I do my best to articulate that treatment protocols are 33% structure and touch, 33% chemistry, and 33% sensory stimuli. Protocol techniques include laser, electric microcurrent, or the equivalent, and balance brain work.
It’s all about balance and what your mechanoreceptors are telling your brain. So, what is a mechanoreceptor (MR)? They are specialized sensory receptors that respond to mechanical pressure or distortion. They continuously send signals to your spinal cord and brain through what is called afferent (away from) neurons (nerves) through synapses (connections) in your spinal cord. You can think of this as a USB plugged into your computer. The second nerve (another connected USB) goes to your thalamus, located in the brain, and the third neuron then goes to the sensory area in your brain called the cortex. These stimuli are regularly communicating to your brain what is required for movement, digestion, heart rate, blood pressure, blood supply, and many other physiological changes to keep you functional.
In our office, we understand that your MRs have small receptive fields that respond to static stimulation and compression of a joint, respond to electricity and muscle stretching, and respond to low light laser therapy and electrical vibration when touching the skin. Food for thought—if your practitioner is not physically touching you in any way, can you see how this could slow down your recovery? Mechanoreceptor knowledge has more than 50 years of clinical research and outcomes. In my opinion, in speaking to doctors in many fields, many doctors are finding it increasingly more challenging to help patients, and the majority of doctors are not using MR stimulation. This is a big deal. In fact, due to research findings, Harvard Medical University, Yale University, and Cleveland Clinic are incorporating MR stimulation by microcurrent—a device we have used in our office starting on my first day of licensure. Why?—because that’s what the research shows for better outcomes.
Below is some physiological explanation for those who want more detailed information on mechanoreceptors.
There are several groups of MRs. Meissner’s corpuscles (light touch and light vibration), Pacinian corpuscle (rapid vibration and some internal organs), and Ruffini ending (skin and fascia tension) are all linked to muscle activation. These explain why muscle testing, examination, and muscle stimulation is critical for function. There are many other MRs in your body. For instance, in the cochlea of the inner ear, receptors convert sound to an electrical impulse transmitted to the brain for balance and positional sense. Baroreceptors are also present, and they are MR excited by the stretching of a blood vessel. This is why balance testing and blood pressure evaluation are essential to your treatment plan.
There are other receptors for pain (nociception), temperature, and balance (vestibular). Nociceptors go into the brain and the cord and act as reflexes for pain stimuli so that you move before your brain says, “Ouch!” Sometimes, these can cause overfiring, and the pain does not seem to ever go away. Understanding how the nervous system works, stimulating the other MR pathways along with nutrition and exercise, can dampen, if not help, the nociceptors to become silent again, meaning a lack of pain. Combine exercise, nutrition, and diet, and you have, in my humble opinion, the best outcome for the management of multiple causes of pain, inflammation, and other contributing factors causing disease.
Be well,
Dr. Trites