The American Chiropractor Volume 36, Issue 6 | Page 56

VISCERAL STRESS
MANAGEMENT

"Why Don't Your Thoracic
Adjustments Hold?"
Article 3 of 12
By Howard Loomis, DC
This is article 3 of a 12 part series, which began running
continuously in April. The May issue was listed incorrectly as
article 3, hoewever it was article 2. Please take note, and sorry
for any confusion. This is the 3rd in the series.

his column is devoted to the 2nd Factor in Chiropractic, specifically recognition of visceral dysfunctions
that cause muscle contractions and perpetuate and
prevent the correction of structural misaligmnents.
The related loss of joint range of motion and associated discomfort and/or pain are often diagnosed as being caused by
a structural problem. If the real cause is not accurately identified, the patient does not receive the benefit of chiropractic
care they deserve.

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Any form of prolonged stress can create this diagnostic
dilemma. In my first article I detailed the body 's response
to stress and explained why it doesn' t matter if the stress
is structural, emotional or caused by visceral dysfunction.
Muscle contractions and loss of range of motion are always
involved regardless of the source. The key to success is finding the cause, because when the cause is known the required
therapy becomes obvious.
Last month I asked "what do you have to see before you
know what to do?" I suggested that whatever your present
therapeutic procedure, before the patient leaves the treatment
room you ask them to be seated and perform the 60-second
Chiropractic Screening Test. The test includes three simple
palpatory findings and one passive range of motion test. It
literally takes 60 seconds or less to perform and identifies a
patient whose body cannot meet the demands for energy presently placed upon it.
The purpose of our examination is to identify stress. What
we seek from our examination procedure is a sound, scientific
method of determining the source of the patient's problem.
It is based on finding involuntary muscle contractions being
used by a body trying to maintain its position against gravity
or muscle contractions related neurologically to an organ or
tissue unable to perform its responsibilities for maintaining
homeostasis within the extracellular fluid.

Pottenger's Saucer- Loss of Normal Thoracic Kyphosis
Have the seated patient sit up as straight as possible and ask
them to bend their head down. Slide your fingers down the
spinous processes from TI toward TI2. Normally you should
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feel the "C-shaped" posterior curve of a normal thoracic
kyphosis. Observe if there is a loss ofthe normal kyphosis
between the shoulder blades, a depression. This is referred
to as a saucer because if the patient were prone it would
literally "hold" water.
This condition is neither permanent nor static. It is
transitory and caused by muscle contractions emanating
from the abdominal organs. Especially those associated
with digestive dysfunction, stomach, biliary, pancreas,
duodenum, and jejunum. Obviously low glucose levels
are implicated. Interestingly this is consistently found in
muscle-tension headaches.

The Effect of Chronic Stress on Digestion
One of the major effects of the stress reaction is to increase blood flow to the muscles and reduce blood flow to
organs not essential for the stress