is
greater than the whole.
by Dwight DeGeorge, D.C., M.S.
Fifteen
years ago when I first began learning about the extraordinary health
benefit of extension traction, the available devices were varied and
rough. Learning about the past has been a vehicle for my understanding
of present times. To appreciate the evolution of extension traction
the way it is today and look toward the future, one must appreciate a
journey of discovery.
While I was still getting my license, Dr. Anthony Gambale was
adjusting and I spent most of my time putting people in traction. In
the mid 1980's, the only strap device used for extension traction
involved a chin strap on a leather or nylon band with a weighted ball
hanging off of a metal chain. One of the problems with the chin strap
was that a lot of people got TMJ symptoms after using it for any
duration of time. People were receiving compression traction of the
TMJ as well as extension traction of the cervical spine using the
available strap systems. It seemed the more weight put on the strap,
the worse the TMJ symptoms became. Also, people who felt the need to
have control often became claustrophobic while strapped into our
traction because they had to rely on the doctor to release the force
from their chin and neck. It was my opinion that traction was a
necessary component to spinal health for many people but was not
practical the way it was. I was so eager to change the lateral curves
of the neck that I would go home and come up with all kinds of crazy
and sometimes archaic devices to improve the quality of the traction
we were doing in the office. Every weekend I came up with different
ways to apply the forces of traction but none were as effective as I
had hoped.
One day during this time, Dr. Gambale was watching my wife Lisa
in traction and noticed she was holding the strap off her chin with
her thumbs and applying force to her forehead. He pointed out how Lisa
was positioned and at that moment I realized it. A strap could be used
on the forehead instead of the jaw! A forehead strap might eliminate
the myriad of devices I was starting to use to try and keep pressure
off the TMJ. The angles could be changed a little and the same effect
achieved without stressing the jaw!
The way Lisa took the pressure off her jaw with her thumbs put
her into a natural extension but also compressed the posterior
elements of her cervical spine. Traction at the time focused more on
extension but adding compression had not been done. I was so excited,
I became determined to create a traction unit that was results
oriented, effective, simple to use, and aesthetically pleasing. I
combined my passion for working with wood, architectural design and my
genuine love of chiropractic to create a new kind of traction unit,
which didn't use the chin to apply force to the neck.
We spent a lot of time experimenting with our traction system.
We would try adding fulcrums and various devices and then would x-ray
to see the configuration assumed by the cervical spine. The best way
we found to really influence lordosis was in the extension-compression
position. It was for this reason the chair developed incorporated a
forehead strap designed to place extension-compressive forces on the
cervical spine. The rest of the spine was influenced passively by
various blocks and cushions while the person was in traction.
These original traction tables in our office had the patient's
lying supine and took a tremendous amount of office space to use. As
our office grew and we saw more and more patient visits, we really
needed to recoup some space. As an experiment one day I took a
Saws-All saw to one of the traction tables and cut the bench down to
the size of a chair seat cushion. What we found was that the new
dimension of the table was just as effective and in many cases was
more comfortable and looked better. Patients could more easily
maintain control of the strap on their head and could release
themselves if they felt the need. The space demanded from our office
was cut nearly in half!
We really started seeing corrective changes exceeding anything
previously observed with the old chin straps. We started sharing the
information about our corrections with other chiropractors and some of
them wanted to implement the tables in their offices. Because of this,
we began to manufacture and sell the traction tables.
As the new extension compression traction chair was developed,
Dr. Don
Harrison
realized the great effect this system had on causing dramatic
biomechanical improvement. At first, Dr. Harrison didn't believe
anyone could
make
the changes we were claiming to have in our office. Up to that time,
nobody seemed to be making these dramatic changes in the spine. Dr.
Harrison came to our office in the late 1980's to verify our claims
and observe the corrections we were making first hand.
Dr. Harrison was excited to note that changes to anterior
translation of the head and the atlas plane line were occurring right
along with significant
improvement
in lordosis. Patients were able to see changes for themselves and reap
the benefits of their improved spinal structure and heightened health.
With Dr. Harrison's extensive knowledge of mathematics, physics,
anatomy, and biomechanics, he began researching the effects observed
in patients using this device. Dr. Harrison ultimately showed with
scientific research why this method was so effective. Our traction
table received a United States patent in August of 1990. What Dr.
Harrison didn't know then was that there were even more efficient
ways of causing spinal change than the discovery at hand in the late
1980's.
It would take nearly the next decade of chiropractic efforts to
expand active traction to the full spine before it could become truly
efficient, practical, and economical. During the 1990's, Dr. Mike
Pope was the first person to incorporate a counter-stressing strap
system to cervical extension traction. He was responsible for the
original advent of Chiropractic Biophysics¨ 2-way cervical traction
and obtained a US patent on the technology in 1992. Soon after this,
in 1996, Dr. Steven Foster would be the first to patent a 5-point
traction unit, which put active forces into all lateral curve
components of the spine. Dr. Foster based information for his 5-point
traction technology on research being conducted by Chiropractic
Biophysics¨. Finally, in the late 1990's, Dr. Deed Harrison began
showing effective correction of the lateral component of the lumbar
spine using active traction of the region.
Research conducted by Chiropractic Biophysics¨ coupled with
contributions from these traction visionaries has laid the groundwork
for the next wave of lateral curve correction. Dr. ' s Harrison along
with myself, Dr. Charles Francis and Dr. Leonard Siskin have
problem-solved the practicality of full spine traction to restore
optimum lateral spinal curves. We are calling it our Target Force
Technology.
This paper shows how the evolution of chiropractic extension
traction has been a result of the efforts and insight of many people.
Patient health depends on our ability to apply, communicate, and
influence the way basic health information is used in our offices.
Ever improving understanding of the body and health demand that health
products and professional tools stay on the cutting edge to deliver
the health and life potential all human beings deserve.
The
sum of the parts