Pain as a Blessing
TECHNIQUE
Koren Specific Technique
Tedd Koren
DC
Question: What do back pain, dyslexia, disc problems, allergies, sports injuries (and improved sports performance), carpal tunnel syndrome, phobias, and posture have in common?
Answer: These diverse conditions and many others can be quickly and easily addressed and resolved by employing the POS—posture of subluxation.
The POS was discovered using Koren Specific Technique (KST) analysis. Yes, discovered! Vitalistic (empirical) procedures are discovered, whereas mechanistic (rationalist) are intellectually theorized. Put another way, vitalist procedures are discovered to work first, then the mechanism is explored, but that is secondary. However, mechanistic (usually medical) procedures may look good on paper (intellectually), but they must be tested to find if they work.
I’m happy to report that, in the vitalistic tradition, KST and its applications were all discovered to work.
KST Discovery
We were moving into our home, and the garage was full of stuff. Behind a door hid an unwelcome guest—a 300-pound piece of sharp-edged laminated furniture. As I closed the door, it fell on top of me.
I was blindsided. Three fingers should have been sliced off, but my head was in the way and received the brunt of the force. Slam! For 12 hours, I tried to sleep off the concussion, but, when I awoke, my problems had just begun.
I couldn’t use my hands, which is not good for a chiropractor. If this were a blessing in disguise, it was a very good disguise. Intense neck, head, arm, shoulder, hand, wrist, and finger pain (and weakness) soon followed. I wasn’t able to close or open my hands. I reluctantly gave up my license to practice.
Over the next 10 years, I traveled all over the United States and saw 40 to 50 healers—many chiropractors using every technique developed, as well as osteopaths, craniosacral therapists, acupuncturists, MDs, PTs, and others, but with no lasting relief. I refused to consider steroids, painkillers, and surgery as I continued to deteriorate.
In Desperation
In desperation, I took matters into my own hands. One day something magical happened. On a hunch, I combined the ancient concept of challenging as used by Richard van Rump, DC (Directional Non-Force Technique), and the occipital drop biofeedback (OD) discovered by Lowell Ward, DC (Spinal Column Stressology), with an adjusting instrument (ArthroStim) introduced to me by Alan Creed, DC.
Synergy
The synergy was powerful. I was able to do what separate procedures could not. I located subluxations everyone else had missed, and I was able to specifically adjust myself. No pop and pray, no guessing, little force. I didn’t need a table.
What Did Everyone Miss?
I found a most destructive subluxation no one was able to locate or correct—T1 rotated right and T2 rotated left; I was twisted in my upper thoracic. Diversified usually can’t release counterrotation; all kinds of techniques didn’t release it.
The bone, nerve, disc, and soft tissue damage began unwinding immediately. After 10 years of suffering, my neck, head, arm, shoulder, hand, and wrist pain disappeared in about five days.
Twenty-five Years of Sciatica
Counterrotation is especially dangerous at L4/L5 since a “lumbar roll” has the potential of intensifying the subluxation. In addition to my upper body pain, I had 25 years of off-and-on sciatica. After my concussion, it got much worse; some days, I was unable to walk more than 10 feet at any one time.
I found and then addressed my lumbar counterrotation, as well as some lumbar and sacral (yes, sacral) discs. I was better in six weeks. Today, it would take less time, but I was still new at this.
My problems have never returned, and I’m stronger than ever.
Could I Help Others?
My second patient was my wife Beth who’d had migraines for 12 years. No one could help her. Using this new discovery, it took a few seconds to locate and correct what everyone else had missed. Beth has been migraine-free ever since.
But would this work on those not related to me? I searched out the worst patients—sick chiropractors who no one else could help. I spent 18 months at chiropractic conventions, traveling around the country caring for them.
I was surprised that so many were sick and suffering. Doctors with serious acute and chronic problems would line up in droves. I heard numerous times, “Some days I’m in more pain than my patients.” I shouldn’t have been surprised because...
Seven DCs in My Neighborhood Had Surgery
Shoulder, arm, hand, wrist, back, disc, hip surgery—what’s going on here? Shouldn’t DCs be models of health? I mean, we do get adjusted, don’t we?
Those seven DCs were adjusted and adjusted their patients. Manually adjusting as many as hundreds a week, thousands a year—it takes a toll.
True Story: “A Good Crack”
A friend of mine was a crack addict. He’d say, “My patients love a good crack.”
He had previously stopped by my office because he was suffering with chronic neck pain that no one could help. His condition disappeared in one visit.
As fate would have it, he needed shoulder surgery. Years of all those “good cracks” took their toll. He called me in desperation. “Tedd, I won’t be able to adjust my regular way because of the surgery. Could I borrow one of your instruments?”
For the next few weeks, he used the instrument. He was worried about his patients’ reactions. “What did patients say when you used the instrument?” I asked.
“I hate to admit it, but many said, ‘I’m so glad you’re not cracking me.’”
One in Twenty
I’m convinced that for every one patient who “likes a good crack,” 20 are staying away.
Don’t be addicted to crack. Your body will thank you for it and so will your patients who like you but grit their teeth. You’ll see a jump in your practice numbers and more smiles, but that’s just the jumping off point for KST. What makes it most powerful is the POS.
Posture of Subluxation
It’s an amazing phenomenon. Many subluxations will only reveal themselves when the patient is in a certain physical or emotional posture.
It is a powerful addition in our care to check and adjust patients (and ourselves) in any posture—standing, sitting, bending, turning, moving. We call this the POS— posture of subluxation/stress.
Table adjusting is limited. We can give a person a great adjustment on the table, but when they sit as they drive home, or walk or move in certain postures they may resubluxate, the pain returns, the limitations return, and the stress returns. Why do we limit ourselves to one posture? Who gets subluxated lying face down on a table?
Allergies, Dyslexia, Sports, Phobias, and More
The POS is used to address allergies; patients subluxate when they are exposed to allergens. The POS is used to address dyslexia; patients subluxate when they read. Ditto with sports positions, bad habits, phobias, and moving in certain directions.
How to Do It
Simple. We analyze and correct the patient as they are exposed to (or even think about) their allergy, an emotional event, read, swing a golf club, throw a baseball, a football, or do a tennis serve. The results will amaze you.
KST Seminars
KST can be applied to many healing arts, including acupuncture, dentistry, psychology, podiatry, massage therapy, craniosacral therapy, surgery, nutrition, and more. However, chiropractors, due to their training, are able to get the most out of it. For example:
“I owe my success ful practice to you/ I don i need to advertise anymore...now it's all referrals...I went from 20 to 30 and now 40 to 50 patients each day. The phone hasn i stopped ringing! ” - Sander Ennick, DC
“A six-yecir-old girl s biggest issue was reading; four months prior she had been diagnosed with dyslexia. After one KST session, her reading and comprehension improved so much that her teachers commented on the abrupt change. I remember the day she came busting through the doors and exclaimed, ‘Dr. Ella! My letters do not get mixed up anymore. I can read like my friends!'” - EllaCoffren, DC
“KST gives me the confidence to adjust—when, where, how, and when not to. I have a new trust in myself and in the patient's innate to allow whatever needs to happen. ” - Cheri Palmer, DC
In May 2005, we taught our first Koren Specific Technique seminar. By now, thousands of KST graduates have discovered many new applications of this protocol.
Dr. Tedd Koren has made major contributions to chiropractic education (www. korenpublications.com) science (posture/ personality correlations), philosophy (The Subluxation as a Heuristic Device) and art (Koren Specific Technique - discover and correct hidden subluxations). In his spare time he fights (and beats) the Quackbusters and the FTC in their attempts to destroy access to chiropractic and natural healing. Dr. Koren writes on cancer, vaccination, chiropractic research and more. See his blogs, KST and products at www.korenwellness.com Friend him on FaceBook at Tedd Koren. Write to him at [email protected] 267-498-0071.
