CHIROPRACTIC EXCELLENCE

ART 12. RECOIL.

“Recoil is the term used for Innate contraction of forces, in the body, in response to the adjustic concussion. Mechanically, recoil is the product of elasticity. It is the bouncing or springing back of an object when it strikes another object. It is not possible without concussion…”

If you have learnt Toggle Recoil you will recall the high speed, low amplitude thrust along with recoil that you may have spent hours trying to master. Often we were given the toggle boards with the hinge and latch mechanism that helped to train just the right depth, and I can remember a degree of competition in trying to be the most lightning fast adjuster.

One of the key ingredients built into the Integrator adjusting device during its development was recoil. This is partly provided by the pre-loading mechanism that allows the instrument to fire upon a pre-determined amount of pressure, but actual recoil is also built into the device’s specifications to maximise the “Innate contraction of forces” that Stephenson speaks of.

I think there are some key concepts shared in the short paragraph about recoil:

1. Something happens as a result of us delivering our thrust - recoil - we don’t realign bones, we don’t release stuck joints - the body has to respond for there to be a therapeutic effect - we just need to get the concussion right…
2. Recoil is dependent on elasticity - in chiropractic our disclaimer to the potential benefits from our care is something we call “limitations of matter” - this primarily means the structural changes that result from the long term dysfunction and distortion that restrict the body’s ability to be corrected. I would argue that this manifests most significantly as reduced recoil.

During TRT training we discuss The 14 Indicators of Subluxation - one of the benefits of understanding and having a system to objectify and review these indicators that I have found in my practice is to develop better intuition in predicting the state of a practice member’s “matter” - that is the degree of tension which is being stored in their system - or in other words the degree of elasticity in their body. This helps enormously with scheduling and with pre-empting the need for increased education and encouragemnt to increase the chances of compliance and hence great results…

To check out TRT training dates go to this link: http://www.torquerelease.com.au/TRT-Seminar.htm

ART 9. CLEAVAGE.

“Cleavage is the movement of one body between two others splitting action. The friction is greater with slow motion than with fast, which is of course according to the law of friction. The application of the principle of cleavage, in Chiropractic, is the movement of a vertebra between two other vertebra…”

ART 10. CONCUSSION.

“Concussion is a blow as the result of arrested momentum, Momentum is the result of weight (mass) in motion and also of speed. In an adjustic concussion, it depends more upon speed than mass. At any rate it is necessary to get concussion, but without pounding upon the back. There should be a clean transfer through to the vertebra.”

ART 11. SPEED.

“Speed is the velocity of a moving body. The more speed a body has the more momentum it possesses. The more momentum it has, as the result of this speed, the more clean cut concussion it can produce. It is used in Chiropractic to obtain easy cleavage and to arouse Innate recoil.”

These articles are pivottal in understanding the reason why an instrument adjustment may be equal to or perhaps even potentially superior to a manual adjustment. And that statement can summarised in one word - SPEED.

An Integrator fires roughly ten times faster than the most often seen adjusting instrument, which in turn fires faster than the human hands can deliver a thrust. The beauty of this in physics terms is that the mass can be significantly reduced to still result in equal force (concussion) being produced. (Force equals mass times acceleration) And why superior results may be possible is due to the ability of speed to surpass friction resulting in more efficient cleavage.

Bottom line is that the evidence suggests at least equal benefits exist between a manual adjustment and an instrument based adjustment:

• “…either mechanical-force, manually-assisted or high-velocity, low-amplitude chiropractic adjustments were associated with a beneficial effect of a reduction in pain and disability in patients diagnosed with sacroiliac joint syndrome. Neither… were found to be more effective than the other in the treatment of this patient population.  (JMPT 2005)
• “…both instrumental (MFMA) manipulation and manual (HVLA) manipulation have beneficial effects associated with reducing pain and disability and improving cervical range of motion… no significant difference being observed between the 2 groups.” (JMPT 2001)

This can be hard to swallow for those who hold on to their superiority complex that comes from hearing nice noises emanating from the spines that we “adjust”. And I can say that because I have been one in that position of judgement: Until I swallowed my pride and put the Integrator to the test in real life practice that is.

DD Palmer himself stated that one day there would be better ways found to adjust - maybe that day has already come? What do you think?

Check out TRT training at this link: www.torquerelease.com.au

ART 7 - INNATE INTELLIGENCE IS THE ADJUSTOR.

“Innate Intelligence always strives to replace a misplaced vertebra. If it is a subluxated vertebra, it is so because Innate’s replacing forces are cut off from the region of the misplaced vertebra. This subluxation, which is interfering with the transmission of mental impulses to some organ, remains in that position because it also is interfering with the transmission of impulses to its supporting tissue. Sometimes this is to such an extent as to make the vertebra, or the tissues holding it in situ, pathological.

“Innate can replace a vertebra if the adjustor produces a jerk or concussion in those tissues. This jerk is called the recoil. Recoils are brought about by concussions; concussions may be accidental or scientific Dr. Palmer prefers the latter. Concussions may be the result of mechanical forces, or intangible physical forces, chemical forces or mental shocks. Both subluxations and adjustments are produced by recoil to concussions. Unbalanced resistance subluxates; balanced resistance adjusts. A spontaneous adjustment is one accomplished by Innate without the intervention of outside forces. Accidental adjustments are brought about by accidental recoils, which happen to be just right. The adjustor should try to produce recoils scientifically, so they will not “just happen”, but so he can bring that “phenomenon” about whenever he wants to.”

I have observed cases of “accidental adjustments” over the years: One was a chronic regular migraine sufferer who walked into a pantry and thought he saw a mouse in the corner of his eye. He rapidly turned his head to see, felt an almighty clunk in his neck, got the sensation that he was about to develop an enormous migraine, which rapidly passed, and he never suffered another migraine from that day forward. Another was a practice member who had previously had a lumbar fusion, and developed a recurrence of severe constant sciatica months later. While lifting some rocks from a car trailer, he fell backwards down a steep embankment, and stood up totally pain free for the first time in weeks.

In Torque Release Technique seminars we discuss the concept of the Primary Subluxation. This is somewhat different to a Gonstead concept of primary because it is a “live” concept - that at any given moment there is only one most important subluxation to adjust. And the analysis we teach is all about differentially diagnosing which vertebra that is and how it would prefer to be adjusted in terms of vectors. In other words we train Chiropractors to be as scientific as possible about the concussions and resultant recoils that they can produce whenever they want to…

Check out TRT training at this link: http://www.torquerelease.com.au/TRT-Seminar.htm 

Art 6. ADJUSTMENTS

“A Chiropractic adjustment is the RESTORATION of a subluxated vertebra to its normal position, by Innate Intelligence.

“This restoration is brought about by Innate recoil or Innate contraction of forces. The contraction of forces takes place in the supporting tissues of the vertebra in question… The Palmer method of arousing Innate to do this… is by means of the Palmer Toggle Recoil.

“…no other method teaches that adjusting is restoration performed by Innate Intelligence.”

In Torque Release Technique (TRT) we teach that an adjustment is “communication through touch”: This builds on this concept that we deliver a correctional vector with intent, but then the body has to do something intelligent with this force, energy and/or information. In other words the real healing begins after your hands have finished.

The defining attributes of a Toggle Recoil adjustment include:

• Highly specific contact point
• High speed low amplitude thrust
• Recoil
• Torque

During the design of the original TRT research project a statistical problem had to be solved: This was the statistical confounding of touch. Because chiropractic is “done by hand” it is actually quite difficult to achieve statistical significance - a large sample size or huge clinical difference between active treatment and control group is required. Not to mention the “placebo” stigma of human touch. (You know some researchers think that chiropractic works because we are nice to people?)

To avoid this Jay Holder designed a totally new adjusting instrument so that the adjustment could be delivered by a reproducible, reliable and specific tool that reproduce what the hands intend during a Toggle Recoil. While some DCs mistakenly think that an Integrator is just another variation of other standard impact hammers that have been used by Chiropractors for some time, it is important to understand that there are very few similarities in engineering and construction.

The Integrator delivers all of the above factors of the Toggle Recoil but with less force, higher speed and greater specificity than ever possible with the human hand. And the findings of the research suggested that something extra beneficial had been created, so much so that demand for the Integrator in the market place predicated its manufacture. And the assessment and adjusting protocol used by the practitioners during the research project were similary demanded for use in clinical practice - and so began the teaching of Torque Release Technique.

To check out when the next TRT program is go to this link: http://www.torquerelease.com.au/TRT-Seminar.htm

Art 5. MOVES.

“A move is a mechanical movement given by an adjustor with the intention of adjusting a subluxation.

“A move is not necessarily an adjustment. All moves do not succeed in adjusting subluxations. A move may shift a vertebra from one place to another but that is not always an adjustment. A move does not succeed in adjusting unless it produces an Innate recoil. The educated mind of a surgeon or even a chiropractor does not know where to put that subluxated vertebra. The only intellect that knows is the Innate Intelligence of the patient…”

I guess if we can be brutally honest with ourselves - we will have observed this in our practices. Not every adjustment seems to produce the magic that we expect and that our practice members desire.

The key ingredient is this obscure component of “innate recoil” - a positive physiological response to our therapeutic “move” - needs to be an intelligent one on the recipient’s behalf. I know that some segments in our profession have difficulty with the concept of innate intelligence, but I am not sure how we can comprehend any internal healing without such an intuitive process existing on some level? One might call it homeostasis, another the immune system, someone else just energy flow - to be honest I think Innate Intelligence describes it better!

And I think the next question that arises from this is how do I maximise my chances of delivering an adjustment that more consistently produces innate recoil? On my own personal technique journey, Torque Release Technique has answered this question better than most, and continues to strive with research and development to further enhance each chiropractors healing potential.

Check out the next TRT Training program at http://www.torquerelease.com.au/TRT-Seminar.htm