Defective Skeletal Posture Neural and Reconstructive Therapy using Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment

Supplement to The Art of Getting Well - Arithritis
Copyright 1992

As we age, our tendons and ligaments tend to stretch or can be torn from their connections to fascia through sports or accidents, or can be weakened through poor nutrition, disease or unbalanced chemistries. As the body's skeletal posture is held together by means of tendons and ligaments - not the muscles per se - a stretching of one set of tendons or ligaments will be unconsciously compensated for by other pulley and lever mechanisms in remote parts of the body. According to Thomas Gervais88, " Tendons are muscle ends. Fascia apparently gives ligaments and bones their proper place/structure. The fascial connective tissue thickens and becomes most rigid at places of greatest/most frequent use and demand. This 'ossification' process of fascia makes a return to good posture difficult." One compensatory mechanism is the production of Osteoarthritic spurs in the spine. Although the body's problem is lax or torn ligaments or tendons elsewhere, the body's chemistry attempts to compensate by creating calcium spurs along the spinal column. Were these calcium spurs cut out, the body's tendon and/or ligament problem would persist, and the body would attempt to compensate in another manner.

To illustrate: James A. Carlson, D.O. of Knoxville, Tennessee was asked to look at a patient's right index finger-joint nearest to the fingernail. The joint (betweenh 1st and 2nd Middle Phalanges) had been inflammed for months and was deforming. After study Dr. Carlson deduced that the cause was a left foot heel bone out of alignment. This may sound peculiar until one is versed with the manner in which the skeleton is held together, and the means by which the human body compensates. A bone awry at one place affects structure remotely connected. Using Osteopathic manipulation, he placed the heel bone back, and then using reconstructive therapy, Dr. Carlson placed near the proper tendons and ligaments substances that promote the body's ability to keep the bone in place.The finger immediately ceased its pain and deformation stopped.

In a similar instance, the finger nearest the small one on the left hand was unable to touch the palm of the hand. It was very stiff and often hurt. Dr. Carlson determined that the cause was an arch-bone in the left foot out of alignment. Again he manipulated the bone to its proper location and then used reconstructive therapy to place the bone permanently where it belonged. The pain immediately disappeared and the patient had restored ability to touch the palm of the hand with that finger10.

Many other instances -- much more spectacular8,9 -- can be described for all parts of the body where Osteoarthritis is presumed but in fact it is the slackness or disruption at the connective base of ligaments and tendons, through their interconnections via pulley and lever interconnections, that slowly create Osteoarthritic symptoms8.