1) Curvatures of the spine adversely affect the sympathetic nervous system.
2) The sympathetic nervous system controls the blood supply to the viscera, and is therefore related to all manner of visceral diseases and pathology, and specifically, “the ordinary diseases of adult life.”
3) Visceral diseases and pathology can be traced back to the segmental levels of sympathetic involvement with nearly 100% correlation.
4) Prolonged abnormal spinal posture stretches the sympathetic nervous system, firing the sympathetics, causing reduced blood supply to visceral organs, and resulting in visceral pathology.
5) Abnormal spinal curvatures precede organic visceral diseases.
6) The author perfectly describes pelvic-lumbar subluxations, fibrosis, reduced motion, and sympathetic nerve interference adversely influencing blood flow and resulting in visceral pathology.
7) Spinal disease precedes old age and to cause old age.
8) Stiff distorted spines cause sympathetic irritation, vascular spasm, arterial hardening, and old age follows.
9) A person is as old as his spine.
10) Postural distortions causing sympathetic dysfunction can be treated with fulcrum-assisted reversal of the postural distortion.
Prediction of osteoporotic spinal deformity.
STUDY DESIGN: A biomechanical model was developed from full-spine lateral radiographs to predict osteoporotic spinal deformity in elderly subjects.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the biomechanics of age-related spinal deformity and concomitant height loss associated with vertebral osteoporosis.
SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Vertebral bone loss and disc degeneration associated with aging causes bone and disc structures to weaken and deform as a result of gravity and postural stresses.
METHODS: An anatomically accurate sagittal-plane, upright-posture biomechanical model of the anterior spinal column (C2-S1) was created by digitizing lateral full-spine radiographs of 20 human subjects. Body weight loads were applied to the model, after which intervertebral disc and vertebral body forces and deformation were computed and the new spine geometry was calculated. The strength and stiffness of the vertebral bodies were reduced according to an osteopenic aging model and modulus reduction algorithm, respectively.
RESULTS: The most osteopenic model (L3 F(ult) = 750 N) produced gross deformities of the spine, including anterior wedge-like fracture deformities at T7 and T8. In this model, increases in thoracic kyphosis and decreases in vertebral body height resulted in a 25.2% decrease in spinal height (C2-S1), an 8.6% decrease in total body height, and a 15.1-cm anterior translation of the C2 spine segment centroid. The resulting deformity qualitatively resembled deformities observed in elderly individuals with osteoporotic compression fractures.
CONCLUSIONS: These predictions suggest that postural forces are responsible for initiation of osteoporotic spinal deformity in elderly subjects. Vertebral deformities are exacerbated by anterior translation of the upper spinal column, which increases compressive loads in the thoracolumbar region of the spine. Keller TS, HarrisonDE, Colloca CJ, Harrison DD, Janik TJ.
Spine. 2003 Mar 1;28(5):455-62.
Seniors
The research shows that senior satisfaction with chiropractic care is very good. Chiropractic, in general, offers safe and cost-effective procedures for many musculoskeletal problems which can interfere with one's quality of life. Our doctors can show you how to increase your strength, improve your range of motion and get rid of your aches and pains. "Elderly chiropractic users were less likely to have been hospitalized, less likely to have used a nursing home, more likely to report a better health status, more likely to exercise vigorously, and more likely to be mobile in the community. In addition, they were less likely to use prescription drugs." - Topics in Clinical Chiropractic, Coulter et al. (1996)
Chiropractic and geriatrics: a review of the training, role, and scope of chiropractic in caring for aging patients.
"Chiropractors may be well-positioned to play an important role in health promotion, injury and disease prevention, and on geriatric care teams, due to their practice style and holistic philosophy." "Chiropractors, well trained in health assessment, diagnosis, radiographic studies, health promotion, and illness prevention, are well-positioned to provide many primary health-care services to aging patients." "Relative to musculoskeletal care in elderly patients, chiropractic adjustments (spinal manipulative therapy) are recommended by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research for the care of acute low back pain, and the American Geriatric Society Panel Guidelines for the Management of Chronic Pain state that non-pharmaceutical interventions such as chiropractic may be appropriate."
Killinger LZ.
Clin Geriatr Med. 2004 May;20(2):223-35.
