Chiropractic BioPhysics, CBP, is the most researched form and most evidence-based form of chiropractic and it incorporates your traditional chiropractic care.
What really sets CBP apart is the structural correction, the spinal traction that is incorporated into the care plans, which is based off of structural engineering principles. If your spine is out of alignment, that’s going to create compensation, which over time is going to break us down, which leads to systematic symptoms and dysfunction. The CBP traction protocol is where you can actually objectively change the shape of the spine in terms of the structural portion of the spine or change it in a structural way, which offers loads of really, really cool benefits. CBP involves a lot of soft tissue work and a lot of physical therapy, too. So, it is a multi-pronged approach.
X-rays are critically important in chiropractic care, regardless if you’re doing CBP or not. X-rays provide objective data. X-rays also allow the chiropractor who is qualified in CBP to do a structural analysis and figure out biomechanically where the spine has shifted and how much it shifted. And then from there you can obviously really dial in a specific treatment plan around that patient. Digital X-rays allow us to do really cool bio mechanic analysis with a software that we use called PostureRay, which is where you can actually figure out exactly to the degree the shift that we’ve got within the segment of the spine and the spine as a structural unit.
Spinal decompression separates the joint and by creating separation, the joint creates a vacuum, so it pulls that disc fluid in. Chiropractic BioPhysics uses a similar premise in regard to creating separation in the joint. However, the difference in what really sets Chiropractic BioPhysics apart is they’re not just decompressing, but they’re always creating a second load. So, they’re not just distracting the spine, they’re actually pulling or pushing the spine back to where it should be. So, the typical spinal decompression is going to offer relief, but as soon as you stand up, you add gravity to the equation, well your alignment hasn’t changed and you’re going to compress the disc and over time that disc is just going to shift back to where it was originally at.
Fast forward 10 years, you’ve been pinned to your desk 50 hours a week looking down at your keyboard. Now your head has shifted two inches forward, and you’ve got a 50% reduction in your neck curve. Well, where does the weight of your head sit? It doesn’t sit in the back of the spine, it sits at the front, so that’s going to compress the spine, the disc, the joint, and the nerves. So over time that’s going to break it down, manifest the symptoms or dysfunction in that organ system, and eventually result in degenerative changes, et cetera.
If that person is receiving adjustments and physical therapy, they’re going to feel great. But if the curve hasn’t been addressed, over time the lack of curve is going to catch back up to them, and obviously that’s how the pain is going to return and typically it gets worse over time. The people that address that neck curve, so work with the CBP traction protocols, i.e.., they are getting the top bone back on top of the bottom bone and they are improving that curve. Well, that allows the weight of your head to be transferred from the front of the spine to the back. So then, when you are upright, you’ve got balanced muscle strength, good posture or balanced strength in those posture muscles, and you’re going to be able to hold good posture. The way the head is going to sit is at the back of the spine, that is going to create more of a long-term objective improvement, which is going to reduce pain over an extended period of time and going to allow us to function better, which obviously is overall wellness improvement and quality of life.
Typically, during the first visit of Chiropractic BioPhysics treatment, the patient is getting adjusted. They’re doing some work for the discs in the neck, they’re doing some mobility work for the muscles in the neck and the upper back.
The second visit is what we call the full visit. That’s when they are going to be going through the full gamut of treatment. So, we want to focus on breaking down adhesion, which is scar tissue in the muscle, which is going to limit stability and mobility in the joint. We’re going to focus on improving range of motion, so dynamic movement of the joint within the spine and then also static stretching so, lengthen the muscle that’s under tension for an extended period of time. We’re going to figure out which muscles are dominating and which muscles aren’t doing their job. So, for example, those deep neck flexors that keep your head back will get weak and lazy while we are just sitting and looking down all day. The neck flexors allow the head to shift forward in that corporate posture. So, we’re going to engage those muscles. And then we’re going to engage the muscles that sit deep between the shoulder blades, because those are the muscles that keep shoulders back but again, when we don’t move they get weak and lazy.
Then they’re going to do some postural reeducation. The spine is going to get adjusted and then they begin traction. Then we incrementally work them through traction, increasing their time and the weight as they go through their care plan.
Corrective care is typically CBP, so it can be anywhere from 24, 36, or 48 visits. At the end of care, we take X-rays and show objective improvement, and go over things we should be doing outside of the practice. Then those patients will graduate into more of a supportive maintenance program.
Chiropractic BioPhysics can objectively address or objectively change the shape of your spine by getting it back to within normal limits. And by getting it back or closer to normal limits, then that is obviously going to allow the patient to have more of a long-term solution. So then when you are physically upright and absorbing force via gravity, then obviously your spine is going to absorb that force more efficiently, which is going to create better load into the joint, onto the disc, tissue, nerve, which obviously offers better patient outcomes.
