaps the time was not ripe for Dr. Parker to incorporate such assessment tools into chiropractic, but it is now.

Matrix regeneration

This instrument (see Fig. 1) is designed to combine "living systems information therapy" with a mechanized process of massage to loosen restrictions within the living matrix. The process results in corrections being made in the body's information/energy/vibratory (resonance) processes while toxins stored within the matrix are being simultaneously loosened and removed through the body's lymphatic system; that is, the body is being detoxified. This process can be considered as similar to a mechanization of the "cupping" therapy used in traditional Chinese medicine.

It should be remembered that detoxification was the traditional and primary focus of interest among naturopaths and it remained a focus of interest within the German naturopathic medical community throughout the 20th century. Persons who had learned such techniques from German practitioners in the 1890s brought the original German naturopathic concept of detoxification to America. [Primarily Benedict Lust (Kirchfeld, Boyle, "Nature Doctors," 1994) and John Howard, founder of National Chiropractic College who spent two years as a Mormon missionary to Germany in the 1890s. (Beideman, "In the Making of a Profession," The National College of Chiropractic 1906‑1981, N.C.C., 1995)]

Bio‑information therapy

The type of instrument shown in Fig. 2 was previously called "bioresonance" equipment. The new name is designed to capture the expanded idea that the living matrix encompasses the whole body and involves information/energy/vibratory phenomena. These phenomena are, as touched upon in prior articles, caused by a variety of factors and will be cumulatively referred to here as "resonance factors." (These resonance factors are measurable with the Vega test equipment referred to in last month's article, and also instruments manufactured by other companies.)

The resonance factors can become abnormal and, therefore, dysfunctional. One means of treating such dysfunction is through the use of homeopathic (and other) medicines as briefly addressed ‑‑ clinical homeopathy. However, the instrument shown in Fig. 2, identifies the abnormal resonance factors and then produces counter‑resonance factors that are introduced into the body to correct the abnormal factors. The response relative to the pre‑existing disturbed resonance factors can then be measured and monitored in order to bring the body back to its maximum functional capacity. (Brugemann Ed. "Bioresonance and Multiresonance Therapy (BRT)," Eng. Ed., Haug Intl., Vol. 1, 1993)

Neural therapy

I will allow a text by Peter Dosch, MD to outline this form of treatment for me. "The term 'neural therapy' describes a form of treatment which uses the body's own neurovegetative (autonomic) system. The miracle of life itself is only made possible by a cybernetic control of all the regulating mechanisms. Information exchange and the transformation of stimuli take place through the neurovegetative system. Excess stimuli disturb or block the production and distribution of energy. All neural‑therapeutic methods either supply energy to damaged tissues or remove energy blockages. In this way reactions are triggered which eliminate previously acquired lesions enabling the body's resistance and self‑healing mechanisms (the living matrix) to function correctly." (Dosch P, "An Introduction to Neural Therapy Using Local Anaesthetics," Eng. Ed., Haug Intl., 1974, p. 8.)

Dr. Dosch specifically equates the body's "self‑healing mechanisms" with the living matrix and he points out that the theory just outlined is "fundamental" to what he refers to as "chirotherapy." (In other writings, Dr. Dosch also correlates this work with Russian scientists, including Speransky who was, prior to the 1960s, very highly regarded within the chiropractic community.)

Obviously, there is a problem with chiropractors using local anesthetics. That issue is beyond the scope of this article. However, it is worth noting that trigger point injection is an form of neural therapy and has been demonstrated to be as effective with just the use of saline solution as with the use of a local anesthetic. Personally, I believe that one could find natural substances that would be useful in this process.

Dr. Dosch's correlation of neural therapy and chirotherapy deserves further attention and I will return to that subject next time. Suffice it to say for the moment that the concept of removing interference (blockage ‑‑ per Dosch) with the body's innate capacity to regulate and heal itself was, in fact, the foundation stone of DD Palmer's healing paradigm.

(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.)