One of the hallmarks of neuropathy is a progressive but silent atrophy of the soft tissue elements which are required to stabilize the spine. This form of silent neuropathic soft tissue atrophy is documented in the research by Chan Gunn MD.*   His work validates one of the principles of chiropractic which is that gradual or repeated trauma to the spine in the way of poor posture, one-sided activities, or other forms of abnormal body use run counter to how the body was built to be used. This leads to pathological changes in nerve function. The neural tissue sends two types of input to the cells they communicate with, the nerve impulses that coordinate body function as well as life-sustaining chemicals called trophic factors. The word atrophy has as its root the word “trophic”. Dr. Gunn’s research revealed that silent atrophy of the soft tissue stabilizing elements within the spine progressively occurred over a period of time prior to the onset of pain. The onset of back pain typically occurs only after spinal instability resulting from ongoing neuropathic atrophy of supportive ligaments, tendons, discs and muscles within the region of lost spinal motion and symmetry causes those weak stabilizing elements to eventually fail. Once the supportive elements within the area of spinal damage fail and you first began to experience back pain, you may think you just “threw your back out.”

Over a number of years, as the rusting area on the muffler weakens and thins, it becomes more susceptible to developing a hole in the weakest point within the rusted area. It is only at the moment when you hit that big bump that the rusted area within in your muffler crumbles apart that you first hear the loud noise. Although you may think that you have just developed a muffler problem, the rust spot within the muffler had been developing for two to three years. It is only when this weak point in the muffler went from sub-failure to total failure that you were alerted to the problem for the first time. Similarly, when you simply bent forward to pick up a pencil and you first began experiencing pain is the moment that the damaged area of the spine has crossed the threshold from sub-failure of the soft tissue stabilizing elements to total failure of spinal stability. This moment where spinal stability fails and pain begins is referred to as a crescendo event.
 
   Please pass along these important insights to your friends and relatives. Everyone receives traumas in their life and most people do not activate their body properly. Help them to prevent unnecessary pain, suffering and spinal degeneration in the way of arthritis from limiting their life.
 
We are here for all of you...
Anthony A. Blisko DC

*C. Chan Gunn, MD (from chapter 28 of Bonica’s Management of Pain, Third Edition, John D. Losser, MD, et al., Linnincott Williams and Wilkins.)

Children are full of energy because there is an unrestricted flow of the vital force of life moving freely through them. This miraculous life energy flows at trillions of impulses per second through your body within highly specialized cells within known as nerves. These electrically conductive cells convey the intelligence that allows all of the separate cells within your body to work together.

Many of these nerves migrate together after conception to form the brain and spinal cord. In the developing embryo the spinal cord is flanked by blocks of primitive stem cells. Spinal nerves grow out from the spinal cord into these blocks of undefined stem cells and turn on the genes necessary for the development of all of your organs and tissues. Your brain and spinal cord are so important that they are the only organs encased in a protective bony covering known as the cranium and vertebral column.

As an adult, your nervous system is the primary system responsible for coordinating all of the aspects of your life. As we go through life, the spine becomes damaged by avoidable traumas such as poor posture and unavoidable traumas like falls, sports injuries and accidents. Just like a rheostat dims a light if the flow of electricity is reduced, the life energy within you can’t flow fully through your body if your nervous system is damaged. If areas of your nervous system are not working at 100%, the cells those unhealthy nerves communicate with can’t work at 100% either. If any part of your nervous system develops pathology, the cells that those unhealthy nerves control can weaken or even die. As a result, this absence of the flow of life energy due to nerve pathology can result in a loss of the normal body functions associated with those nerves.
Dr Daniel David Palmer, the founder of the Chiropractic profession defined nerve damage resulting from spinal distortion with the word “subluxation.” When you break this word down into its component parts “sub” means less and “lux” means light. It is the “light” within you in the way of the life energy conveyed as nerve impulses which promotes your body’s ability to heal itself. As chiropractic care aligns your spine it is like turning the rheostat for the flow of life energy back up toward full power. It is this increased flow of life energy, the light within provided by those trillions of nerve impulses per second that promotes healing. This is simply because when you are adjusted your life energy is able to flow through your nervous system more freely like it did when you were a child. In the spirit of this image of how spinal care increased the flow of the light of life energy within their patients, some chiropractors of old used to call themselves emissaries of light.
By restoring a greater flow of the life energy, the light within each of my patients, they often find that they are able to do more of the things they love to do for longer in their life.
 
Dr Anthony A. Blisko