By: Dr. Sten Ekberg
Quick explanation of Neurologically Based Chiropractic
Neurologically based Chiropractic - What does it mean?
If we accept the premise that all function in the body is in some way regulated or influenced through the brain, we have to come to the conclusion that there is no dysfunction in the body without a corresponding dysfunction in the nervous system.
There can be no postural or other musculo-skeletal imbalance without a neurological imbalance. For every occurrence of discomfort or dysfunction in the body there is an imbalance in activity and control at the level of brain.
The conclusion above only becomes completely valid after you understand neuron theory, because if the communication between brain and body was a one way street, either the body or the brain could get damaged or fail independent of the other. However, once you realize that there is a continuous exchange of signals between the brain and the tissues, you understand that damage or degeneration in one will lead to degeneration in the other.
The single biggest difference between chiropractors and other health care practitioners is not that chiropractors work on the spine. It is that chiropractors to a larger extent than any other profession understand and work to reverse functional disorders.
In the body there is 1) passive system, 2) active system and 3) signaling system. Bone is an example of a passive tissue; it can't "do" anything until an active tissue such as a muscle pulls on it. The muscle in turn only "acts" based on signals from brain and nervous system. In this hierarchy we can see that all function is based on signals mediated through the brain and nervous system.
So if your problem is functional it means that there is nothing wrong with the active or passive tissues even if that is "how it feels" to you. Because the problem is functional, an X-ray or MRI would not be able to show anything out of the ordinary. The real cause of suffering is that there is an imbalance or a lack of coordination of the signals that coordinate the passive and active tissues.
In general , our society has not yet learned to think in terms of functional health so if you were to get a some diagnostic testing done, such as MRI, X-ray, blood tests etc, and they do not show anything abnormal, you'll probably be told that you're fine or that it's all in your head.
The technical term for these functional problems is dysponesis, which is defined as follows. (I'll explain it below)
A reversible physiopathologic state consisting of unnoticed, misdirected neurophysiologic reactions to various agents (environmental events, bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts) and the repercussions of these reactions throughout the organism. These errors in energy expenditure, which are capable of producing functional disorders, consist mainly of covert errors in action-potential output from the motor and premotor areas of the cortex and the consequences of that output.(Read the full article (pdf file) by Gentempo and Kent - CMA JOURNAL/JULY 3, 1976/VOL. 115)
Don't worry about the fancy language. Here's basically what it means. The environment - your food, air and water, physical trauma, and emotional trauma - change and create errors in signal output from the areas of the brain that control everything about you. The brain gets confused, overwhelmed and "miswired".
There are two very important key words here. The first is functional and the other is reversible. These two terms are still a mystery to most people, and unfortunately to most doctors.
If you are in an accident ER physicians can "repair you", set the bones, close wounds, stop your bleeding and save your life. If you get rabies or bacterial meningitis there are drugs that can save your life. Both of these scenarios are emergency situations where your body's defenses have been attacked and overwhelmed. One or two or all three levels (passive, active and signaling) have failed so you would die without intervention. Medical care can help your body get stabilized until it can fend for itself again.
However, in the case of things like arthritis, diabetes, asthma, SLE, fibromyalgia, cancer, heart disease along with 99.9% of all the diseases that they have fancy names for, the problem developed gradually from inside because of a functional imbalance. Your cells were unable to maintain balance because the coordinating signals were "off".
The other keyword is reversible, and you know what that means. That's very encouraging because it means that if we can figure out the weak spot in the signaling, we can strengthen it and reverse the problem.
As a doctor practicing functional neurology, my main job is to reverse weaknesses in the nervous system. You can read more in Neuron Theory about the mechanism that can reverse a weak nerve cell.
A balanced brain means, balanced health, balanced body, balanced life.
Neurologically based chiropractic for peak performance.
Sten Ekberg D.C., Chiropractor
Cumming Chiropractor
http://www.drekberg.com
678-638-0898