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What is an Advanced Bio-Structural Correction™?
Advanced Bio-Structural Correction™: A state of the art system of analyzing and adjusting the spine and body that, over time, allows the body to unwind and recover from its previous injuries and distortions, and thus achieve its optimal, healthy state. This is achieved by:
1) First checking for and releasing tension in the meningeal system. The meninges are the tough, elastic coverings of the brain and spinal cord. Besides protecting the brain and spinal cord, they also act as an elastic stabilizer (like a big rubber band) running from the tailbone to the head to help hold the spine together. They should never be a problem, but in a spine that is partially stuck forward (see below), improper tension or fixation of the meninges can cause a misaligned vertebra to become locked out of position. Therefore, this must usually be addressed before the vertebrae can be easily moved into their correct positions.
2) Only adjusting those vertebrae and other bones that the body cannot retrieve or reposition on its own. In the spine, this means gently adjusting ONLY those vertebrae that have become stuck forward (anterior), because the body has no way of pulling them backward (posterior). Below the neck, we have no muscles that pull vertebrae backward, but we do have muscles pulling in the other directions.
This sequence of procedures allows the spine to begin to unwind and uncoil like a big spring and correct itself as it has been trying to do since the original injury(ies). This is so even if the injury(ies) happened years or even decades in the past. The entire spine, skull, ribcage, shoulders, pelvis, legs and feet work together as a single, synchronous, functional unit. The ABC™ protocol also corrects the forward spinal lean that has been pulling on the brainstem and spinal cord. Nervous tissue that has been under constant mechanical tension is allowed to slacken, restoring normal nerve flow, often for the first time in many years.
The unwinding process is at times rapid and dramatic (and symptomatic). At other times, unwinding is slow and methodical, requiring numerous "nudges" by the chiropractor and causing the patient little discomfort. The pace of unwinding is controlled more by your body and what it can self-correct without help than by the doctor, but when your body needs the help, getting adjusted more often both speeds things up and makes the process much less symptomatic.
How Does Advanced Bio-Structural Correction™ Work?
Our Portland, Maine patients are amazed that they can look and feel so much better so quickly!
Remember how your mom always told you to sit up straight because it was healthier? Well, she was partially on the right track. The reason we are encouraged to stand up straighter is because there is a long history of observation that people who stand up straight are healthier than others. In fact we now have many medical studies to prove just that. However, this does not mean you can force yourself up straight and be healthier. Forcing yourself upright is not what is healthy. Having your body working well enough so that it stays upright without any effort is what is healthy.
A technique called Advanced Bio-Structural Correction™ (ABC) helps individuals to return to the upright position and stay there without any effort; your body not only feels better, but functions better as well. In the upright position your heart and lungs work more efficiently and you stay healthier. The development of ABC comes from using advanced theory of human structure and integrating both new and old schools of chiropractic adjustment. Advanced Bio-Structural Correction is one of the most exciting developments to happen to the chiropractic professional in recent years. ABC utilizes observation and understanding of the workings of live bodies and their responses to certain stresses to help the body stay upright. See the changes here
Let’s consider four truths we know about our bodies:
First, the body is a partially self-correcting mechanism. Clearly, the body is not totally self-correcting or you would never need a doctor. For example, cut your finger and it will heal. Cut your finger off and it will not grow back.
Next, to get a body healthy and working properly, we adjust only the things the body cannot self-correct, allowing the body to do the rest (such as healing that cut finger).
Third, is that there are some things the body cannot self-correct (re-grow a new finger for example).
Fourth, is that we should never adjust anything the body can correct but is not correcting. Why? Because the body knows what needs to be corrected. The beautiful thing about ABC is that doctors are able to find the areas that need to be corrected and leave alone the other areas (because they do not need to be corrected at that time, even though the patient may feel pain there). ABC doctors adjust according to what each individual body needs, at that particular time, to heal and unwind through past trauma. The body will then let the past trauma go and the pain will disappear.
Knowing those four truths about our bodies allows us to find what they cannot self-correct. You may be surprised to learn that spinal bones go out of position in directions the body cannot self-correct because there are no muscles that pull in the direction needed to get those bones back into their proper position.
Picture a spine with a fishing reel at the neck—the fishing line goes down your back, with the hook at the bottom. When bones go out of place in a direction you can't self correct, the body gets stuck forward. The meninges (the covering surrounding the brain and spinal cord) then tighten up, reeling in the fishing line. The problem is thus not just the pulling on the nerves and brain stem, but that this tension locks the spine forward in stress physiology. This is what leads to improper posture and forward head position.
In other words, this is a position the body can’t correct itself because there are no muscles pulling in the direction(s) needed for correction. The only thing that one can do is compensate. When we compensate to that, we eventually compensate to the next thing and so on. Before long, we've compensated dozens to hundreds of times to an original injury that the body could not correct itself.
In short, we cannot heal from stress physiology. Just look at all those people trying to correct posture (their own and others) and not accomplishing it! All healing happens from ease. It's impossible to heal from stress. If the body can't fix itself, it compensates for stress by shifting pressure to something that can take it but never heals, just compensates. That’s why the back pain goes away and then you start having upper back or neck pain (or vice versa).
When adjusted with ABC, the body immediately straightens without effort by the patient. The body also immediately begins a process of unwinding. The body unwinds out of every injury, accident, trauma, and emotional upset it’s ever had. In my experience, the only things ABC hasn't been able to help are infections, fractures, cancer and such. Everything else improves almost immediately and the results actually last.
Immediate Results
For Advanced Bio-structural Correction™ patients, results are fast and profound. In fact, many ABC doctors find the results so reliable and fast they are often amazed themselves. ABC doctors frequently see patients with problems after they have been to many traditional and holistic practitioners, of varying techniques, with few or no results. These patients get improvement in a matter of visits—often the very first one.
So, how do we know the body is unwinding through old injuries? Extensive pre and post sitting and standing full spine films by Dr. Jutkowitz and other doctors show it by measurement. With ABC we have a system that clearly shows when to adjust and when to leave it alone. This is much more effective than exercises and traction, and makes the changes without the use of either.
Patients are amazed that they can look and feel so much better when little force and effort is used. ABC also reveals an end point at which the spine completes its unwinding process. At that point, patients can pursue wellness care. They learn from their ABC doctor which activities cause the body to be pushed forward and can choose to avoid those before compensations (pain) are established. As our bodies stay upright and healthy, we can do the things we want to do without worries of pain.
If you are suffering from a condition that has not been resolved, realize that it has taken years to damage your body to where you are today. Advanced Biostructural Correction™ can help with immediate relief and long-term correction. Just as dental braces take 18 months or more (with 24 hours a day contact) to straighten, your spine will also take time. There are no unrealistic health goals with ABC—only unrealistic time frames. Though you may not be healed with one visit, you will see a huge change in the way you look and feel on the very first visit.
Patients choose to make ABC part of their lifestyle because of the quality of life benefits they experience, including better breathing, improved posture, deeper sleep and increased relaxation; less pain and stress; more energy; increased mental clarity; and feeling happier—just to name a few.
Dr. Jeffery Clark is a chiropractor who loves to see his patients take charge of their health and conquer lifelong problems. He is the owner of Spinal Wellness Portland, and the only Certified ABC™ doctor North of Boston. (Some of the preceding article was taken by permission from Dr. Jesse Jutkowitz, the developer of Advanced BioStructural Correction™).
To learn more about ABC, visit www.advbiostructuralcorr.com