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Month: December 2021

Core Therapies News2021December
What is Drop Table (Thompson) Technique?
By CoreT2018 0 Comments Uncategorized , , , ,

What is Drop Table (Thompson) Technique?

By Dr. Derek DeCagna

Chiropractic spinal manipulation is both a science and an art.  As such, it can be administered in a variety of ways to best meet the needs of a patient and the practitioner.  Drop Table Technique, a.k.a. Thompson Technique, is a form of spinal manipulation that utilizes gravity through a “drop” to make segmental corrections.  More specifically, Drop Table Technique requires the use of a special chiropractic table that is divided into various pieces.  These pieces have the ability to be raised between 1 to 2 inches relative to a neutral flat-lying surface and their “tension” or relative ability to drop back to neutral can be modified.  

 

How is a chiropractic adjustment delivered using a Drop Table?

The patient is always asked to place his or her area of focus on top of one of the drop pieces.  The practitioner will then set the desired tension of the drop piece to adequately counterbalance the patient’s weight.  The drop piece is then lifted, and a manual chiropractic adjustment is delivered to the patient so that the drop piece releases and falls back to its neutral position.  Once the drop piece comes to a rest, the momentum gathered from the drop continues through the patient for a very short period of time.  This transfer of energy creates a summative, amplifying effect on the force of the chiropractic adjustment, while creating a relatively mild sensation for the patient.    

 

What is Drop Table (Thompson) Technique?

 

What does Drop Table (Thompson) Technique feel like?

Typically, drop table adjustments are experienced as a “gentler” form of spinal manipulation because they require less power from the practitioner and less ancillary movement and/or special positioning by the patient.  Drop pieces magnify the thrust of a chiropractic adjustment in a way that minimizes the force and pressure experienced by the patient for an adjustment.

 

How is the magnifying effect of a Drop Table achieved?

A great way to examine the physics at play when a drop piece is utilized is to look at the scenario in terms of energy.  When an object is at rest, its gravitational potential energy can be represented as follows:

 

PE=mgh

 

PE = potential energy

m = mass

g = gravitational constant

h = height

 

Moreover, the potential energy of an object at rest can be transferred to another object if all of its energy is converted to kinetic energy.  In this particular hypothetical example, the potential energy of a patient lying over an elevated drop piece can be described as: 

 

PE=mgh

 

PE = potential energy

m = mass of patient 

g = gravitational constant

h = height of drop piece 

 

When a chiropractic adjustment is delivered, the energy of the thrust is added to the potential energy of the patient:

 

ETotal= EThrust+PEDrop

 

ETotal= EThrust+mgh

 

Since the drop piece must be elevated prior to a chiropractic adjustment, the energy of the chiropractic adjustment must be greater than the potential energy of the drop piece in order for the piece to fall.  The amount of energy required to make the drop piece fall is dependent upon the tension that is determined by the patient’s weight and the judgment of the chiropractor.  Taking this into consideration, one can see that the total energy exerted during a drop piece adjustment must be greater than 2x the amount of energy required to keep a patient elevated on a drop piece: 

 

ETotal  mgh+mgh

 

ETotal  2mgh

 

Takeaways:

  • Drop Table (Thompson) Technique is a viable form of chiropractic manipulation that can be used to treat the spine and extremities.
  • Drop Table (Thompson) Technique is usually experienced as a milder form of chiropractic manipulation compared to techniques that require more power and special positioning.
  • Drop Table (Thompson) Technique utilizes gravity and the patient’s own weight to make an impactful influence on the force of a chiropractic adjustment.
Child fever
By CoreT2018 0 Comments Uncategorized , , , ,

Getting Sick Is An Important Part of Being Healthy

By Dr. Melissa Sonners

Getting sick is an important part of being healthy.  Our bodies are incredible self-healing, self-regulating organisms when given the proper environment with limited exposures to chemical, physical and balanced emotional stressors. 

There are many miraculous processes in our bodies that kick into gear when we get sick, that help us stay healthy.  Primary among them:  Fevers and glutathione.  My hope in writing this is that it empowers you to trust in these and perhaps step back and let the body “do its thing” the next time a fever presents itself.  

Fevers are often the solution, not the problem. 

From an article in Medical News Today: “Fevers are more than just a symptom of illness or infection,” claim researchers. They found that elevated body temperature sets in motion a series of mechanisms that regulate our immune system and go on to state that “an elevated body temperature triggers cellular mechanisms that ensure the immune system takes appropriate action against the offending virus or bacteria.” 

In our home, we have noticed that a fever often means we are going to have a more intense, but quicker period of illness, whereas a cold may linger for days or weeks at a time.  To us, fevers mean rest, fluids, movies, snuggles and books.  We watch our kids and ensure they are hydrated and resting, but are not quick to give fever reducers just for the sake of “making them comfortable.”  We find they do just fine under our watchful eyes without the need of outside interference.  

According to an article in the Journal of Thoracic Disease, “treatment of fever is common in the ICU setting and likely related to standard dogma rather than evidence-based practice.”  

Although much is still unknown and science is always evolving, in our family we tend to give the body space to heal itself.  We also know that giving fever reducers inhibits one of our bodies main regulating antioxidants—glutathione.  Glutathione, an antioxidant in plants, animals, fungi, and some bacteria and archaea, has crucial anti-inflammatory and immune regulating properties and, according to Wikipedia, is capable of preventing damage to important cellular components caused by reactive oxygen species such as free radicals, peroxides, lipid peroxides, and heavy metals.

Glutathione Fights Inflammation. 

High levels of inflammation are present in virtually every chronic illness including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. However, inflammation in short bursts is also healthy and necessary to fight infectious invaders.

Injury can also incite an inflammatory response. Whether you are talking about trauma, infection, toxins, or allergies, your immune system answers the same way.  First, the blood vessels in the injured area begin to expand and open wide to allow your body’s natural healing compounds to reach the injured site as quickly as possible. Because of this increased blood flow, fluid and immune cells flood the area often in overwhelming amounts.

This increase in permeability of the blood and lymph vessels is what causes the physical manifestations of acute inflammation, namely redness, pain, stiffness, and swelling.  After the infection or injury is repaired, the acute inflammatory response normally subsides and goes away. 

In an ideal world, the inflammatory response comes to your rescue when it’s needed and cools itself off once the healing is complete. 

But we don’t live in an ideal world.

In the real world, environmental toxins, your diet, stress, and other lifestyle issues have disabled the checks and balances of this system and inflammation doesn’t subside and go away as it is meant to. As a result, many people suffer from chronic, systemic inflammation.

When this happens, you’re in trouble. You’ll need a lot of extra protection and that’s where glutathione can help.

Glutathione (GSH) controls needed inflammation increases or decreases, by instructing and influencing our immune white cells. This is a completely separate mechanism from glutathione’s antioxidant properties.

Rebalancing glutathione levels reduces chronic inflammation and restores immune function.

Glutathione and the Immune System

Glutathione helps your immune system stay strong and ready to fight infections. While vitamin C seems to get all the accolades when it comes to immunity, glutathione is the under-recognized supporting actor who deserves the starring role.

Research shows that active glutathione (GSH) primes white cells such as natural killer (NK) and t-cells, your body’s front-line infection fighters.  GSH-enhanced t-cells are able to produce more infection-fighting substances, controlling both bacterial and viral infections.

One clinical trial in particular found that GSH doubled NK cells’ ability to be cytotoxic (kill invaders) after just six months of use. Glutathione actually has a potent antibacterial effect as it helps the immune cells called macrophages fight the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (mycobacterium tuberculosis).

In another study, researchers found that GSH modulates the behavior of many immune system cells, affecting adaptive immunity and protecting against microbial, viral and parasitic infections.

There are many chronic infections such as EBV, hepatitis, herpes viruses and Lyme, to name a few, which can deregulate and suppress the immune system. Glutathione can modulate and reverse this suppression. Autoimmune diseases also appear to be hallmarked by imbalanced glutathione levels.  There are just so many ways in which glutathione levels can support our overall health.

Unfortunately, commonly-used acetaminophen (Tylenol) actually inhibits glutathione, as do many other external factors from artificial sweeteners like aspartame to alcohol and household chemicals.  

If fever and glutathione both play an important role in our immune regulation, would giving fever reducers negate that system?  Quite possibly so. Letting the fever run and permitting glutathione to do what it does may just be what we all need to effectively fight off viruses and bacterium. 

In conclusion

When dealing with a virus that presents a fever or when post-vaccination, it is important to let our glutathione levels remain high for the sake of inflammation, immune regulation and detoxification.  Oral levels of glutathione can be taken and levels should be determined by your alternative health practitioner.   For further questions or comments feel free to email me at DrMelissa@CoreTherapies.net.