Chiropractic medicine is an emerging discipline that studies the spine and disease, the spine and health, and the intrinsic connection between the spine and life. It is a new discipline in the fields of “Chinese medicine meridians”, “massage”, “Chinese medicine orthopedics”, “neck, shoulder and back pain”, “spinal pathology”, and “spinal system diseases”. “, “spinal etiology”, “spinal system diseases”, “chiropractic,” “chiropractic neurology “, “Spinal Orthopedics”, “Spinal Surgery”, “Spinal Cord Injury”, “Spinal Related Diseases”, “soft tissue injury theory” and “bioinformatics” and other disciplines or theories based on the integration of the proposed.
I. The spine is a systematic concept
The so-called spine refers to a columnar structure with the pelvis as the base, the vertebrae as the support, the intervertebral discs as the connection, the muscles, muscles, ligaments and fascia as the protection, and the spinal cord, nerve meridians and blood vessels as the communication and energy supply. If we use an analogy, the vertebrae are like reinforcement bars, and the muscles, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels and fascia around the spine are like concrete, which together pour the pillars or main beams of the life building. From a biomechanical point of view: the spine is the central axis and pillar of the human body – that is, the pillar of life, the head is supported by its support and held up, the internal organs, limbs and bones are hanging on it, which we can generally recognize it as a pillar of the human body weight-bearing an aspect. Not only that it is also the chain and hub of various movements of the human body, every posture and movement of the human body is closely related to it. Therefore, these determine that the spine must have a complete and strict biomechanical structural system to ensure the stability of the spine to carry gravity and coordinate the flexibility of various body movements. In terms of biological information, the spine is the second life center of the human body because, being the ocean of marrow and the origin of blood, it is the fortress channel for the transmission of vital information and energy buddha. We all know that in the spinal region, there are not only the spinal cord, but also the spinal nerves, the autonomic nerves, and the communication lines of the meridians, such as the Governor’s vein and the foot solar bladder meridian, which are interconnected and form the backbone network system of human communication. The activities of the various tissues and organs of the body, as well as the communication links with the brain, must be communicated, relayed or directly directed and processed through this information network system in the spinal region.
It can be seen that the spine is not only the pillar of the body’s organs, but also the central axis of health, the benchmark, the information center of life. It is a very special and important information system or network structure of the human body, which has a decisive role in human life. Once abnormal changes occur, such as soft tissue damage, joint instability, displacement, or scoliosis, etc., it will inevitably lead to poor circulation of the spinal veins, obstruction of the original life energy supply, failure of life signals to reach their destination in a timely manner, or incomplete transmission of information, information disorder, etc., the human body will produce The body will react accordingly, showing various symptoms or diseases. A large number of studies have confirmed that damage to the spine is a key factor in the development of many diseases, especially the root cause of many chronic and difficult diseases. Spine-related disorders are caused by damage to or instability or imbalance of the spine, resulting in soft tissue damage and degeneration, displacement of the spinal joints, and consequent compression or damage to the surrounding blood vessels, nerves and other information pathways, resulting in abnormal changes in function, and consequent impairment of energy output and information transmission, resulting in symptoms and signs in the areas or organs they innervate. Of course, the pathogenesis of spine-related disorders is much more complex than this. For example, endocrine information hormone-regulated metabolism and chemical information regulation are also involved, which need to be further investigated. The pathogenesis that can be identified includes abnormalities in anatomical position, imbalance in dynamic balance, congestion of information channels, or disturbances in information transmission. The spinal region can be compared to an information superhighway, which is the backbone of the body’s vital information network. When the spine is sound, the speed and accuracy of information transmission is unmatched by any high technology. However, once the spine has a problem, it will seriously affect the immediate access to the body’s vital information, which in turn affects its health status.
Therefore, we believe that the human body is based on the pelvis, the spine as the central axis, the intervertebral joints as the hub, the muscles as the driving force (the extensor and flexor muscles antagonize each other), the ligaments as the protection and stability, the brain and spinal cord as the central command, and the spinal nerves, body fluids and meridians as the information channels. Together they form a structurally complete and complex important system —- spinal system. It is very different from the previous view of the spine as simply the spine. It is from the concept of the spine as a complex system that spinal medicine was created to study more systematically and scientifically the intrinsic connection between the spine and disease, the spine and health, and the spine and life information, and to reveal its intrinsic laws in order to improve human health, which is precisely the purpose and meaning of our “Care for the Spine, Care for Health This is the purpose and meaning of our “Care for the Spine, Care for Health”.
Second, the background of the era of spinal medicine
The development of human medicine has different medical models in different historical stages. Before the 19th century, it had gone through the stages of deistic medical model, natural philosophy medical model and mechanistic medical model. After the 19th century, with the development of industrialized mass production, the problem of infectious diseases became more and more prominent, and the research on the morphological structure and classification of bacteria, their activities and their relationship with human diseases made great progress, and many biological mysteries and the etiology and pathology of diseases were gradually revealed, so human beings entered the stage of biomedical model. By the middle of the 20th century, with the development of society and the deepening of medical research, people found more and more that the diseases caused by biological factors in modern society have been reduced, and the diseases caused by non-biological factors have been increasing. Relying on the biomedical model alone can no longer completely solve a series of health problems caused by psychological and social exhaustion. Therefore, in 1997, the mind-body medicine model (i.e. bio-psycho-social medicine) was born.
When history entered the 21st century, people have fully felt the convenience brought by an information network technology era. Information is everywhere, so the understanding and study of human life, health and disease have to take into account the element of “information”. Although the body-mind medical model is based on the overall concept of medicine and analyzes the influence of biological, psychological and social factors on human diseases and health, it has not yet recognized the important influence of congestion, absence or disorder of various “biological information” in the body on life, health and diseases. A large number of practices have proved that effective regulation, channeling, the body’s vital information has a positive and important role in health and life. Therefore, I believe that a new medical model, the information medicine model, will be born (the information medicine model has been discussed in another article).
In the era of biomedicine, people generally realized the truth that diseases come from the mouth because of bacteria and viruses, which led to the birth of “dentistry”. Then, in the era of information medicine, due to the important influence of “biological information” and “network transmission” and “information regulation” on the life and health of the body, we have fully realized that “The root cause of many diseases lies in the information transmission in the spinal region”, which led to the birth of “spinal medicine”.
Third, the new philosophical guidance of spinal medicine
Biomedicine (i.e., modern medicine) is guided by the philosophical principle of “materialism” monism or “materialistic dialectic” dualism, which is a materialistic scientific principle of thought. Although it also studies or notes the role of energy and psychology, it does not regard energy and information as equally important as matter. An American information scientist once wrote a poem about the worldview that “matter, energy and information” are indispensable, saying, “A world without matter is a world of nothingness; a world without energy is a world of death; a world without information is a world of chaos. ” Modern medicine (Western medicine) is only a materialistic worldview and has fallen into a microscopic material world, relying on experimental methods to constantly search for evidence, which is really a bit like a frog at the bottom of a well. Although Engel proposed the “bio-psycho-social medical model” in 1977, this model was only aspirational. This is probably because modern medicine has not escaped from the guidance of materialistic thinking, resulting in it remaining mainly in the biomedical model. Although it is aware of the impact of psychological and social information (mental) factors on disease and health, it is still reluctant to pay attention to it as the main, and the knowledge is also very limited. As mankind enters the age of information technology, people’s understanding of the nature and role of information has become more and more profound, and the dualistic thinking of traditional philosophy will be challenged. The philosophy of “matter, energy and information” as the three fundamental elements of the world is playing a leading role. This new philosophical thinking believes that everything is composed of three basic elements with orthogonal completeness, just as thermodynamics has three laws, mechanics has three laws, biology also has three laws (heredity, mutation, natural elimination); modern cross-science has the old three theories (cybernetics, information theory, systems theory), the new three theories (synergism, mutation theory, dissipative structure theory ), Marxism has three basic principles, color television has three basic color principle and so on, anything is the complete embodiment of the three basic elements of matter, energy and information, the organization of anything (including the organism) there are three extreme patterns of disorder, order and self-order. This philosophical guiding principle of “three fundamentals” will undoubtedly change the traditional “dualistic” guiding idea of “structure (matter) determines function (energy)” in our medicine, and replace it with It will be replaced by a triadic holistic view of “structure, function and information control” to re-understand the human body and guide the evolution of medicine. Therefore, the era of information medicine is bound to come.
Chiropractic medicine is based on the new philosophical guiding principle of the triad of “matter, energy, and information”, and is based on the understanding of the spine from the perspective of information theory, control theory, and system theory, and thus the study of the spine and disease, the spine and health, and the intrinsic relationship between the spine and life. Therefore, it can be said that chiropractic medicine is an advanced representative of the information medicine model or era.
Fourth, the main content and scope of chiropractic medicine
Chiropractic medicine comprehensively covers “neck, shoulder and back pain”, “spinal etiology and treatment”, “practical spinal pathology”, “chiropractic medicine “chiropractic medicine”, “pelvic orthopedics”, “chiropractic neurology”, “spinal cord injury” and “spinal related On the basis of the content of related disciplines such as “chiropractic”, “chiropractic medicine”, “pelvic orthopedics”, “chiropractic neurology”, “spinal cord injury” and “spinal related diseases”, modern information science has been incorporated into the content of ideas, and then innovated and systematized.
1. Basic theoretical research
(1) Further study and research on the anatomical structure and functional relationship of the spinal system, namely the anatomy and dynamic balance of the spine and surrounding soft tissues (where the spine refers to the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral and caudal vertebrae, and includes its two ends of the skull and pelvis; surrounding soft tissues refer to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, joint capsule, fascia, nerves, blood vessels and other tissues around the spine); additional research on the regional information of the spine Network structure and transmission pathways and innervation range, etc.
(2) To study the relationship between the biomechanical structure and function of the spine.
(3) To study and explore the principles and regulatory mechanisms of information networks in the spine, etc. These are the latest topics to be studied and explored, and are among the most cutting-edge issues in medicine.
(4) The etiology, pathology and pathogenesis of spinal system diseases (spinal diseases and spinal related diseases) will be comprehensively elaborated and discussed from three aspects: the theory of soft tissue injury, the theory of imbalance of spinal biological forces and the theory of information network control of the spine.
2.Research on clinical examination and diagnosis methods
(1) Research and exploration of a more complete set of spinal history taking program.
(2) Focus on the study and exploration of the palpation examination of the spine, and initially reveal the “hand touch heart meeting” abstract investigation method, some of the commonly used clinical palpation methods were introduced in more detail.
(3) Special tests and physical examinations of the spine should also be comprehensively described.
(4) The detection of the spinal information system is based on the principle of conversion of biological information and photoelectric signals.
(5) The diagnosis and differential diagnosis of the measurement and localization of the disease is also one of the elements to be perfected.
3.Research on the clinical treatment methods of spinal diseases
(1) research some information stimulation to regulate and adjust the force balance of the treatment methods and the principle of action, these methods are mainly manipulation, acupuncture, traction, drugs and physical therapy, etc.
(2) Minimally invasive relaxation and stimulation conditioning methods (non-surgical therapy) such as acupuncture and knife release, manipulation and correction, and local injection will also be the main elements of spinal adjustment treatment methods that will be focused on research and discussion.
(3) Surgical treatment of the spine should also be further standardized and explored.
(4) self-exercise and rehabilitation of the spine
4. Clinical research on the treatment of various diseases
(1) Focus on the clinical diagnosis of cervical spondylosis and lumbar disc herniation and the integration effect of various therapeutic means under the regulation or control of information stimulation.
(2) Research on the etiology and pathogenesis of various spine-related diseases, as well as the experience and methods of diagnosis and treatment of information stimulation in the spinal region.
(3) Some common diseases of the spinal system, such as neck, shoulder and lumbar pain, different degrees of spinal joint displacement and soft tissue damage around the spine should be an important part of the research.
(4) Spinal fractures, dislocations, tuberculosis, tumors or eosinophilic granuloma and other diseases, or diseases related to spinal cord injury will also be included in the scope of spinal medicine research.
V. Prospects for the development of spinal medicine
Spinal medicine starts from the principle of information network communication and information control mechanism of the spine, re-understands the relationship between some diseases and the spine, studies the information stimulation and regulation of manipulation, acupuncture, drugs, acupuncture and other methods of adjustment, and takes a holistic view of the spine, the anatomical structure of the spine, biomechanics and bioinformatics, and other aspects of the systematic connection to comprehensively understand its physiopathology, pathogenesis and clinical diagnosis and treatment; this is more advanced and better than other This is a new discipline because it is more advanced and complete than other medical disciplines.
As we know, the human nervous system is divided into two major systems: the central nervous system, which includes the brain in the cranial cavity, and the spinal cord in the spinal canal. The peripheral nervous system, on the other hand, consists of 12 pairs of cerebral nerves and 31 pairs of spinal and visceral nerves. Therefore, the entire spinal column is where the central and peripheral nerves must pass. In addition, the Chinese meridians of the Directing Vessel and the Foot Sun Bladder meridian also follow the spinal region, so the spinal column is the main artery of the body’s information network. The spinal column is composed of 26 vertebrae and is the most easily misaligned (displaced) part of the body. When the vertebral joints are misaligned (displaced), the information channels such as the spinal cord or peripheral nerves (especially the spinal nerve roots) are compressed or stimulated to a certain extent, the information transmission function will be affected and the blood and lymphatic circulation may be fully blocked, resulting in many corresponding or related diseases. These are sufficient to show that the spine is a very important information transmission and control system for the human body. Therefore, in terms of treatment, we advocate regulating and balancing the biomechanical relationship of the spine and unblocking its information network system, supplemented by symptomatic treatment, so as to reduce or dissipate the compression and stimulation or obstruction of the information channels by misalignment and to allow the information to flow smoothly. After the manual repositioning, the treatment is supplemented with acupuncture, manipulation or medication to fully restore the body’s balance. This holistic concept, based on the mechanics of the spine and the information network, and the synergistic effect of various therapies under the information control mechanism, is the essence of the “spinal medicine” we are studying.
As an important representative of the information medicine era, spine medicine has shown a broad development prospect. Modern information technology, computer technology and biotechnology and other new technologies are providing a new platform for the innovative development of traditional Chinese medicine – information medicine. As we all know, “computer” is the common name for electronic computer, which shows people’s aspiration to make the computer work like human brain. The development and application of this bionic technology will certainly have a great impact on the research of brain science and the mechanism of information regulation of the body. So far, scientists have simulated a series of activity patterns of the nervous system and prepared the corresponding computer programs accordingly. U.S. and British scientists have successfully collaborated to develop the world’s first silicon neuron – a microchip capable of mimicking the information processing function of biological brain cells. This area of only 0.1 square millimeters of the chip’s work speed, than the same size of biological nerve cells to work a million times faster! Meanwhile, Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric has also developed a neuron chip that can reach 80 billion times per second, an achievement that reduces the time required for a neuron chip to memorize a character to three ten thousandths of a second. The nerve cell is the basic unit of the nervous system, which works electronically. When silicon neurons mimic nerve cells, their electronic properties are as independent as those of nerve cells, and they have their own “behavioral norms” and are not “directed” by their controllers. Therefore, in theory, millions of chips can be composed of a powerful “artificial brain”. Scientists have also developed into a biochip, biochips to transmit information faster than the human brain is 1 million times faster. At the same time, when the chip fails, it can self-repair, becoming a semi-permanent device.
The acquisition of neuron chip and biochip has brought vitality to the research of bio-computer – bionic computer, and the breakthrough on the research of neuronal network associated with it has made the research of bio-computer a great step forward. Neuronal networks are developed by scientists on the basis of neurological and psychophysiological research, and they have functions such as associative memory, similarity recognition and classification, error correction, temporal order retention and generalization. When the neuronal networks are highly connected to each other, it gives rise to parallel mechanisms and gives the neuronal groups unique computational properties as some of the higher thinking and information processing or control functions of the human brain. Today, the development of bio-computer technology has given a tremendous impetus to reveal the bio-information regulation mechanism of human brain, and it is believed that in the near future, there will be amazing breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases, spine related disorders, neurological disorders, mental and psychological disorders, and epilepsy.
Therefore, we can boldly predict that information medicine will become the new paradigm of medical development in the 21st century and is one of the most cutting-edge focal points of medical science research in the 21st century, while spinal medicine, as an important branch and advanced representative of information medicine, is a brick in the door for the study of information medicine. Thus, it will be the highlight of this focus.