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A wide range of techniques can be used to treat the physical body. Some address bone and joint function, some embrace the muscles and soft tissues, and some deal with treating or cleansing the various organs of the body.

As stated in Chapter 1, the nervous system controls the body, which in turn commands the muscles to either switch on or off. Therefore it stands to reason that when a muscle spasms it has been ordered to do so by the nervous system for a specific and intelligent reason. The body is usually trying to warn us that there is a structural misalignment somewhere that could result in major damage if the body is pushed too far, while playing sports for instance, or performing hard physical labor. Until the misalignment is fixed, the nervous system remains armed and the muscle stays in spasm.

The nervous system warns us that something needs to be taken care of while at the same time it is protecting the body from harm until the repair is made. Here is an example of how it works: A jogger develops a misalignment in his lower spine. There is no pain there so the jogger doesn't immediately realize he has a problem. Yet, when he goes for a run, the misalignment causes him to place more force on one side of his body than the other. This could result in major structural damage to the hip, knee or ankle on that side of his body, so his body goes into warning mode. The irritated structures and nerves in his lower back send his brain a red alert warning of potential damage and his brain responds by causing a muscle to tighten or spasm in the lower back and hip. This prevents the jogger from going beyond the threshold where he might seriously injure himself and have devastating results. To use the analogy of an electrical system: rather than overload the appliance and burn it out, a house is wired so that a fuse will be blown or the breaker thrown. This jogger has, in effect, blown a fuse as a means of protecting his body. This is why taking muscle relaxants in many instances are contrary to the body's wisdom and reasoning.

A muscle that continues to spasm can cause serious problems that go beyond the original injury or strain. It can change the alignment of bones to which it is attached, and create increased friction and degeneration of joint surfaces, which is why these warnings should be taken to heart and their causes corrected as soon as possible. Do not rely on the symptom of pain to be the indicator if you have a health problem or not.

When treating an injury such as this, a therapist can address the muscular component or the bone and joint component. If the problem is rectified and does not keep returning, it has probably been corrected. What I started to observe in my early years of practice, however, was that many people would keep returning with the same hip or lower back misalignment. They would try different exercises, modify their diet, change their shoes, be aware of not sitting with their legs crossed, or even stop performing the activities that they liked doing for fear that those might be the causative reasons for their recurring problem. I believed as I was taught at Chiropractic College, that the nervous system and the intelligence that runs through it has an innate desire to keep us well if allowed to do so. Therefore if a problem is persisting and requiring ongoing treatment, be it via mainstream or "alternative" therapies, the cause has not really been corrected. Before trying to modify any of the external variables in a patient's life, I want to be sure that the internal fuses that run their computer are working to their full potential. I believe that if the nervous system integrity is not examined and corrected as a primary modality, most health problems will remain uncorrected. I also believe that this is one of the main reasons why many conditions are improperly being treated or labeled as chronic. It also explains why our health system often supports the need for many treatments or medications over a protracted period of time.

The same principle holds true for conditions that involve the organs. Organ function either increases (becomes hyper) or decreases (becomes hypo) based on specific commands from the nervous system. A thyroid gland, for instance, does not decide all by itself to turn down its function and become hypothyroid. It is instructed to do so for a particular reason, by the master computer, and so the cure for the problem lies in discovering why the nervous system has responded this way. Sadly, many conditions have impressive sounding names, yet unimpressive amounts of time have been invested into figuring out why the body suddenly decides to jeopardize the function of some of its vital organs.

One can now begin to appreciate the value of Applied Kinesiology and other kinesiology techniques in providing diagnostic tools that can help us quickly identify and understand the function, and malfunction, of the body.

Neural Organization Technique (N.O.T.) is one of the most powerful techniques that I have been taught to date. It is the primary system that I use to assess and treat the physical body and I use it along with traditional chiropractic techniques and muscle therapies that I learned during my doctoral training. N.O.T was developed by Dr. Carl Ferreri, a chiropractor from Brooklyn, New York, who was among the first Chiropractic Kinesiologists to use muscle testing in the diagnosis, correction, and continuing reevaluation of health conditions. Also educated in acupuncture, cranio-sacral therapy and other healing arts, Dr. Ferreri is well equipped with knowledge of the body's circuitry and continues to work in this field.

I first met Dr. Ferreri in my second year at Chiropractic College. At that time, in 1988, his theories were well beyond what mainstream chiropractic professors were teaching. I went to his talk anyway and was fascinated not only by his theories but also by his approach. I myself do not advocate too many techniques or therapies to my patients unless I myself have experienced them. I received a treatment by Dr. Ferreri during that weekend seminar and I have to admit that it made a very significant change to my body. Even more impressive was that the condition never returned to this date. Many other doctors from many different disciplines have said that I either didn't have a problem or that it was a chronic degenerative condition. It was somewhat difficult for me to continue with my traditional chiropractic education for it felt limiting in its techniques. I do have a great respect for Chiropractic and will forever think of myself as one with regard to following the it's philosophy, however, I think that politics and health care can be a blinding combination. Unfortunately it is the patient and public who suffer when those holding the power and the dissemination of knowledge refuse to pursue the truth.

After graduating in 1990, I worked to develop my skills as a chiropractor for a couple of years, in Victoria B.C., but once my practice was established I found a significant number of  patients were not getting long-lasting results. So in 1992, I remembered the amazing lecture I had heard and started studying Dr. Ferreri's work. Over the next three or four years I went to about 15 hand- on seminars in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to study with him. I became a certified practitioner in 1994 and am now a certified instructor, one of only a handful in Canada.

The basic tenet of chiropractic philosophy is that all health problems involve some level of interference or disorganization of the nervous system. Therefore one of the most logical and primary treatments is to reorganize the nervous system and remove any energy interference. To use the electrical analogy again: If an appliance is not working we don't immediately take it in for replacement, first we check the plug and power source to see if the energy is flowing.

Back in the 1960s, Dr. Ferreri was working as a traditional chiropractor, treating many typical cases of headaches, neck, jaw, and back pain. Then he started using Applied Kinesiology as well. He had astonishing success with conditions that seemed to involve an even deeper disorganization of the nervous system - such as allergies, learning disabilities (ADD/ADHD), epilepsy, cerebral palsy, hormonal and fertility problems. Yet he was curious why some people responded immediately and permanently to treatments, while others held the correction for only a brief period, sometimes just a matter of days or weeks. He believed that if a condition was fixed it should stay fixed and not need repeat treatments - unless, of course, there was new trauma - because at the primitive neurological level a condition that is not immediately resolved could lead to death.

While searching for answers among 25 years of clinical notes, Dr. Ferreri started to observe patterns unique to individual conditions. For example, he found that both adults and children with learning disabilities always showed a particular sequence of cranial bone misalignments (which are very easy to gently correct, with dramatic results). With bedwetting and people who had trouble holding their urine, for instance, there was always a specific jaw misalignment, acupuncture meridian blockage, and diaphragm weakness.

Using muscle-testing procedures, Dr. Ferreri began correcting only those faults that were consistently present with particular conditions, and by doing so he found that the results were much more accurate and lasting. By applying his broad knowledge of several disciplines he found an order and pattern in the nervous system, a kind of electrical blueprint. This insight had been lacking within each individual discipline but he came upon it through distilling the best from each technique, always taking his cues from the body. If a condition returned or a corrected circuit was found "blown" again on a subsequent treatment, Dr. Ferreri deduced that the body was directing him toward the involvement of a more dominant circuit that must be corrected first.

Through muscle-testing and the deeply intuitive work of pioneers such as Dr. Ferreri we can now demonstrate the existence of linear and sequential "programs" that govern the primitive functions of the human body, just as logical and rational programs govern the complex workings of computers. In fact, there is such reproducibility and accuracy in these N.O.T. protocols that if the reflexes are stimulated in a reverse order (for demonstration purposes) the condition will return! Clearly, when the body is spoken to intelligently, and in language it can understand, the response is swift and dependable.

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