Why Mirror Image Treatment, Exercise and Even Plain Old Manipulation Fail When They Fail
One Set of Films That Demonstrates the Problem:
Lack of analysis in THREE dimensions replaced by talk of "global" treatment with no understanding of what is occurring in the spinal column.
One of the first and worst misunderstandings is that you can release or breakup meningeal adhesions
by light pressure. It sounds nice and practitioners fall for it but it just does not happen. That is like saying you can separate scars on your skin by light pressure--> it just does not physically happen.
Below are two sets of full spine standing and sitting AP and Lateral films of the same person 5 months apart. I advise you to double click on them to get higher resolution pictures and then to print them out, use 8 ½" by 14" (legal) sized paper if you have it. Then compare them while following the explanation below.
LB2 Standing AP Oct 1995
LB3 Standing AP Feb 1996
LB2 Standing Lat Oct 1995
LB3 Standing Lat Feb 1996
LB2 Sitting AP Oct 1995
LB3 Sitting AP Feb 1996
LB2 Sitting Lat. Oct 1995
LB3 Sitting Lat. Feb 1996
The first thing to note is that this is not a full analysis of the films but just a few points no one else seems to get or even every view because no one dares to bother looking at sitting and standing full spines, none-the-less look at them through the eyes of an engineer doing a structural analysis having no preconceptions about what should be.
All the films were taken with the instructions, "Breathe in, breathe out and let your body relax and slump. We are looking at where the skeleton holds the person upright with bone leverage. We are NOT looking at them holding themselves upright with muscle power.
The treatment was standard Advanced BioStructural Correction™ with nothing special done. That means the meninges were released and then the bones out of place that the body could not self-correct because there are no muscles pulling in the direction needed were correctly positioned. (The present tense at the end of that statement is correct.) This patient was uncooperative in treatment schedule but is still Unwinding and progressing adequately though not at the rate of those sticking to the treatment plan. There are further follow-up films and complete analysis in the Advanced BioStructural Correction™ X-ray Seminar on CD (which includes 40 full spine standing and sitting films and analysis of several cases).
I hope you have printed these out as they are difficult to view on the screen unless you have a very large one. First, put the Standing LB2 and LB3 APs side by side and the sitting LB2 and LB3 APs side by side.
For full analysis you must visualize and measure as in THREE dimensions but we are just looking at a small piece of the analysis here.
Going to the Sitting AP LB2 and LB3 you now might notice the S configuration in the LB2 sitting (the section above on left) because you know what to look at. You can see that same S shape in the thoracolumbar curve in the LB3 picture but the spine is in much better mechanical condition overall so some of that mechanical stress is shifted to the AP direction. Remember I noted that the spine moves and twists in THREE dimensions?
So, looking at the LB2 sitting Lateral compared to the LB3 sitting Lateral You find that there was a collapse of the upper thoracic curve in the LB2 films (all of them). You can note that collapse by the reversal of the kyphosis in the thoracic spine from T12 (T12 angle is negative 4 degrees) up through T8 or T7 and the flat spot T5-4-3-2-1. However, in LB3 you can note much less of a reversal in the lower and midthoracic spine and that the upper thoracic curve in the LB3 film now has a semblance or normalcy.
What you are watching there is the return of the correct curves in the spine in THREE dimensions and not just a spine forced into a set of tighter curves that are actually more pathological.
A hint at what to look at further in these films, it looks like there is a thoracic kyphosis in the standing lateral LB2, however, you know from the sitting that the thoracic spine there is actually just collapsed. Can you see that? Much more there. What about the lumbars? What in the lumbar lateral would point you to the fact that there was a curve to the right that was hidden as the body leaned far to the left and compressed it down to just about total invisibility? How about treatment? See below.
Woops. What if you treated with exercise and bracing and/or mirror image structural care, manipulation etc.? What did you do and what do you see?
It varies because bodies compensate differently and different configurations of pathological mechanics exist in the pelvis, legs and upper spine. However, it often goes something like this: Either more curve to the left because the body is pushed right, which is actually INTO its problem side. Or, straighter spine but with many kinks like the ones you see at L4-L5 on the LB2 standing film.
If More Curve: The body, being pushed into its Breakdown direction (the direction in which its mechanics are Breaking Down [as in a mechanical breakdown in a car]), The body, being pushed into its Breakdown direction curves further left to compensate even harder and prevent a worsened condition. (Now comes the operation for many.)
If Less Curve but More Kinks: The body, being pushed into its Breakdown side and unable to curve more to the left for one of several possible reasons, was forced to twist to compensate. That results in a more twisted condition which, seems to look better but leads to other mechanical pathologies and worsening inability to move freely.
Leave this last one alone for a while and they will either deteriorate and have other mechanical problems within a few years, or they will revert to the curved condition but not quite the same.
As noted, these configuration changes correlate with the changes in the lumbar curves seen on the Lateral films and even with the changes you see form sitting to standing. I leave you to view those and try to workout an understanding. Alternatively, you can buy the Advanced BioStructural Correction™ X-Ray Seminar on CD by calling 203 366-2746. Ask for Alison.
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