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#36 University of Helsinki 

3/18/2014

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            In the late 80’s research was conducted in the University of Helsinki in Finland by Dr. Tapio Videman, Ph.D.  What he did in his lab was to bind the hip joints of rabbits for varying lengths of time.  Unfortunately for the rabbits, the next step was to sacrifice them so that the joints could be examined under electron microscope.  What he found was astonishing.  In a mere two weeks there was “permanent and irreversible degeneration” in the bound hips.  Later he found that just reduced motion in the joint resulted in the same thing.  Fixation causes degeneration, and fast.  This research was a breakthrough to orthopedic surgery and it was due to these findings that today after joint surgery they get the patient up and moving as quickly as possible.  No more waiting for the surgery to heal before initiating physical therapy or range of motion or even weight bearing. 

            But the findings were just as ground breaking to chiropractic.  First of all, it is a rare 40 year old who has a MRI of the neck or lower back that does not have arthritic changes in the spinal joints somewhere, what we call subluxation degeneration.  And it is a rare 10 year old that I cannot find subluxation in either the neck or the low back or both.  Keep in mind that a major component of subluxation is joint fixation, just like in Videman’s rabbit hips.  What this means is that the subluxated spine in the child becomes the arthritic spine in the adult.  Since children are still making cartilage, a talent that we adults all but lose, they probably do not have signs of degeneration even though they may have fixation in the spine.  But as soon as they become adults and lose the ability to make cartilage the degeneration process starts.  And based upon the Videman research it will be essentially on a two week cycle.

            So let’s play this out.  You are a child that is subluxated from the birth process and from all the falls and spills you took while learning to walk, climb, skate, ski, slide, and ride.  These subluxations grow in as you mature.  You become an adult and around the age of 20 or earlier the process of degeneration begins in the smooth gliding joints of your spine.  Every two weeks it is getting measurably worse but it will take 20 years before for it could even marginally be seen on x-ray.  So at 30 it is still eating away at the joints, permanently damaging those precious and often painful structures.  And at 40 we can now see the degeneration in all its ugly glory on the x-rays.  So when do you intervene and how often?

            The “when” is self-evident, as soon as you can find evidence of subluxation, usually as a child.  This is why we have a specific children’s policy of early intervention and often free treatment.  We don’t treat children to make money, we treat children because it is necessary and the right thing to do.  The “How Often” is based upon science.  Since Videman concludes that degeneration is on a two week cycle, and since we know that adults cannot make cartilage only try to prevent the loss of it, we can only try to prevent its decay, and the frequency must be at least weekly.  This is what we call Reconstruction and then Wellness Care.      

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    Dr. Rick

    After writing an article per week for a year, I just kept going.  These are most of my collection.  They are written with my existing patients in mind, so some stuff may seem odd or unusual, but would make perfect sense to those who know chiropractic and who know me.  Enjoy and share!  For my personal blog visit: 

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