Persistent back strain can hugely undermine the quality of life for many people. Susan Calnan speaks to a spinologist about the treatment of spinal obtrusions
Anyone who has ever suffered from prolonged or chronic back pain will know just how debilitating the effects of a bad back can be. Even intermittent bouts of back strain can interfere with a person's quality of life, leaving them in constant dread of the next bout of "back-attack".
One system that is having successful results with a wide range of conditions, in particular with chronic back pain, is a practice called spinology.
Spinology is a system that works to improve the relationship between the bones in the spinal column, that is, the vertebrae, to ensure there is no interference to the central and peripheral nerve system.
Vertebrae in the back fit together to form a spinal column, which in turn houses the spinal cord and spinal nerve roots - the brain's control pathways to all parts of the body, including the organs, glands and muscles.
When there is a loss of relationship between the spinal vertebrae, it can interfere with the normal impulses to and from the brain, resulting in a condition that spinologists refer to as "a spinal obtrusion".
"Lots of people have spinal obtrusions," outlines Cork-based spinologist Shoshanna Tate, "even though many of us are not aware of it or may not experience any pain as a result.
"Obtrusions can be caused by any number of things, often by the knocks and jolts of everyday life, or sometimes by a fall or an accident, by poor posture, emotional stress or even birth trauma," she adds.
"As a spinologist, I'm not really concerned with why or how a spinal obtrusion occurred in the first place.
"My primary focus is to restore the proper relationship between the vertebrae, so that it no longer interferes with the central and peripheral nervous system so that, ultimately, the person is left with an open nerve supply."
Tate stresses that unlike other practices, such as chiropractic and physiotherapy, spinology does not involve any manipulation of the bones in the spine.
Instead, the spinologist works with the muscle fibres in the back to help correct spinal obtrusions.
Every living organism, she explains, has an inherent will to survive and to correct an incorrect situation.
If you are cut, for example, your body goes to work immediately to try to heal the wound; similarly, if you have a spinal obtrusion, the body will do everything in its power to adapt, so the vital nerve communication network is disturbed as little as possible.
"The only way your body can change the relationship between vertebrae, or to attempt correction of the obtrusion, is by using the spinal muscles," Tate says.
"The body will contract some muscle fibres and loosen others in order to attempt correction; it is this information that the spinologist uses to determine exactly what the body is striving to do, that is, which vertebrae it wishes to re-position and in which direction it wishes to pull the bone."
When Tate works with a patient, she starts by palpating the length of the spine, to assess which muscles are contracting and the direction the muscle fibres are working in to try to correct the obtrusion.
She then applies a gentle but specific force to the spinal muscles, in the direction indicated, so that the body may adapt accordingly. Each session typically lasts about 10 minutes at a time and, to begin with, people are advised to attend three times a week.
Since she set up her practice in Ireland in 1999, Tate, who originally trained at the International College of Spinology in Australia - the only accredited spinology college in the world - has worked with people from all over Ireland.
"Usually people come to me as a last resort because they have a bad back and nothing else seems to have worked for them," she explains.
However, Tate stresses that she is not interested in a person's symptoms, adding that the symptom-led, diagnosis-based system falls within the realm of orthodox medicine and is not part of the philosophy that underpins spinology - in some cases, she gets medical referrals.
"I never ask a client what their symptoms or conditions are; what I'm primarily interested in is in opening up the nerve supply so that the brain can access information accurately and, therefore, instruct the organs and glands to produce the body chemistry that you need to function properly," she says.
"So, yes, people may come to me because they are in chronic pain and they want me to fix a bad back but my main focus is to assist the body in helping itself to function better."
The net effect of this, she adds, is that people's backs not only start to improve; their entire system receives a boost and things like energy levels, concentration, sleeping patterns and mood are vastly improved.
So does this mean that everyone, whether they are in pain or not, can benefit from a visit to a spinologist?
"Everyone should have their spine checked at some point in their lives," Tate stresses.
"People go to get their teeth checked for cavities regularly, so why shouldn't a person have their spine - one of the most important structures in the body - checked regularly also?
"The bottom line is that a body that has a spinal obtrusion can never be as healthy as it would be without an obtrusion.
"Ultimately, the potential a person has for resisting disease or for recovering from an injury will be expressed much better without serious interference to the body's nerve communication system, caused by a spinal obtrusion."
• The Family Spinology Practice is based at Carrigaline, Cork, is contactable at 021-4377253.