blog.poseidon.org.za

Jonathon Nolan does a good job of describing the kind of self-ness I tend to experience, in his short story Memento Mori:

People, even regular people, are never just any one person with one set of attributes. It's not that simple. We're all at the mercy of the limbic system, clouds of electricity drifting through the brain. Every man is broken into twenty-four-hour fractions, and then again within those twenty-four hours. It's a daily pantomime, one man yielding control to the next: a backstage crowded with old hacks clamoring for their turn in the spotlight. Every week, every day. The angry man hands the baton over to the sulking man, and in turn to the sex addict, the introvert, the conversationalist. Every man is a mob, a chain gang of idiots. This is the tragedy of life. Because for a few minutes of every day, every man becomes a genius. Moments of clarity, insight, whatever you want to call them. The clouds part, the planets get in a neat little line, and everything becomes obvious. I should quit smoking, maybe, or here's how I could make a fast million, or such and such is the key to eternal happiness. That's the miserable truth. For a few moments, the secrets of the universe are opened to us.

So tonight I went to my first CASA meeting up here in Gauteng. Was quite cool to chill around with the other seniors and qualified chiros (and scored free supper, hehe).

After supper we had two guest speakers. First lady was Dr. Ricardo Jorge's "Chiropractic Assistant" who told to us the importance of a chiropractic assistant, how big an asset they can ultimately be to your practice. They are in actual fact the "face" of your practice, and you have to make sure they convey the practice-image and philosophy on par with yours.

Next up was Dr. Lawson who presented the NEURO-musculoskeletal theory to us. Very interesting. Ultimately it comes down to the thing where aberrant afferent input to the spinal cord will result in aberrant efferent output (altered sensory - proprioceptive - input to the spinal cord will result in decreased muscle strength). This is because proprioception alters muscle tone. He shared various examples of cases where this has been proven, and in his own experience, of a sprinter with keloid-scar on his right abdomen, which prevented this guy from functioning optimally, which changed after "releasing" the scar.

Afterwards everyone went to the bar and started mingling again. And how many can say that they've had a lecturer buy them a beer? :) Thanks Roy ;)

Pretty good evening, and I got introduced to quite a few chiropractors that I've never met before. Glad I went.

Everyone knows the story of Harvey Lillard and how his hearing was restored after he was adjusted by Dr. DD Palmer. This was in 1895 and since then doctors of chiropractic have witnessed these type of “miracles” at some time or another in their practices, but it is always heart-warming to hear another and to know that someone’s life has changed forever because of the power of the chiropractic adjustment.

This particular story recently made headlines in the Iowa papers, on radio shows and various news services on the internet. A young man who had been completely blind in one eye for more than 12 years, suddenly got his sight back after receiving a chiropractic adjustment. The headline in the KCRGTV News read, “Blind Man Suddenly Sees Again.”

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Everyone knows the story of Harvey Lillard and how his hearing was restored after he was adjusted by Dr. DD Palmer. This was in 1895 and since then doctors of chiropractic have witnessed these type of “miracles” at some time or another in their practices, but it is always heart-warming to hear another and to know that someone’s life has changed forever because of the power of the chiropractic adjustment.

This particular story recently made headlines in the Iowa papers, on radio shows and various news services on the internet. A young man who had been completely blind in one eye for more than 12 years, suddenly got his sight back after receiving a chiropractic adjustment. The headline in the KCRGTV News read, “Blind Man Suddenly Sees Again.”
The man is Doug Harkey, and his doctor of chiropractic, Dr. Timothy Stackis of Dubuque, Iowa, a 1989 graduate of Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. Dr. Stackis is a member of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA).

=> Read more!

Description of Arthritis of the Spine

Arthritis is a general term that describes many different diseases causing tenderness, pain, swelling, and stiffness of joints as well as abnormalities of various soft tissues of the body. Various forms of arthritis affect nearly 50 million Americans and contribute to the majority of all physical disabilities. The term arthritis comes from "arthros", which means a joint and its attachments, and "-itis" meaning inflammation.

Arthritis affects approximately 90% of people over the age of 55 in the United States. It is estimated that by the year 2020, over 60 million people will suffer from this often-disabling problem.

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Ian Stokes, Wafa Skalli, and André Plamondon

This proposal is based on recommendations made in a report presented to the Scoliosis Research Society by THE SCOLIOSIS RESEARCH SOCIETY WORKING GROUP ON 3-D TERMINOLOGY OF SPINAL DEFORMITY (Ian A. F. Stokes, Chair) (published in Spine 19:236-248, 1994).

These recommendations deal with some special cases of axis definition for use in biomechanics relevant to the axial skeleton. Biomechanics of the spine sometimes deals with the individual vertebrae (for which a local axis system is defined) and sometimes with the entire trunk (for which a spinal axis system is defined). For considerations of spinal deformity, a regional axis system is also defined in Spine 19:236-248, 1994.

The axis system uses the principle of ISO 2631 in which X is forward, Y left and Z up. A right-hand convention is used. (Note that in the axial skeleton there is no possibility of using different systems for the two sides of the body). This is different from the ISB recommendation (Journal of Biomechanics 28:1257-1261, 1995) which has X forward, Y up and Z right. However, the system presented here could readily be adapted to the ISB system, using the same landmarks, but altered conventions for axis names and directions

The choice of points to define axis systems is based on a compromise between using bony landmarks (which are often inaccessible), and using surface markers (which are often imprecise).

Local axis systems (Vertebra axis system xv, yv, zv) (Figure 1a).

This axis system aligns with the assumed plane of symmetry of a vertebra. In deformed or asymmetric vertebrae it is aligned with identifiable landmarks on the vertebral endplates and pedicles.

Definition: The origin is at the centroid of the vertebral body (half way between the centers of the two endplates), the local ‘z’ axis passes through the centers of the upper and lower endplates, the ‘y’ axis is parallel to a line joining similar landmarks on the bases of the right and left pedicles.

Spinal axis system (spinal xs, ys, zs) (Figure 1b)

The spinal axis system has the origin and sagittal plane defined by the pelvis, with a line parallel to the plane containing the anterior superior iliac spines (ASIS) defining the transverse global (Y) direction. (For static x-ray studies alignment would be achieved by positioning the ASIS parallel to the film plane.) The apparently more logical approach of aligning the axes with the sacrum or hip joint was not accepted for practical reasons.

Definition: The origin is at the center of the upper endplate of S1, the ‘z’ axis passes through the center of a specified vertebral body (usually C7 or T1, and the ‘y’ axis is parallel to the vertical plane containing the ASIS.

Figure 1: The two coordinate systems defining spinal geometry; (a) Local coordinates based on a vertebra. (b) Spinal coordinates, defined by the zs axis passing through the centers of the most caudal and cephalad vertebrae of the entire spine with its origin at the base of the spine (SI), and the zs axis directed towards a chosen vertebra at the top of the spine.

If I remove the six or so brain-twisting months of studies last year, I'm left with about another six months which consisted of holiday trips to new and exciting locations.

I saw 2007 in while deep in the bush, on a trip to a private game reserve, which was very cool. March '07 I went to Hazyview, Kruger National Park and Mount Sheba (where i got hooked on fly-fishing). May saw me going to Dullstroom for the first time, for some more fly-fishing(!). Had another visit to Cape Town in June/July, and the week-long break in September was spent on a mountain in Tzaneen.

November was a blast - did my open water scuba diving course at Miracle Waters the weekend after varsity closed, got back on the Sunday, the Monday I left for Pilansberg with Chad, Caroline and Hertzog for a week of camping and game viewing. Came back on the Friday, and the Saturday I got into the car and drove down to Cape Town. Spent a couple of weeks there with friends and family, and the weekend before I left for London I went shark-diving with ragged-tooth sharks at the two oceans aquarium.

London itself was an experience on its own. Spent three weeks there, taking in the mind-boggling sights (the old buildings and their architecture are amazing!), and enjoying the museums and art, as well as a couple of pints in the numerous bars :) I got to see in the new year with my brother and friends on the embankment close to the London Eye, with fireworks galore. New Years Day we went out all the way to Stonehenge (another mind-boggling place) and Oxford University.

Barely back from London, I drove back up to Jo'burg, and barely here, I left with Tom and Steve for Sudwana, to do our advanced scuba diving course. What an awesome break that was. We did five dives in total, four of them being double tank-diving (which went better after feeding the fish) and the last one was a deep dive to 28m.

We managed to dive with pregnant raggies, but unfortunately the visibility was quite poor, so you could only really see the silouette, except for the one who swam all alongside us the last bit. On this dive we saw some rays (devil ray and something else) as well as a sea tortoise :)

The deep dive was something completely different, and I more than likely wont be doing one of those again any time soon. Your bottom time is so limited due to the depth, so you don't have much time to see all that much, but we at least got to see a HUGE potato-bass .. i was more scared of that thing than the sharks!

The evening after our deep dive we decided to go check out the local "kuier plekke", and ended up at "Jan Maak 'n Jol" .. what a great place! it was quiet, but we had a very friendly bartender, Reinhardt, who played pool with us and very kindly decided to blow his bar-tab on us, buying us drinks and penalty shots (staf-doppe) after losing a game of pool (myself and Tom unfortunately ended up getting the short end of this stick!)

The end of my unforgettable holiday, I had to opportunity to see sir Elton John live in concert - what an experience.

Unfortunately it is now almost time to get back to reality. Two more weeks of holiday left, but looking at my budget, it'll be a quick drop back to planet earth, especially after my new dishwasher, hehe.

Adios!

Saturday evening I went to Elton John's 2nd and last show up here in Jo'burg. Boy oh boy. It was completely worth the money and the wait. The guy is like a machine on that piano of his, and the close-ups of his fingers working those keys was quite something. His rendition of Rocket Man was brilliant - the version probably lasted 10 minutes! heh

As a piano player you can only really interact with the crowd by talking in-between or during songs, but his facial expressions, quirky looks at the audiences and use of hands during songs were actually very funny, and very apt. His face portrayed this extreme confidence and smugness during the performance, almost like he's letting us know that, yes, this is good, this is why after 30-odd years i'm still doing this and still at the top of my game.

My favorite song performances, apart from Rocket Man, must've probably been Circle of Life, I Guess That's Why You Call It The Blues, and funny enough, two of my less favourite songs of his - Honky Cat and Benny and the Jets.

When Crocodile Rock started playing couples, old and young got up and started dancing and twisting in an open area .. which was cool - shows that his music has grown with, and stuck to the generations.

I'm very pleased to have seen this music legend live in concert, and hope I'll get to experience one of his Red Piano shows in Las Vegas, or one of his concerts at Madison Square Gardens before he retires or... dies.

Travell wrote "A discrepancy of 0.5cm, can perpetuate myofascial trigger points". The AO doctor uses a supine leg length check as a pre and post-adjustment measure. Many authors have studied the phenomenon of unequal leg length, and proposed that it can perpetuate myofascial trigger points, create scoliosis syndromes and low back pain.

Agreement on whether there is a discrepancy in length has also been good in numerous significant studies on prone leg checking.

Leg length changes after adjustment can be explained as a change in mechanoreceptor firing altering input to the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathway, inhibiting cotical-ponto-medullary inhibition of the muscles of posture and segmental motion via the alpha-motor neuron on the descending medial longitudinal fasciculus (vestibulospinal tract). Simply put: If subluxation is present, the tone of postural muscles will increase unilaterally. This may cause leg length inequality, and responses to changes in mechanoreceptor stimulation may also occur via local stress or pressure challenges.

We would of course be excited to know that a branch from the cortical pontine medullary tract is also sent to the hypothalamus which, via the descending reticular formation and intermediolateral (IML) columns, can affect vasoconstriction and immune function (IML is visceral efferent, synapsing in lamina VII).

From the Journal of the American Chiropractic Association, Feb 2003

An article promoting interreferral between chiropractors and neurologists... We both focus on the same structure, and together we can have greater effects on patients with neurological fallouts.

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