Super Strong
When you test muscles all day, every day for 20 years - you get to notice things.
I was amazed this week at a 51 year old patient of mine. He first came in 3 months ago suffering from chronic low back pain. He had a slipped disc 2 years ago and had a month off work a year ago due to his back. Although he was well-built, I didn't realise quite how strong he was until this week when he came in for a checkup. The back pain he thought was due to arthritis went after 2 or 3 treatments and now he's just having checkups to make sure it doesn't come back.
What's remarkable is his strength. He's not just strong, he is awesome.
Those of you who read my column regularly will know that I often say that strength doesn't depend on exercise anywhere near as much as it depends on proprioception - but at this point most people are convinced I need helping back to the padded cell. Anyway, although this patient leads an active life, it's not like he is in the gym every day.
Muscles don't work on their own. They are controlled by messages from your brain. The brain is a massive processing unit but unlike a computer that can handle one instruction at a time in a linear fashion, the brain is processing trillions of bits of information simultaneously.
The question is, where does the input come from? Neuroscientists say the brain is sensory-driven. It only produces output based on the input it receives.
One of the "tricks" it uses to do this is called "summation." Summation makes sure that the amount of output is proportional to the amount of input.
When I push on someone's arm or leg, the sensors within their muscles measure the amount of force I am applying. That input then generates an appropriate number of spinal neurons to fire back to the muscles to meet my force. But the spinal neurons themselves receive inhibitory signals from the brain if the brain is not being stimulated adequately.
Brain stimulation can only come from nerve sensors and there are only 2 types of nerve sensors able to provide continuous input to the brain. These are muscle spindles (fibres within the muscles) and the nerves that supply each tooth socket.
When we lose teeth, we lose stimulation from the sensors in the tooth socket and our strength decreases.
Although I can't be certain yet, I am coming to suspect that my patient's awesome strength is in part due to the fact that he still has all his teeth. Apart from one he lost last year, he still has all his wisdom teeth. It is possible that the stimulation he receives from a mouth full of sensors will be far in excess of us mere mortals who had our wisdoms (and many other) teeth extracted.
Looking back, my wisdom teeth were extracted in the year before I went away to Chiropractic College. At the time I was in the New Zealand Commonwealth Games cycling team. During the 1980 Empire Games in New Zealand (due to the Olympic boycott that year) I was tested as the second fittest rider in the NZ team. Although I tried to continue riding after that year, I was never able to regain that form. I now wonder whether it was the wisdom teeth extraction that made the difference.
Now I am NOT saying that tooth removal will affect your health. I'm just beginning to expect that if you want physical perfection for your children, then maybe you should be looking for alternatives to tooth removal.
The idea that we have too many teeth for our mouth is a nonsense. Weston A Price proved in the 1930s that primitive people who had no access to a modern diet and lived on the foods of nature had no crowding of the teeth and almost no tooth decay - furthermore, they had outstanding physiques. Crowding, high dental arches and the need for orthodontics are the result of "civilised" diets high in grains and carbohydrates. You can learn more about his work here.
Unfortunately, when teeth are lost and the nerve sensors die, there is nothing we can do to bring them back. I offer this information in the hope that we can prevent unnecessary extraction of good teeth, which brings us to orthodontics, - but that will have to wait until next month.
Enjoy the Summer when it arrives. Don't forget to get as much sun exposure as possible without burning. Vitamin D helps make strong bones and will boost your immune system and prevent cancer.
Best wishes
Simon King
PS. Do you ever have trouble explaining Chiropractic and Proprioceptive Medicine to your friends. I know I do. To make it easier I have written a special report called "Why you're not better - YET!" and put it on the front page of our website. IF you know anyone who is having treatment and not getting better, or if they have a problem and are considering treatment anywhere else (as if!) then send them this link http://www.Naturality.org.uk/report.html or tell them to have a look at the website.
