Spinal Touch

The History of Spinal Touch

In its original form, Spinal Touch (ST) was known as Aquarian – Age Healing and was developed in the 1920s by two chiropractors, John Hurley and his wife Helen Sanders. Quite an avant-garde title for the time!

John Hurley had been a structural engineer prior to becoming a chiropractor and he knew that if the centre of gravity of a static object, such as a building, became out of alignment with its counterweight, then the object would eventually collapse. In a dynamic structure, like the human body, compensations would delay this collapse.

Together, John and Helen used their knowledge of chiropractic, engineering, the laws of leverage and anatomy and physiology to determine what happens to a body when its centre of gravity is out of alignment. They found that chronic holding patterns built up in the postural muscles, which prevented collapse.

Once these chronic holding patterns developed, the muscles were not flexible enough to self-correct any vertebral misalignments and this led to further tensions in the postural and surrounding muscles, creating a vicious circle of postural changes.

The pair developed unique ways of returning the centre of gravity to its correct position with respect to its counterweight, while at the same time reducing the holding patterns that built up in the postural muscles. This allowed clients innate healing abilities to work, which restored their health and vigour.

In 1932 they published a book called Aquarian – Age Healing for You, and began teaching their technique to chiropractors. Since 1962 the person responsible for preserving, developing and passing on this technique is chiropractor Dr LaMar Rosquist DC. He renamed the technique “Spinal Touch”.

The Treatment

The skull, spine and pelvis protect the central nervous system, which is the body’s message pathway to organs, muscles, glands and other body parts. It has been shown that tiny misalignments of these bones can interfere with normal nervous impulses to and from the brain, which in turn disrupts the body’s state of homeostasis. By using gentle and precise rubbing techniques along the postural muscles, Spinal Touch (ST) aims to realign the bones and restore the body to optimum health.

Plumb Line Assessment

As in the case of any therapy, a full consultation must be carried out before the client receives their first assessment and treatment. To assess the level of distortion, the client stands at a plumb line, in either their underwear or a gown, with their back towards the therapist. With the client’s permission, photographs can be taken in order to show before and after shots and as a point of reference for the therapist. Discreet marks are then drawn on the body with a skin pencil to highlight the level of distortion at the L5/S1 joint, the anterior hip and the amount of forward lean from the side.

A contact point will then be found and tested, which is usually around the gluteal fold, where the buttock meets the upper thigh. A contact point is a neuromuscular point that moves the base of the sacrum with respect to the fifth lumbar vertebra. There are 60 possible contact points, all of which move the sacrum in different ways. The one chosen by the therapist is determined by the distortion pattern of the client.

The Alignment

With the client lying prone on the couch, the therapist gently massages the client’s postural muscles, starting at the buttocks and working up towards the cranial base. The technique is light and yet precise, and referred to as “rub outs”.

The contact point is held throughout the whole treatment and is separate to the rub – outs. The aim of holding onto the contact point is to restore the correct alignment between the centre of gravity and the counterweight while the distorted postural muscles are relaxed. This allows the muscles to regain a more balanced tension, left and right, with the centre of gravity in its correct position, removing tension in the muscular skeletal structure and allowing the body to repair any structural and postural changes.

Clients usually find the alignment part of the treatment very relaxing - some even fall asleep. During the alignment, the body begins to correct the postural distortion. If the distortion has been present for a prolonged period, a series of treatments will probably be necessary, and these should be explained to the client during their initial consultation. Diet and lifestyle changes may be recommended in order to help the body regain its normal posture and health.