Where chiropractic is headed the next 25 years is a question many of us are seriously asking ourselves at this critical juncture in our profession's history.
Yes, these are turbulent and uncertain times. Many of us are very concerned, and rightly so, about our futures in light of present-day economic and world events. But my experience tells me times of cataclysmic upheaval present the greatest opportunity for positive change when decisions and actions are aggressively taken to identify and implement proven success strategies. In doing so, we can capitalize on the opportunities chaos offers.
Having been in practice 20 years, I can look back and see how far our profession has come during that period, and at the same time see the eminent challenges we must face and resolve promptly to strengthen the profession for the next 25 years. Admittedly, my view of the future (as it is for everyone) is biased by my education and experience. However, I believe those assets serve me well. My experiences have given me a unique knowledge base and skill set to know precisely what's required to take a person and a team to the top of their game and keep them there. This, ironically, is the exact question our profession presently faces and must answer much sooner than later.
Perhaps the most succinct and authentic way to share my vision for the profession's future is to case study the practice system I created for Lance Armstrong and his cycling team for their seven Tour de France victories. It required the same level of adaptation, innovation, and immediate response our profession demands at this time. The Tour forced me to create an "outside the traditional practice box" clinical system that could respond to and resolve extraordinary health and wellness challenges. I needed a system that allowed me to identify and respond to individual needs of the team members, rather than make them fit what I knew. The cornerstones of the Tour system were the body principles that govern its ability to perform and recover at the highest level. This is ideal because the system universally applies to elite athletes and lay patients, can be used for acute, chronic and wellness care, and has, thankfully, perfectly positioned me for today's health care environment.
The following are the key literature-based principles I used to build the Tour clinical model. I believe that this is an important model for our profession to follow in the future, particularly as we become increasingly involved with elite athletes and teams.
- Remove subluxation. Arthrodial dysfunction changes mechanoreceptor tone, creating aberrant afferent input that drives sympathetic efferents that have catabolic tissue effects, suppress immunity, disrupt hormone function, strain organs, and alter movement patterns.
- Restore tensegrity. Ideal soft-tissue length and tension determine the physical form of the body that, in turn, determines how much stress is put onto physical structure, the extent to which energy is conserved, how well the cell performs its function, and what genetic programs express themselves.
- Activate and maintain peak primal movement patterns. The body has genetically encoded movement patterns that must be activated to create energy-efficient, strain-free motion. Otherwise, more complex movements place added stress on body structure and consume excess energy. Many people have never activated all of their primal movement patterns and therefore have silent stress perpetually being added to their total body load.
- The shape of the cell dictates its behavior. Therefore, any alteration in posture changes cell behavior, making it impossible to create peak health.
- When mechanical forces in the body distort cells, their biochemistry and function are altered. Therefore, changes in body tension adversely affect biochemisty.
- The cell is not a water-filled bag. Research confirms that the cell nucleus and cytoskeleton are continuous with the extracellular matrix via connecting proteins in the cell membrane. Therefore, the body is a single and continuous connective-tissue structure. Because our bodies are hierarchical structures, mechanical deformation of any tissues results in structural rearrangements in many tissue.
- When the shape of a molecule is altered, its biophysical properties change, and hence biochemistry will be altered.
- When the body's molecules and tissues have ideal shape and symmetry they act as continuous, body-wide fabrics instead of individual molecules that route, store and interpret information, producing peak efficiency and top performance with maximum energy conservation.
- The connective-tissue compartment determines the health of the cell, since that is where nutrient and waste exchange, and nerve/connective-tissue communication with the cell occur.
- The body has four communication systems that intercommunicate to create and maintain health: the nervous, hormonal, connective-tissue and immune systems.
- Movement reorganizes the body. When the body is appropriately exercised, it upgrades to the demands placed on it, creating ideal tissue geometry. When combined with optimal nutrition, peak health occurs.
- Remove all nutritional deficiencies and toxic loads from the body.
In summary, the principles above clearly support D.D. Palmer's position that interference prevents the body from promptly and completely repairing itself and reacquiring the capacity to move at peak efficiency. It simply expands that concept to include other mechanisms of interference that impede important biologic functions (other than the nervous system) that are required to create and maintain optimal health.
The first essential clinical skills to master in the Tour paradigm model are the history and physical examination. The history is self-explanatory. The examination that produces the most relevant clinical information, rationally explains symptomology, and can be used for an irrefutable report of findings is a composite exam I put together based on the testing methods of McGill, Liebenson, Janda, Lewit, Butler, Kolar and others who observe body movement in order to determine major dysfunctions in the locomotion system. When combined with palpation, the exam can identify the body-distorting co-conspirators that create mechanical and somatic illness, including subluxation, tight muscles, inhibited muscles, muscle incoordination, scars, fascia tightness, inflammation, pain, stretch weakness, and blocked joints, tissue memory and emotions.
These clinical tools to remove all forms of interference and restore optimal physical capacity include adjusting techniques, low-level laser tissue and upregulation protocols, earthing, kinesiotape, frequency-specific microcurrent, and nutritional supplementation. These can be easily combined with other techniques to create a personalized approach to care producing extraordinary results.
In conclusion, to meet the challenges of the next 25 years, our profession and individual practitioners must clearly define goals for care and how they are achieved based on a contemporary view of the body's energy, repair and communication mechanisms. The factors that must be achieved in the new paradigm of clinical outcomes include restoring optimal tissue length and tone to the body, removing inflammatory pockets in the connective tissue, restoring normal accessory-joint motion, activating and maintaining optimal locomotor movement patterns, promoting optimal nutrient balance, and removing toxic and metabolic debris from the body.
Dr. Jeff Spencer graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College Los Angeles and has a master’s degree in physical education. He treated cyclist Lance Armstrong before, during and after all seven of his Tour de France victories, helped Armstrong’s former team to its eighth Tour victory in 2007, and has also worked with numerous professional athletes, including Olympic and world champions. Dr. Spencer can be contacted at
.