January 2007

A new beginning

by Dr. Howard Loomis

(chart omitted)

With the New Year, I begin a new column series and a new journey in chiropractic, the profession that I find so miraculous and life‑affirming. The title of this new column is a product of many years of clinical experience, coupled with years of writing and teaching.

As chiropractors, we strive to adjust a patient according the chief complaint presented. We often address the structural problem only ‑‑ the first factor ‑‑ treating the patient over and over again for the same complaint. I respectfully submit that there is a second factor in chiropractic that can make a very big difference in how you approach your practice, your patients, and your profession.

Consider the accompanying chart and realize that it represents the source of all symptoms.

This series will offer even the busiest, high‑volume chiropractors a way to get patients better faster and make the most cynical critics believe in the power of chiropractic.

I have stated in past columns that you cannot separate structure from function. Anatomy strongly influences physiology and vice versa. They are linked unquestionably by neurology. Before I go any further, I'd like to ask you what it is you have to see before you know what to do. Aren't there some patients who continually have low back pain but no specific cause or injury to their low back? What about those patients who have shoulder pain or pain between their shoulder blades and, once adjusted, return within days saying they were good for just a few hours but that the pain came back? Do you question why these structural problems continue to return, even though you've done a great job adjusting the area?

In this column, I hope to put you on course to understanding why some patients get better and why others don't. All I ask is for a moment of your time while examining a patient, and I'll change your life and the life of your patient. Each month I'll give you a recipe, a way to work some tried‑and‑true methods of detecting viscerosomatic problems into your own practice. I want to help you expose the functional stress masquerading as a structural problem ‑‑ that inexplicable wizard hiding behind the curtain with a microphone and seemingly directing body function.

For example, look at structural problems at C3 to C5, the weakest and narrowest part of the spinal canal. Are there visceral problems that could perpetuate pain, muscle contractions and loss of range of motion in this area that defy correction and healing? Have you experienced the frustration of a patient who has sustained a flexion‑extension injury of the cervical spine and has not benefited from the best efforts of chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy or massage? A patient whose insurance coverage for the injury is lapsing and who will be treated medically with anti‑inflammatory and pain medications and never be restored to normal (pre‑injury) function?

We know the pharmaceutical road leads inevitably to permanent structural damage and disability. Could recognition of the source of continual irritation prevent that outcome? Could you believe that diagnosis and treatment of these seemingly innocuous visceral problems might be the next step in the evolution of the chiropractic profession as a true health restoration and maintenance science?

Any consideration of C3 to C5 must, of course, include the phrenic nerve. It innervates the diaphragm, which has its embryonic origin in what will become the neck. As the embryo develops, the diaphragm descends and is used to separate the thorax from the diaphragm. The diaphragm also receives sympathetic innervation from T4 to T9. Sympathetic innervation from the mid‑thoracic spine also supplies the heart, lungs, stomach, biliary system, pancreas, liver and the spleen, as well as the adrenal glands (some authorities suggest the adrenal innervation may arise from as high as T5, but all agree on T9 at least).

The point is, any physiological dysfunction in the mid‑thoracic area will perpetuate muscle contractions not only in that area but into the mid‑cervical area as well through the phrenic connection. In subsequent articles, I will describe commonly seen clinical syndromes that can be delaying correction and healing in the cervical spine. These articles will include disturbances of the following physiological functions:

***  Inadequate digestion

***  Poor absorption of food from the G.I. tract

***  Lymphatic stasis

***  Hypoglycemia, both functional and reactive

***  The heart and lungs

***  Poor blood return from the lower extremities

***  Chronic pain syndromes, such as RSD or causalgia

(Dr. Loomis can be reached by mail at 6421 Enterprise Lane, Madison,WI 53719 or by phone at 800‑662‑2630. Visit his website at http://www.loomisenzymes.com.)