• What is Network Spinal Analysis?


• The Bodymind and Placebos


• Healing & Curing - Part I


• Healing & Curing - Part II


• The Universal Effects of Stress...and What We Can Do About It


• The Whole is Greater that the Sum of its Parts


• The War on Drugs

What is Network Spinal Analysis?

We experience life through our nerve systems. We work and play, eat and digest, laugh and cry. We adapt to changes in our environment. All of the functions of the body are coordinated through the brain, spinal cord and nerves. Consequently, the ability of the nerve system to function directly affects a person's quality of life (think Christopher Reeve!). Network Chiropractic care consists of a specific sequence of spinal evaluations and adjusting techniques that work to clear interference from the nerve system so it can work better. The adjustments appear very gentle, but have powerful and far-reaching effects on the nerve system.

Traditionally, chiropractic care has focused on removing interference from the nerve system by physically moving individual vertebrae (bones of the spine) to release pressure from the nerves. This approach has worked well for chiropractors and their patients for over one hundred years.

In the past two decades, chiropractic has taken a leap forward, thanks to the work of Dr. Donald Epstein. Dr. Epstein carefully watched his patients and noted that although some people had great results with traditional adjusting techniques, others did not. One by one, he studied all the chiropractic techniques he could find, and eventually put the best of the evaluation and adjusting techniques together into a "network." The results have been revolutionary. Dr. Epstein has created a system that respects the unique healing capacity of each individual. Research at the University of California Irvine has documented that not only do people under Network care report less pain and improved flexibility, but also increased energy, increased inner awareness, and improved quality of life.

How do these changes happen? The brain and spinal cord are one continuous unit. The spinal cord, as it passes through the bones of the neck and back, is the conduit through which the brain sends and receives messages. The hard bones of the spine protect the soft, delicate spinal cord. Spinal nerves pass through the spaces between each bone, carrying vital messages to and from all the tissues and cells of the body. These messages control our heart rate, our breathing, our posture, our digestion, and our reproductive cycles, just to name a few. The nerve system influences every function in the body.

We call interference in the transmission of nerve messages a subluxation. In Network Spinal Analysis, we define two types of subluxations. The first is similar to the traditional chiropractic model, the structural subluxation. The structural subluxation is due to compression or squeezing of a nerve as it passes through the spinal bones. This type of subluxation results from a mechanical or physical stress, which was overwhelming to the body. The second type, the facilitated subluxation, is characterized by an elongation or twisting of the spinal cord and its associated coverings called the meninges or dura. This type of subluxation is most likely caused by an emotional, mental or chemical stress from which the body-mind could not recover.

During Network care, as people unwind their spinal tensions, two processes unique to Network Spinal Analysis occur: the respiratory wave and the somatopsychic wave. The patient experiences these phenomena as a feeling of spontaneous breathing and body movement. The somatopsychic and respiratory waves are postulated to dissipate tension, or stored energy from the muscles, tendons, bones and ligaments, and also the brain, spinal cord, and their protective coverings. Interestingly, as people report experiencing these phenomena, they also report a greater improvement in their overall quality of life. Once tension on the nerve system is reduced, the body can self-organize to a higher level of functioning.

In most instances, people have tension on their nerve systems for many years before the cumulative effect on the body and/or mind is sufficient to produce an overt symptom such as pain or loss of function. Symptoms are warning signals from the body indicating change is necessary. Some people never have specific symptoms, but they experience a reduced quality of life, and lack of ease.

Each person's particular tension pattern is unique to them, and their experiences. A Network chiropractor uses a method of adjustment designed to honor that uniqueness. The Network protocol draws from many techniques developed in the chiropractic profession and applies them in a unique sequence, so light adjustments in a specific place at a specific time can have profound effects on the nerve system. The body creates the adjustment by its response to the directed force. This force may be gentle or firmer, depending upon what the body needs, and each adjustment is tailored to the individual.

Often a specific adjustment involves a gentle touch at a place far removed from the region of greatest distortion or discomfort. For example, a specific light touch to the upper neck may be the local action taken to create an unwinding or release of spinal tension in the middle and lower back. In moments, there is a release of tension in the lower spine, and middle back, as the body globally responds to restore a natural state of ease. In time, the body begins to make its own corrections through the persons normal daily activities.

Interference in the nerve system is like a rock blocking the natural flow of a stream. When there is interference to the fluid flow of messages from the brain to the tissues and back, it creates a disharmonious relationship of the physical, emotional and mental aspects of oneself. When spinal tension is released and spinal health is restored, the nerve flow and life force energy resume their natural flow. People get to know when they are subluxation-free, because they feel more ease, and experience an increase in productivity, and efficiency.

The goal in Network Chiropractic is to help the patient have a healthier, more flexible spine, and nerve system. Network chiropractors understand that health is a function of the relationships of all the aspects of the body-mind, and adjust their patients while honoring the uniqueness of each individual.