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Recognizing the fact that two forces are to be considered in all movements to adjust the spine when treating the patient for any ailment, we should aim to unite them so that harmony of action at once begins, and this is done by the hands along the spine, so placed as to bear down suddenly at given places along the spinal column. The position of the patient to receive treatment is an important consideration; for adjustment can not be properly done without this being strictly considered, and in all treatments. In order to be in the best attitude, the patient should lie on the front of the body, the breast elevated on pillows so as to be off of the bench which is used to treat on, and under the thighs there should be enough padding or substance to elevate them at least as high as the head, leaving that part of the body between the hips and the upper part of the chest free from support - as it were, suspended above the table, and in a condition that patient can be sprung downward in any attempt to press on the spine suddenly. Having this Position established and certainly fixed, the operator should be elevated at the side of patient high enough so that he can throw his weight downward on his own hands, which he places on the body of the patient - on or at sides of the spinous processes; one hand resting flat on the palm on back of patient, as seen in cut, and the other hand on the back of it; and now he stiffens the arm of the hand which immediately comes in contact with the body of the patient, and with the aid of the other hand and arm suddenly presses his weight upon the body of the patient where the influence is to be exerted on the spine, and if the movement has been done properly, a sudden clicking will have been made, audible, most generally, to both patient and operator; then the various plexuses will be found, and the various centers for Osteopathic Treatment for various conditions shown. He will get a good idea of where to treat the spine to get neuropathic effects of treatment, and all of the delineations can be there seen, so that any condition may be intelligently relieved by treating the particular plexus involved, without going over areas which are not involved. It should be distinctly understood that, if a given condition exists, certain nerves are involved, and these deserve attention; and without one knows which nerves are involved, and where and how to treat that particular leash or filament where the pressure is, and remove it, the difficulty will remain. In many conditions one treatment will not be sufficient, for the reason that many nerves may be implicated in a given ailment, owing to the complication of functions in the parts being controlled by the various nerves ending near the impingement of the nerves which control the parts individually under special control; and several treatments may be necessary to accomplish what is aimed at, and the nerves ending where the treatment is being given may require treatment as well, so that to assume that positive results will occur as a result of any one treatment is to assume what may not pan out at all times. This system of treatment is one which requires much
thought and quite extensive knowledge of the nervous system, to be successful
in the treatment for the many and varied conditions called disease.
It should be indelibly fixed in the mind that the nerves are the media
through which mind is conveyed, and that no part of the body could have
the sympathy of any other part of itself without nervous communication,
and it should be further understood that the nerves which go to and end
in a part must be free from origin to terminus to carry intelligence and
directions from the head-center, the dome and headquarters of thought,
in order to convey, unmolested, directions concerning the arrangement and
order essential to the removal of waste tissue, the rebuilding of new tissue,
combining elements so as that every element shall have its proper proportion
of the normal material necessary for that particular locality, so that
harmony may exist there, and not only in one particular part, but in every
department in the entire body. When the student shall have compassed
the magnitude of this science, and shall be well enough versed in the nerve
supply of each and every part of the body, and know what particular leash
of nerves are involved in any and all given conditions called disease,
and know how to adjust the various parts of the body so that harmony prevails
and health is restored, his services will be worth something to humanity,
and he will be justly entitled to the name Doctor.
THE TENACITY OF PROFESSIONAL ERRORS IN ALL LINES It has been stated by some one of considerable observation
that "the medical profession know less of their business than any other
professionals," and the application of their so -called science seems to
justify the assertion, and a closer observation and investigation would
doubtless confirm the truth of the statement; for what does the average
doctor in the several schools know about medicine, disease, or the anatomy
or physiology of the body he administers his poisons to? What does
the average man know of the nervous system? The large majority of
the medicine vendors know but little of the human organism, and know a
great deal less of the medicines they impose upon their helpless victims.
The profession has become a trade, and medicines are dealt out for so much
a dose, or so much a visit is charged, so much a prescription, and the
patient pays for the filling of it beside, - and all this is a matter of
education! The people think it is right, just the thing to do, and
the impression is rife that a physician is a necessity, medicine is a necessity,
and that when one takes ill, feels a little out of fix, medicine is the
thing he must have to get well! The one who has become wearied and
worn out by the observance of failures of favorable results of the use
of medication, refusing to send for a doctor, is looked upon as heartless,
a fanatic or a villain; so that forced environments and false education
have fixed a habit in the minds of the people a little less than criminal,
- and in many cases it is so. That every one who is afflicted needs
the care and attention of his brother man, no one of feeling and educated
consciousness would question for a moment; but it does not follow that
medicine should be imposed upon the one afflicted. That, having been
shown to be an uncertain commodity, it makes it questionable whether benefit
or harm will result from its use; and when there is a certainty of relief
without drugs, it becomes a criminality to compel any one to accept of,
and depend upon, such a commodity, especially when it is an incontrovertible
fact that medicines kill more than pestilence, famine and sword combined!
Is it not time to call a halt on medicine and to look upon its administrators
with "sharpened, sly inspection"? That medicine has proven itself
inadequate to meet emergencies as well as to satisfy the general demand,
the various pathies and schools and healers fully show, for, if medicine
could have been depended upon, nothing else would have been tried.
The dependence has been a forced dependence, a sort of unexpected expectation
of hopeful, favorable results; for it is a fact that organic troubles kill,
and functional disorders with medicines often become worse, and frequently
are made worse and kill the individual.
THE REMARKABLENESS OF THIS SCIENCE That a simple movement in the spine at a particular spot, seemingly not differing in its contour from any other along the spine should produce such a change in all of the relationship of the entire body, seems almost incredible, and yet such is the case. From a racking pain, that almost drives one to insanity, come the calmness of a May morning, and the tranquillity of the flowing of a gentle brook. This is not only the case in a single instance, but there are no less than thirty-one such places from the atlas to the coccyx, where adjustments may be made with astonishing results, - the cripple is made to walk and the lame man leap as a freed slave from long bondage. No wonder that such treatment has become so exceedingly popular with those who have witnessed its marvelous results. People have gone thousands of miles to receive some supposed wand from some secret force, wrapped up in some cabalistic word, and returned home happier by the long journey; but the one favored with this wonderful treatment has been the recipient of a natural adjustment in a shorter time, far more salutary, for it removed a real difficulty, whereas in the other it was simply a change in the thought which seemingly wrought the result. Mysteries have been sought from time immemorial, but there is something endurable in this which needs not the mantel of mystery, enfolding it, to hide its merits, and it only needs to be seen or experienced to inspire perfect confidence, and the mystery vanishes like frost before the direct sun's rays. All that is necessary to know is what particular nerve, freed front its impingement, permits nature to resume her wonted work, and harmony at once become established and order assume its place! All things are mysterious until revealed, and whilst the necessary movement to restore harmony seems peculiar, the mystery is in knowing why certain nerves are influenced which result in the change. Assuming that the nervous system is the medium through which the mind controls the body, we are to conclude that some interference with them had existed prior to the movement that prevented the normal coordination of the elements, and as soon as this was established, the results followed. This condition may continue for a longer or shorter time, and whether longer or shorter, makes no difference as to results. The pressure removed, all is righted. The study of the causes of the pressure is a consideration which needs some thought as to how such conditions occur. Dislocations or luxations are not necessarily the
causes.
THE APPLICATION OF NEUROPATHY To be effectual in arresting any complaint in the body it is essential that the two poles be united, for this done, harmony at once supervenes. That nervous irritation produces contraction of the substance in which nerves end, we see in the contraction of muscular fiber where nerves terminate, (all effects of nerves are at their ends, either it their origin or their terminus,) and hence we have a certainty of tracing the source of irritation, and this is assures us of the how and where to remove the irritation, pressure, or whatever is doing the thing we wish to stop. A nerve becomes one of the controlling influences of the body wherever it ends; there its influence is felt. Whether that filament ends in a lung cell or in a gland, its special function is expressed either in dilating a blood vessel or extracting a secretion of some sort from the blood. An interception of the communication along this fibrilla effects marvelous changes in the structure where it ends. The influence upon the part depends upon the special function of the nerve, whether it be sensation, motion or sympathy; and be it known that nerves end everywhere in the body, and the mind, through them, controls all the functions of every part. Through these nerve filaments harmony exists, or the greatest commotion possible takes the sway, and all the modifications possible to imagine between these extremes, depending upon the amount of power needed to express the thought sent through these filaments. Whether we be dealing with effects or causes, the relationship is so blended that we are often at a disadvantage as to the certainty of the one or the other - cause or effect. To unite these forces which determine results has cost much thought to systematize, so that effects might be satisfactory. That we have accomplished much along these lines we know from the fact that effects have been most satisfactory and oftentimes magical in a superlative degree, far beyond our highest imagination, and yet it is so simple that one would not believe it without seeing it done and watching the change for themselves. From a skin eruption to a typhoid fever and a puerperal peritonitis, we have seen these go as if by magic at the touch of the right nerve, and the patient scarcely realize what had been done. The marvelous effects of nerve action, in the union of these two forces, is beyond conception, and needs to be seen to be believed. |