AXIAL STABILITY METHOD AND THE ACTIVATOR
Activator Methods is a well-known chiropractic approach complete with protocols and a specific chiropractic tool called an Activator. The Activator is the most widely used chiropractic adjusting instrument and has been in use since the 1960s. Many patients who come to the Lydian Center have seen the Activator or had it used on them in another chiropractic office. It is a spring-loaded, handheld instrument that delivers a quick, gentle tap. It has a range of approximately 2-28 lbs/psi of pressure.
Most chiropractors use the Activator at the higher power settings in an effort to gently move bones, reserving the lowest settings only for infants and the elderly. With Axial Stability Method, we use the Activator somewhat differently. We turn it all the way down to the lowest setting for everyone. We do not try to move bones with our use of the Activator. We use the Activator to provide biomechanical information to the brain.
THE BRAIN AND BIOMECHANICAL MAPS
Young children are constantly moving. Movement is what develops the brain. For example, when a one-year-old learns to walk, the child practices over and over the necessary movements to ambulate in an upright position against gravity. This takes hard, concentrated work. At this age it is notautomatic. But once practiced sufficiently, the motor pattern is downloaded into subconscious motor centers and becomes part of our life-long automatic memory of “how to walk.”
As we develop these motor patterns, we are also developing and refining unconscious proprioception. This is the sensory feedback system that lets us know where we are in space relative to gravity. There are two components of proprioception. The first is feedback from our vestibular or balance organs providing unconscious awareness of where our head is in space relative to gravity. The second is feedback from our muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, skin, etc. that lets us know where our body parts are in space relative to our head. Through trial and error and lots of practice as young children, we learn where our hands are without looking at them, where our feet are without looking down at them, and where every other body part is as well – indeed, where we are and what we are doing at every single moment. This awareness is stored in proprioceptive maps we build in our sensory cortex.
Learning any new physical skill (playing a musical instrument, improving a tennis serve, learning to juggle) requires learning a sequence of movements and then practicing them enough so they become automatic. Part of athletic “talent” is how quickly and easily we can learn new movements and then reliably reproduce them. Much of this depends upon how well we have been able to create accurate proprioceptive maps. If you don’t know precisely where one hand is relative to the other, it is difficult to learn to juggle. To execute the motor sequence required for a tennis serve, you must know in exquisite detail exactly where every body part is as you move through the whole range of the movement sequence.
BIOMECHANICAL COMPENSATIONS
If there is a breakdown in our proprioceptive ability to know where we are in space, or confusion when accessing our detailed proprioceptive maps, the body defaults to compensation strategies. Usually these losses are due to accident or injury and the compensation strategies get the job done but they are ‘work-arounds’ that are never as efficient as the original more direct pathways. Eventually these compensation strategies begin to wear down the biomechanical system, because they cost us real energy and effort, often creating yet another layer of compensation.
To illustrate the toll that a compensation strategy takes on the body, think of a car. If the car frame gets torqued, this changes its relation to gravity. The weight of the car becomes unevenly distributed on the tires, which causes the tires to wear unevenly. Rattles begin to develop, gas mileage goes down as it runs less efficiently. We take our car to an auto mechanic to get these problems fixed.
When our biomechanical system becomes inefficient (due to acute or chronic injury, or basic wear and tear) we become inefficient in our movements. We may experience pain, fatigue, clumsiness, or decreased strength and endurance. Our joints may begin to wear unevenly (usually causing pain), we may experience a decrease in energy, sleep can become a problem--and on and on.
CORRECTING BIOMECHANICAL COMPENSATIONS
This biomechanical breakdown and accompanying confusion in the central nervous system (CNS) is what we are correcting when we use the Activator in Axial Stability Method. Think of us at Lydian Chiropractic as your body’s 'bio-mechanic'. When a person first comes to see us, we decompensate the inefficient biomechanical strategies, realign the core of the body in its gravitational field, and then help the CNS reorganize itself for improved efficiency. Once the basic 'getting back to normal' happens, the body automatically does everything it can to maintain this efficient level of function. But because daily life takes its toll on the body, through slips, trips and bumps, we encourage patients to come in periodically for their '3,000-mile oil change.' We find that a biomechanical tune-up every 6 months or so keeps the system running efficiently.
HOW DOES THE ACTIVATOR WORK IN AXIAL STABILITY METHOD?
The Activator Method protocols involve whole-body patterns of biomechanical corrections, in which we use the Activator to gently tap on the hands, arms, shoulders, spine, legs and feet. These treatments reestablish the correct biomechanical relationships of one body part to another. What the CNS needs most in order to reestablish biomechanical integrity is information. The Activator whole-body treatment patterns provide an information template that is large enough for the CNS to remember the correct position of all the body parts relative to each other.
The CNS needs information about the parts in relation to the whole -- like the story of the three blind men describing an elephant. To know the shape of an elephant, you need to know about the tiny little tail, and the broad, flat torso,and the big flappy ears, and the amazing long trunk. You need to know about every part of the elephant to know the shape of the elephant. If not, you are like the three blind men describing three completely different animals.
Similarly, the CNS needs enough information to know what how its parts are relating to its each other and its gravitational center. If the elbow is biomechanically out of position and causing pain, it is not enough to give the CNS correct information just about the elbow by itself. The CNS may need information about not only the elbow, but also the wrist and shoulder and maybe even the whole back, in order to access a large enough piece of the biomechanical map to reestablish the correct position of the elbow.
In Axial Stability Method, we use the Activator on its lowest setting because we are using it to send complicated proprioceptive messages to the brain. Once receiving these messages the brain can then alter muscle activity to “pull” the body back into place. What the brain lacks is not muscle strength or bone alignment, but the information about these factors. To provide this essential information only takes a brief activation, and the correct order of activation to “reset” or accurately read our proprioceptive maps. Proprioception controls and aligns muscle activity, and muscle activity aligns the bones. We don’t want to adjust bones. We want to send information to the brain so the brain can adjust the bones!
As your 'bio-mechanic,' it is our job to run diagnostics. Once we find out where the confusion is we make suggestions for change with the Activator. The brain just needs information about the nature of the problem, including alternative biomechanical strategies, to do its job of tuning up, and recalibrating the musculoskeletal system. We couldn’t possibly know exactly where your elbow needs to be in relation to your shoulder for you to have the wonderful tennis serve you had in your 20s. But you do. Your brain already has a master proprioceptive map and it is our job to help your unconscious biomechanical system find that map and read it accurately.
From TLC website...
Axial Stability Method is the exclusive chiropractic technique offered at the Lydian Center. It is an exceptionally effective new non-force technique first developed by Dr. David A. Newton in Wellesley Massachusetts. His student, Dr. Lydia Knutson, has spent the last 10 years expanding this remarkable technique in the fertile, collaborative setting of the Lydian Center. A highly effective tool for the treatment of musculo-skeletal pain and dysfunction, it is also a surprisingly effective intervention for learning disabilities, behavioral problems, developmental delays, clumsiness and poor coordination, and sensory processing disorders in children and adults alike.
Axial Stability Method is a precise, gentle, non-force chiropractic technique. We never perform manual manipulations. Axial Stability Method is an integration of three widely recognized non-force chiropractic techniques, combined with specialized techniques developed by American, European and Australian energy kinesiologists.
Everyone! Many common conditions, both chronic and acute, benefit from this method including:
We view the neuro-musculoskeletal system as a dynamic neuro-biomechanical system: freedom of movement is balanced by stability and restriction of movement. When the biomechanical system is working well we are able to effortlessly interact with our environment. Injury to this biomechanical system can result in pain, clumsiness, poor coordination or balance, sensory integration problems, fatigue, short attention span, and many other symptoms. Stable sensory-motor function is at the basis of all higher neurological function and development.
The upright human body must maintain stability against gravity. This is our number one job. At all times we are either defying or complying with this force and our ability to do so is the difference between injury and safety. Axial Stability Method regards biomechanical injury as a problem of hypermobility, or too much motion, in parts of the skeletal system that should be stable. When there is too much mobility the body attempts to create stability often in painful and dysfunctional ways -- such as muscle spasms and joint restrictions. Our treatment seeks to stabilize these hypermobile areas, enabling the body to permanently release the areas of spasm and restriction eliminating the need for repeated chiropractic treatment.
HOW DOES AXIAL STABILITY METHOD WORK?
Information about where the body is in space is monitored by two primary reference points: the vestibular system in the inner ear (as well as neck muscles) and the body’s own center of gravity in the pelvis. The information coming from these two reference points must be coherent and synchronized for elegant, efficient movement. Through a cumulative series of treatments, we stabilize these two centers in relation to each other. Once this core stability and synchronizing is achieved, the rest of the musculoskeletal system (arms, legs, spine, etc.) is then recalibrated accordingly. The extraordinary efficacy of Axial Stability Method, in comparison to other chiropractic and kinesiology techniques, is a result of this methodical approach to these primary biomechanical reference points and the crucial final step of reprogramming the biomechanical changes deeply into the cerebellum, and the whole central nervous system. This combination of stabilization and recalibration produces permanent results.
AXIAL STABILITY METHOD AS LONG-TERM PREVENTIVE CARE
Even the asymptomatic person can benefit from Axial Stability Method. Proper functioning of the biomechanical system can delay and even prevent the onset of common degenerative diseases such as arthritis, and maintain quicker reaction time both physically and mentally. Everyone should be checked for possible biomechanical instability.
WIDER BENEFITS:
CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES
Axial Stability Method has significant benefits not only for pain relief, but also for many other conditions not usually associated with musculoskeletal dysfunction—in particular, childhood developmental issues. Many child development issues—including behavioral problems, emotional irritability and frustration, sensory integration and processing problems, poor balance, poor immunity and digestion, neurological delays, learning disabilities and visual problems—are exacerbated by underlying biomechanical instability. Axial Stability Method restores structural stability in the body, often unlocking the door to major developmental advances for struggling children.
Activator Methods is a well-known chiropractic approach complete with protocols and a specific chiropractic tool called an Activator. The Activator is the most widely used chiropractic adjusting instrument and has been in use since the 1960s. Many patients who come to the Lydian Center have seen the Activator or had it used on them in another chiropractic office. It is a spring-loaded, handheld instrument that delivers a quick, gentle tap. It has a range of approximately 2-28 lbs/psi of pressure.
Most chiropractors use the Activator at the higher power settings in an effort to gently move bones, reserving the lowest settings only for infants and the elderly. With Axial Stability Method, we use the Activator somewhat differently. We turn it all the way down to the lowest setting for everyone. We do not try to move bones with our use of the Activator. We use the Activator to provide biomechanical information to the brain.
THE BRAIN AND BIOMECHANICAL MAPS
Young children are constantly moving. Movement is what develops the brain. For example, when a one-year-old learns to walk, the child practices over and over the necessary movements to ambulate in an upright position against gravity. This takes hard, concentrated work. At this age it is notautomatic. But once practiced sufficiently, the motor pattern is downloaded into subconscious motor centers and becomes part of our life-long automatic memory of “how to walk.”
As we develop these motor patterns, we are also developing and refining unconscious proprioception. This is the sensory feedback system that lets us know where we are in space relative to gravity. There are two components of proprioception. The first is feedback from our vestibular or balance organs providing unconscious awareness of where our head is in space relative to gravity. The second is feedback from our muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, skin, etc. that lets us know where our body parts are in space relative to our head. Through trial and error and lots of practice as young children, we learn where our hands are without looking at them, where our feet are without looking down at them, and where every other body part is as well – indeed, where we are and what we are doing at every single moment. This awareness is stored in proprioceptive maps we build in our sensory cortex.
Learning any new physical skill (playing a musical instrument, improving a tennis serve, learning to juggle) requires learning a sequence of movements and then practicing them enough so they become automatic. Part of athletic “talent” is how quickly and easily we can learn new movements and then reliably reproduce them. Much of this depends upon how well we have been able to create accurate proprioceptive maps. If you don’t know precisely where one hand is relative to the other, it is difficult to learn to juggle. To execute the motor sequence required for a tennis serve, you must know in exquisite detail exactly where every body part is as you move through the whole range of the movement sequence.
BIOMECHANICAL COMPENSATIONS
If there is a breakdown in our proprioceptive ability to know where we are in space, or confusion when accessing our detailed proprioceptive maps, the body defaults to compensation strategies. Usually these losses are due to accident or injury and the compensation strategies get the job done but they are ‘work-arounds’ that are never as efficient as the original more direct pathways. Eventually these compensation strategies begin to wear down the biomechanical system, because they cost us real energy and effort, often creating yet another layer of compensation.
To illustrate the toll that a compensation strategy takes on the body, think of a car. If the car frame gets torqued, this changes its relation to gravity. The weight of the car becomes unevenly distributed on the tires, which causes the tires to wear unevenly. Rattles begin to develop, gas mileage goes down as it runs less efficiently. We take our car to an auto mechanic to get these problems fixed.
When our biomechanical system becomes inefficient (due to acute or chronic injury, or basic wear and tear) we become inefficient in our movements. We may experience pain, fatigue, clumsiness, or decreased strength and endurance. Our joints may begin to wear unevenly (usually causing pain), we may experience a decrease in energy, sleep can become a problem--and on and on.
CORRECTING BIOMECHANICAL COMPENSATIONS
This biomechanical breakdown and accompanying confusion in the central nervous system (CNS) is what we are correcting when we use the Activator in Axial Stability Method. Think of us at Lydian Chiropractic as your body’s 'bio-mechanic'. When a person first comes to see us, we decompensate the inefficient biomechanical strategies, realign the core of the body in its gravitational field, and then help the CNS reorganize itself for improved efficiency. Once the basic 'getting back to normal' happens, the body automatically does everything it can to maintain this efficient level of function. But because daily life takes its toll on the body, through slips, trips and bumps, we encourage patients to come in periodically for their '3,000-mile oil change.' We find that a biomechanical tune-up every 6 months or so keeps the system running efficiently.
HOW DOES THE ACTIVATOR WORK IN AXIAL STABILITY METHOD?
The Activator Method protocols involve whole-body patterns of biomechanical corrections, in which we use the Activator to gently tap on the hands, arms, shoulders, spine, legs and feet. These treatments reestablish the correct biomechanical relationships of one body part to another. What the CNS needs most in order to reestablish biomechanical integrity is information. The Activator whole-body treatment patterns provide an information template that is large enough for the CNS to remember the correct position of all the body parts relative to each other.
The CNS needs information about the parts in relation to the whole -- like the story of the three blind men describing an elephant. To know the shape of an elephant, you need to know about the tiny little tail, and the broad, flat torso,and the big flappy ears, and the amazing long trunk. You need to know about every part of the elephant to know the shape of the elephant. If not, you are like the three blind men describing three completely different animals.
Similarly, the CNS needs enough information to know what how its parts are relating to its each other and its gravitational center. If the elbow is biomechanically out of position and causing pain, it is not enough to give the CNS correct information just about the elbow by itself. The CNS may need information about not only the elbow, but also the wrist and shoulder and maybe even the whole back, in order to access a large enough piece of the biomechanical map to reestablish the correct position of the elbow.
In Axial Stability Method, we use the Activator on its lowest setting because we are using it to send complicated proprioceptive messages to the brain. Once receiving these messages the brain can then alter muscle activity to “pull” the body back into place. What the brain lacks is not muscle strength or bone alignment, but the information about these factors. To provide this essential information only takes a brief activation, and the correct order of activation to “reset” or accurately read our proprioceptive maps. Proprioception controls and aligns muscle activity, and muscle activity aligns the bones. We don’t want to adjust bones. We want to send information to the brain so the brain can adjust the bones!
As your 'bio-mechanic,' it is our job to run diagnostics. Once we find out where the confusion is we make suggestions for change with the Activator. The brain just needs information about the nature of the problem, including alternative biomechanical strategies, to do its job of tuning up, and recalibrating the musculoskeletal system. We couldn’t possibly know exactly where your elbow needs to be in relation to your shoulder for you to have the wonderful tennis serve you had in your 20s. But you do. Your brain already has a master proprioceptive map and it is our job to help your unconscious biomechanical system find that map and read it accurately.
From TLC website...
Axial Stability Method is the exclusive chiropractic technique offered at the Lydian Center. It is an exceptionally effective new non-force technique first developed by Dr. David A. Newton in Wellesley Massachusetts. His student, Dr. Lydia Knutson, has spent the last 10 years expanding this remarkable technique in the fertile, collaborative setting of the Lydian Center. A highly effective tool for the treatment of musculo-skeletal pain and dysfunction, it is also a surprisingly effective intervention for learning disabilities, behavioral problems, developmental delays, clumsiness and poor coordination, and sensory processing disorders in children and adults alike.
Axial Stability Method is a precise, gentle, non-force chiropractic technique. We never perform manual manipulations. Axial Stability Method is an integration of three widely recognized non-force chiropractic techniques, combined with specialized techniques developed by American, European and Australian energy kinesiologists.
- Axial Stability Method and Sacro-occipital Technique (SOT)
- Axial Stability Method and Activator Methods
- Axial Stability Method and Applied Kinesiology (AK)
- More Information About Applied Physiology (AP)
- More Information About Stress Indicator Point System (SIPS)
Everyone! Many common conditions, both chronic and acute, benefit from this method including:
- headaches, back & neck pain
- stiff joints, aching shoulders, arms and legs
- sciatica, numbness and tingling
- repetitive stress injury, poor posture
- low immune functioning, chronic illness
- poor balance, clumsiness
- gross and fine motor coordination
- learning disabilities
- sensory integration and processing disorders
- slow processing and loss of brain integration
We view the neuro-musculoskeletal system as a dynamic neuro-biomechanical system: freedom of movement is balanced by stability and restriction of movement. When the biomechanical system is working well we are able to effortlessly interact with our environment. Injury to this biomechanical system can result in pain, clumsiness, poor coordination or balance, sensory integration problems, fatigue, short attention span, and many other symptoms. Stable sensory-motor function is at the basis of all higher neurological function and development.
The upright human body must maintain stability against gravity. This is our number one job. At all times we are either defying or complying with this force and our ability to do so is the difference between injury and safety. Axial Stability Method regards biomechanical injury as a problem of hypermobility, or too much motion, in parts of the skeletal system that should be stable. When there is too much mobility the body attempts to create stability often in painful and dysfunctional ways -- such as muscle spasms and joint restrictions. Our treatment seeks to stabilize these hypermobile areas, enabling the body to permanently release the areas of spasm and restriction eliminating the need for repeated chiropractic treatment.
HOW DOES AXIAL STABILITY METHOD WORK?
Information about where the body is in space is monitored by two primary reference points: the vestibular system in the inner ear (as well as neck muscles) and the body’s own center of gravity in the pelvis. The information coming from these two reference points must be coherent and synchronized for elegant, efficient movement. Through a cumulative series of treatments, we stabilize these two centers in relation to each other. Once this core stability and synchronizing is achieved, the rest of the musculoskeletal system (arms, legs, spine, etc.) is then recalibrated accordingly. The extraordinary efficacy of Axial Stability Method, in comparison to other chiropractic and kinesiology techniques, is a result of this methodical approach to these primary biomechanical reference points and the crucial final step of reprogramming the biomechanical changes deeply into the cerebellum, and the whole central nervous system. This combination of stabilization and recalibration produces permanent results.
AXIAL STABILITY METHOD AS LONG-TERM PREVENTIVE CARE
Even the asymptomatic person can benefit from Axial Stability Method. Proper functioning of the biomechanical system can delay and even prevent the onset of common degenerative diseases such as arthritis, and maintain quicker reaction time both physically and mentally. Everyone should be checked for possible biomechanical instability.
WIDER BENEFITS:
CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES
Axial Stability Method has significant benefits not only for pain relief, but also for many other conditions not usually associated with musculoskeletal dysfunction—in particular, childhood developmental issues. Many child development issues—including behavioral problems, emotional irritability and frustration, sensory integration and processing problems, poor balance, poor immunity and digestion, neurological delays, learning disabilities and visual problems—are exacerbated by underlying biomechanical instability. Axial Stability Method restores structural stability in the body, often unlocking the door to major developmental advances for struggling children.