I T HAS BEEN WELL ESTABLISHED IN CHIROPRACTIC LITERATURE and practice that interference can occur at the vertebral level, affecting or causing neck and/or back pain. Some chiropractors want to limit the practice of chiropractic solely to the treatment of neck and back pain. In our opinion, this is a very limiting view of the full potential of chiropractic. Most chiropractors have experienced miraculous results, regardless of the technique used, when treating headaches, digestive conditions and sciatica—in addition to neck pain and back pain. What if there were other areas of the nervous system that caused interference? We believe high brain interference can cause subluxations as well as organ and systemic dysfunction. In an earlier issue of The American Chiropractor, Dr. M. T. Morter. Jr.. discussed the subluxation complex—how the brain can cause the subluxation and how the emotional brain can create that stubborn recurring subluxation. You know— the subluxation that invariably returns, no matter how great the adjustment or the response of the patient at that time. This month, we would like to examine in more detail the brain's involvement in the creation of this interference. For example, some areas of the brain become activated when a command to move a muscle is given, even before the muscle begins to move. Have you ever wondered how having a patient consciously move his leg makes it easier to give a manual adjustment? Thoughts actually activate specific areas of the brain. Have you ever considered how the patient's thought process could be affecting current physiology and the eventual results you achieve in your practice? A simple demonstration that depicts the effects of thoughts can be performed with proper arm testing. With the patient in the supine position, have him/ her think of blue skies and test the arm strength. Next, have the patient think of a stress or chief complaint and retest the arm strength. Invariably, you will note a change in the arm strength. 1 low could this be? Today's scientific technologies, like functional MR1. have been a great help in locating the specific areas of the brain that are activated during muscle movement. If chiropractic is to become a dominant force in healing and wellness, we should use and explain this new technology to further advance the art of chiropractic. Let's utilize a way to activate the correct area of the brain—on purpose—every time we adjust a patient. The concept that new brain cells are being created every second of the day is totally new, as it had always been believed that brain cells do not replace themselves. An interesting side note here is that these new brain cells die within two weeks, if they are not utilized or put into new neurological networks, such as learning new skills. This occurs primarily in the hippocampus. The cerebellum is a very important part of the brain involved with maintaining muscle tone and muscle coordination; however, the cerebellum does not act alone. It receives afferent information from cortical input, vestibular nerves, muscle spindle Golgi tendons, skin (touch and pressure) and proprioceptive pathways. The cerebellum receives information from both ipsilateral and contralateral sides of the body. Efferent impulses from the cerebellum travel over motor pathways on both ipsilateral and contralateral sides of the body. Have you ever wondered if taking the patient's head out of the midline when giving an adjustment could affect a higher brain neurology? When we study the brain, we must remember that, when any one area of the brain receives input, every other area of the brain is affected simultaneously. For example, when we state that the sympathetic and parasym-pathetic nervous systems originate in the hypothalamus, it appears as a rather simple neurological network. But, when you acknowledge that every brain has two hypothalamuses, you realize that the network is much more complex. By design, the two hypothalamuses should work in harmony and act as one in maintaining the role of homeostasis. When considering the close proximity of the hypothalamuses to the optic chiasm, which also has impulses that travel ipsilaterally and contralater-ally, a greater appreciation for the complexity of brain function is warranted. Each half of the cortex of the brain controls the opposite side of the body. Eighty percent of the impulses cross in the medulla and the remainder cross in the cord. No one really understands the purpose of this neurological crossing, but we must remember that the brain was built as a single unit. When that very first cell divided, one cell did not create the left brain and the other the right brain. In fact, there are studies that indicate one half of the brain can be totally destroyed by some disease, while the person appears to function normally in every way. In one example, this condition was only revealed during an autopsy. New scientific data reveals that the emotional area of the brain, sometimes called the limbic system, can play a major role in retaining emotions in subconscious memory that activate emergency systems of the body when they are not needed— leading to exhaustion of those systems. This exhaustion leads to symptoms, which are often suppressed with drugs by the medical system. Chiropractic has the opportunity to provide solutions to these problems by addressing the emotional interference in the limbic system, thereby addressing the cause of exhaustion. B.E.S.T. practitioners call this interference subconscious emotional memory interference. When the body runs on internal input at an inappropriate time, we call this subconscious emotional memory override (S.E.M.O.). Among other things, the subconscious memory can activate present muscle tone that was appropriate for some past experience, whether physical or emotional in origination. This inappropriate muscle tone can recreate the old vertebral mal-position—a recurring subluxation. S.E.M.O. occurs as your body automatically reacts to thoughts or feelings. For example, you are familiar with the fight or flight instinct. You see a bear, experience immediate fear, and either fight or run. Your body kicks in with the appropriate responses to aid you in your survival—elevated heart rate, ramped up adrenaline and increased muscle tone, for example. Your body was designed to react with immediate emergency responses to keep you alive. These responses were appropriate when dealing with the bear; however, you don't meet many bears today. Today's "bears," which produce fear or other stressful emotions in us, are things like not being able to pay your bills, cancer, divorce, work, family, etc. If these stressful emotions continue with intensity for a long duration of time, our bodies react to them just like they were designed to respond for our survival, evoking the same emergency systems—high blood pressure, elevated adrenaline levels, etc. When a fear is life-threatening, the emergency responses are appropriate; however, when the situation is not life-threatening, then the same perfect response is performed at an inappropriate time. Continually feeling intense emotions—like fear, worry, guilt or hate—forces your body to respond to the chemicals these emotions caused your body to produce. If you reach a constant state of emotional stress, you go into S.E.M.O. This subconscious emotional memory override manifests itself uniquely within each of us in the form of various ailments, symptoms and/or diseases. State of the art technology is available to update this inappropriate subconscious memory to present appropriate need, resulting in balanced muscle tone around each vertebra and appropriate organ balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. It only seems logical that more balanced muscles mean more normal spinal function—leading to better neurological communication, better organ function and less high brain interference. By addressing the true cause of subluxation at a higher brain level, true overall health, which our chiropractic philosophies speak to. can and will result. Dr. M. T. Mortei; Jr. was past president ofhoih Logan Chiropractic College (1979-1980) and Parker College of Chiropractic (I9N2-19S4). In his 45 years as a practicing chiropractor and health care specialist. Dr. Morter has developed the revolutionary Mortei' Health-System, which is based on his Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique. Dr. Mortcr is the author of Jour nationally released hooks on nutrition and the mind/body connection, and was featured on the cover of The American Chiropractor in September of 2006. Dr. Tom Morter is a 1982 graduate of Logan Chiropractic College, lie practiced for over 20 vears in Rogers. AR. Since leaving his regular practice, he has continued to serve as an instructor of the Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique (B.E.S.T). He also serves as Ct-'O for Morter HealthSvstem. Morter HealthSvstem currentlv ojjers programs for health and life improvement, weekend seminars, private life-changing sessions with select clients, national lectures and a specially formulated supplement line. For more information, visit www.morler.com. References: 1. I.Horstmcm, J. The Scientific American. Brave New Brain. San Francisco, CA: Jossev-Bass; 21)10 Emotional Intelligence-Dave Coleman Tabers Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary 4.Ciba Collection of Medical Illustrations Volume I. Frank II. Net lei: M.D A simple demonstration that depicts the effects of thoughts can be performed with proper arm testing.
