June 2009

Discovering the real cause of subluxations

by Dr. Michael Gandolfi

After graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1983, I was looking to set the world on fire. I quickly found myself in a back and neck pain model practice. It seemed like the thing to do, because the only new patients that were calling my office complained of musculoskeletal problems.

It was easy and profitable so I thought why not? After all, I was the "back doctor."

My curiosity about what chiropractic could offer was piqued when a neck-pain patient who happened to be completely blind, regained his sight after a series of adjustments. I knew then that there was something more to chiropractic and I wanted and needed to discover it for myself, my patients and my community.

In 1997, I founded the chiroAcademy, a coaching and teaching program based on wellness chiropractic. During the past 11 years, I've trained and coached thousands of doctors on how to implement my wellness chiropractic system, thus bringing chiropractic miracles to life in their practices.

My search for a system that could reproduce these chiropractic miracles hit its first snag when the very foundation of what I believed in seemed to have serious flaws. My model of subluxation didn't work clinically.

Plus, I couldn't understand how emotional and chemical stress could cause a subluxation. We were taught in school that physical, chemical and emotional stress causes subluxation but I must have been sleeping when they explained how.

My search for the truth led me to an unexpected discovery, one I call wellness chiropractic. A neurologically based subluxation model that finally validates the true principles of chiropractic in a wellness model.

My discovery was that subluxation is not a "loss of juxtaposition that decreases the intravertebral foramen causing pressure to the nerve root." Or as the Association of Chiropractic Colleges states: "subluxation is a complex of functional and/or structural and/or pathological articular changes that compromise neural integrity."

Subluxations have nothing to do with misalignments of the spine. They are neurologically based, not structurally based! This discovery led to a clinical protocol that when practiced could predictably improve my patient's overall health and well-being. It transformed my practice and save lives.

I now have an operational model of subluxation that can be clinically applied with great success. Neurologically based subluxations are measurable and quantifiable. The treatment outcomes are predictable. You no longer have to be fearful of doing a re-exam and not seeing results.

Your results will allow your patients to express and experience their human potential at 100% in every dimension of life. It's truly transforming for both your practice and your patients. This is wellness chiropractic and its foundation is based on a neurologic model of subluxation.

What is the mechanism of action for the neurologically based subluxation? How does an emotional or chemical stressor cause a subluxation?

Let's look at the emotional component. Every experience you have in life is left as an imprint in your nervous system. These can be positive, negative, or neutral experiences. As your experiences begin to accumulate, your central nervous system begins to remodel, reorganize- adapt to meet the needs placed upon the system. This is called neuroplasticity.

Negative stressors that become chronic or are significant can result in an unhealthy habituated neurologic pattern. This pattern is what you might better recognize as a chronic fight or flight response.

A chronic endocrine (hormonal) and autonomic (neurologic) response is established. The autonomic response prepares the body for fight or flight. The sympathetic motor nerve communicates to the intrafusal fibers of the muscle spindle cells resulting in hypertonicity.

The concentration of these specific muscle spindle cells innervated by the sympathetic motor nerves is highest in the intertransverse paraspinal musculature.

The concentration in the intertransverse muscles is up to 500 muscle spindle cells per gram of muscle tissue as compared to only 50 per gram in the rectus femoris.

The result of this neurologically based subluxation is a chronic covert state of hypertonicity in the paraspinal musculature affecting function and structure of the spine. The bone and joint function are mediated by the muscular system which is controlled by the nervous system. The spinal abnormalities observed are tertiary in the neurologic based subluxation not primary.

This is the neurologically based subluxation. Subluxations begin with the nervous system not the spine. The loss of position and altered function of the spine is an effect not the cause.

As a consequence, the clinical application of chiropractic needs to be directed at the nervous system and the rehabituation of unhealthy neurologic patterns.

The intent of the adjustment is to introduce a positive, constructive impression in the nervous system so that innate may use it in a constructive way. Tonal-based techniques are especially effective at delivering the goods.

Expect patients to embrace and love this approach. Expect chiropractic miracles on a consistent basis. Expect more referrals. Expect substantially higher retention. Expect an increase in clarity, certainty and conviction, the three C's to success. It's no longer about popping backs into place. Patient care becomes a unique wellness experience as they explore a new dimension in health and well-being.

I want to challenge chiropractors, chiropractic leaders and chiropractic institutions to communicate and deliver a new chiropractic paradigm. It's time to be congruent to the principles of chiropractic and practice in a model that is scientifically valid and philosophically sound.

The neurologically based subluxation awakens the past, present and future of chiropractic. This is a paradigm that finally takes chiropractic to the forefront of the wellness industry and as chiropractors we reap the rewards.

Thankfully, with NeuroInfiniti, we now have the technology needed to practice neurologically based chiropractic effectively and easily. NeuroInfiniti is the only instrument that I recommend to all of my clients, the only one that validates the true principles of chiropractic in a wellness model.

 (Dr. Michael Gandolfi has successfully taught wellness-based marketing to more than 2,000 chiropractors in 15 countries. He is founder and president of chiroAcademy -- www.chiroacademy.com -- which offers premier practice development and management programs that are cost-effective and convenient through the use of tele-courses. For more information about neurologically based chiropractic and NeuroInfiniti, visit www.neuroinfiniti.com or call DeDe Van Riper at 877-233-0022.)