Hello everyone!
Dr. Koser here from Optimal Spine Chiropractic! We’ve finally found someone to help bring our functional movement education course online. Here in the clinic, we’ve been focusing on correcting
Structural Distortions which are made of 3 distinct components:
- Segment
- Posture
- Movement
In most clinics (chiropractic, physical therapy, or other) they tend to focus on just one of these functions. So, we’ve decided to make a patient treatment system that encompasses all of these.
So, what is the “Segment” portion of a Structural Distortion?
The “Segment” is the individual joint/bone that has become dysfunctional. When a single bone (let’s use a vertebra as an example) is misaligned, it will distort the tissues around it. The joint will form “scar tissue” that causes the bone to get “stuck”, it’ll pinch on nerves that cause pain/numbness/tingling/etc, and will eventually lead to arthritis. This must be analyzed via x-ray and hands on analysis to assess for these. In healthy humans, these restrictions can begin forming in under a month. In patients with existing degenerative conditions, they can form in mere days. Getting check regularly for these helps keep segmental dysfunction from progressing into a full blown (potentially surgical) case.
The “Posture” component of the Structural Distortion is the total GLOBAL alignment of every single bone in your spine. We measure this via the augmented reality aided structure analyzing software on the iPad as well computer aided x-ray analysis. These give you values that are checked at re-exams to monitor objective improvement in the condition. Spinal alignment and posture have been associated with everything from increased mortality to decreased quality of life to migraines and everything in-between. Therefore, improving spinal alignment and posture is vital in your quest to achieve a better quality of life.
The last portion is “Movement”. If you have a “Segment” that becomes dysfunctional that is not corrected and leads to a “Postural” issue then it’ll eventually cause you to move inappropriately which, obviously, can lead to injuries. Gray Cook, one of my favorite Physical Therapists, came up with a movement screen that helps assess for potential future injury. It was used for firefighters, the military, some professional sports teams, it was a great way to find and fix problems before they became an injury. So, we’ve developed a variety of screening that are repeatable and reliable for finding movement dysfunctions and prescribing movements to correct them.
So, our online learning library should go live in 2021 and we’ll be looking forward to producing research to help other doctors be able to get the same results we do here!
As always, may the force be with you.
Dr. Koser