Spontaneous Release by Positioning: First Aid for Your Back

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Spontaneous Release by Positioning: First Aid for Your

Back

 

We're all ignorant, just on different subjects.

(Will Rogers)

 

One of the handiest techniques for putting slightly

out-of-place vertebrae back into line (or " putting

your back in " ) is called spontaneous release by

positioning. The technique was developed by Dr.

Lawrence Hugh Jones, a Canadian doctor of osteopathy

(D.O.). Dr. Jones published his technique in The

D.O., January 1964, pp. 118-125. It is a very

effective, non-invasive procedure that most anyone can

learn and use.

 

(Important caution: Common sense dictates the need of

genuine care in dealing with any back problem.

Consult a medical, osteopathic or chiropractic doctor

before proceeding with this, or any other self-care

approach.)

 

The very first time I had occasion to require

spontaneous release was during the time I was taking a

short course in how to do it. I really wasn't at all

convinced of the value of the technique until it was

used on me. This is so often the way, isn't it? One

day I stepped off the curb to cross a street and

suddenly felt my back give way and my leg get weak. I

must have moved just right... or should I say, just

wrong... and it threw my lower back out severely. I

tried assorted exercises at home to try to correct it,

but none worked. It was painful in the big muscles of

the lower back, the lumbar area, and I couldn't do

anything about it. So the next class, I asked the

instructor to use me as the example of the day.

 

I was told to relax, was rolled up into a ball with

my leg up under my chest in an odd but strangely

comfortable position. I knew that the teacher was

pressing a trigger point aside my lower vertebra, but

I only knew he was pressing the point because he told

me he was, and I looked and saw it. But I felt no

pain at all in this position, and believe me, that was

amazing after the great discomfort I'd been having. A

couple of minutes of relaxation passed, and he brought

my posture back to normal. The pain was gone, and it

did not return. I rested a moment and got up and about

again. I've been successfully employing spontaneous

release ever since because it is both gentle and it

works so well.

 

" Spontaneous release " is another phrase for ''nature

cured it " when applied to your back. Occasionally a

slightly displaced vertebra will slip back into place

on its own. An unusual sleeping position or a chance

movement can return a vertebra to its place, though

not quite as easily as it can be put " out. " This

spontaneous realignment of the spine is not to be

confused with " learning to live with it " or any other

mere toleration of the aches or pains resulting from

misplaced bones. It is one thing for the body to

compensate for a problem, and quite another for the

body to actually correct the problem.

 

So why is a technique needed at all if the body

corrects itself? First of all, spontaneous release

rarely occurs on its own. It would be nice if it did,

but legions of backache patients prove otherwise. It

seems easier for a bone to go out than to go in, in

the same manner that it's easier to break a watch

than fix it, or easier to scramble an egg than to put

it back together again. When a bone goes out, the

surrounding muscles also are affected. Dr. Jones

explains this well in his paper. It seems that once

the bone is out, the tendency of the muscles is to

hold it's new position. It's only through a unique

position coupled with muscle relaxation that the bone

can slip back into place almost unnoticed.

 

This is precisely what " spontaneous release by

positioning " seeks to accomplish: this technique

recreates the circumstances in which the bone went

out, to encourage it to replace itself of its own

accord. You are recreating the body's posture or

position that put the vertebra out in the first place.

It's like retracing your steps looking for your lost

car keys.

 

By carefully positioning a person's arms or legs up

or down, back turned this way or that, hips or neck

pivoted right or left, a patient with even severe back

pain is found to all at once find a comfortable

position, a position where there is no pain or almost

no pain. It may be quite an odd-looking position, but

the discomfort is eased or completely gone. This is

the posture that encouraged the bone to go out in the

first place; now we'll use the same position to

encourage the bone to return.

 

You can always tell when you've discovered the

correct position because the patient will be

comfortable. The person previously may have been

barely able to sit, walk or stand up, but when you

have the correct position the person will be at ease

even though, in fact because, the body is in an odd

posture. The very posture that put the initial strain

on the back is now taking the strain off the back.

Says Dr. Jones:

 

Even the severest lesions will readily tolerate being

returned to the position in which lesion formation

originally occurred, and only to this position. When

the joint is returned to this position, the muscles

promptly and gratefully relax. These joints do not

cause distress because they are crooked; they are

paining because they are being forced to be too

straight. This is the mechanism of strain. (p 119)

 

In other words, the muscles are " used " to the strain,

and contract to hold the bone out of place. When the

person tries to straighten up, the bones won't,

because the muscles won't let them. And, the muscles

won't relax because the bones are out of alignment.

That is

why heating pads, rubs, medicines and " learn to live

with it " do not solve the problem. Because those

approaches do not reposition the bone, the muscle

cannot relax to normal. That's why there's pain.

 

How to eliminate the pain? Reposition the bone back

to normal. How then to reposition the bone(s) to

normal? Reposition the person's body to the extreme

but now comfortable posture so the muscles will relax.

Dr. Jones says you then hold the person in that

position, as the person relaxes, for 90 seconds.

Then, still relaxing, the person is brought back

around slowly to a normal posture. It is found that

the bone that was out returns with the rest of the

spine to normal position.

 

To better find exactly which vertebrae are out, and

also to demonstrate to yourself that the bones do in

fact realign and pain does in fact disappear, it may

be helpful to utilize what are called " trigger points "

along the spine. Looking at the back one can see the

spinal column as a stack of bumps. To either side of

this vertebral spine will be a trigger point. The

distance out from the bump will be about one to two

inches. Dr. Jones describes specific trigger

locations in detail in his paper, and tells how to use

them individually.

 

As we said earlier, nerves emerge from between the

vertebrae in your back. Each vertebra has side

projections, like wings, and a rear-facing spine which

you see as the " teacup handle " or bump. If a given

vertebra is misaligned, the nerve or musculature on

one or both sides of that bone will be tender. This

is, as we have said, because the bone's somewhat

twisted condition puts pressure on the nerve emerging

to each side of it. Therefore, if you press there, it

may hurt quite a bit. That's how you can tell which

bones are out. Gently go up and down the spine and

press lightly about one inch out to either side of

each vertebral spine or " bump. " Where there's pain,

that's where the nerve is under pressure, where the

muscle is locking, and where the bone is out. And

that's the trigger point for that bone.

 

It is likely that you will find one side of the

vertebra to be more tender than the other. What one

does in that case is keep pressing lightly on the

tender spot while repositioning the person. When the

correct position is reached, the person will say that

he no longer feels pain even though pressure is still

being applied on the trigger point. This is positive

proof that you've found the right trigger point and

that you've found the right position. What I do then

is be sure the person is relaxing. I hold the

position, while pressing the trigger point, for about

between 90 seconds and three minutes, and then bring

the person back to normal posture while continuing to

press the trigger point. If you've corrected the

problem, the person will not feel discomfort, and

will not feel pain even though you continue to press

the trigger point that hurt him before you started.

 

Summary of the steps of spontaneous release by

positioning:

1.) Find the right trigger point by gently pressing to

each side of each vertebra. Pain indicates the

trigger point.

 

2.) While pressing that point, begin to reposition the

person, asking him to tell you when the pain stops.

 

 

3.) When a comfortable position is reached, continue

pressing the trigger point while holding the person in

the unusual position that he himself has indicated to

you by cessation of pain.

 

4.) Be sure the person is relaxed if you want this to

be successful. You must hold the position, not the

patient. If the patient holds the position, he is

using the very muscles that you are seeking to relax.

If the patient is not relaxed, the technique will not

work.

 

5.) After1 1/2 minutes or so, you return the person to

a normal posture while continuing to press the spot.

 

6.) If the person feels better and the trigger point

pressure no longer hurts, then the bone is back in its

proper place.

 

Step-by-step suggestions:

On step 1.) The person's back should be uncovered.

Some people will tell you of pain with only the

lightest pressure to the trigger point. With other

cases, you may have to press fairly hard in finding

the spot. Very muscular persons often require more

pressure. Persons in great pain often require but a

touch. I once worked on a relative whose back was in

such excruciating pain that just a washcloth's

pressure when taking a bath hurt him greatly. After

half an hour of spontaneous release by positioning he

was so much improved that I could press those same

spots on his back until my fingernails were white.

There is real relief for you!

 

On step 2.) Be sure to ask the person to tell you if

a given trial position is better, worse, or the same.

Some people won't tell you if you're helping them or

hurting them, so ask! Ask constantly, " Better, worse,

or the same? " " Better, worse, or the same? " If you're

working on the neck, the person may begin in a sitting

position. If you are working on the upper or middle

back, the person might sit, or it may be easier to lie

face down. For the lower back, the person may lie

down on their side or face down. Start symmetrically,

and end symmetrically; that is, sit or lie straight to

begin, and always end up straight with no crossed legs

or slouching.

 

On step 3.) The only comfortable position for the

patient may be very unusual or extreme, and that's

common. The person may be in no pain at all only when

rolled up like a ball, or twisted one leg over the

other, or with their head pointed out and up with the

chin in the air, or with their arm bent back over

their shoulder! You just have to try any position

until you get the sure sign that you've found the

right one: No more pain, where you are pressing or

anywhere else in the patient.

 

On step 4.) Dr. Jones mentions that ''patients will

try to help you. Don't let them. " This is because

spontaneous release by positioning is and must remain

totally passive on the part of the patient, and all he

or she can do to help is to say when the pain is gone,

and relax. That is it.

 

After the procedure, the person worked on should rest

for a while, and later endeavor to keep good posture

while resting or working. This is important, because

the bone replaced is most likely to slip back out of

place if again offered the extreme position that did

it before.

 

On step 5.) The length of time that you have to hold

the position will vary with each situation.

Experience best shows how you can be the judge.

 

On step 6.) With spontaneous release by positioning,

as with math, you can always check your work. The

trigger point that hurt when you pressed it showed you

which vertebra was out; the trigger point when pressed

with the person in the correct posture no longer hurt,

so it showed you the correct position; the trigger

point when pressed throughout the rotation of the

person back to normal position no longer hurts,

either, and shows you that the release was

accomplished.

 

So we can see the value of positioning, relaxation,

and trigger points. These three form the basis of this

technique.

 

You can try spontaneous release by positioning

yourself, but not on yourself. If you try to position

yourself, you will not be the necessary passive,

relaxed patient. You can not have relaxed muscles if

you are using them. You must exert force to position

your limbs, or to press trigger points. You can either

relax a muscle or use a muscle; you cannot do both

together. This is why it is good to teach family

members this technique: you may be the one needing it

at some point. If everyone learns, then you can help

each other. When I did farm work, with much reaching,

lifting, pulling and carrying, my wife did

spontaneous release by positioning on me almost every

day. But she had her turn: when she was pregnant,

particularly during the eighth and ninth months, I had

to put her back in as much as twice a day. This

prevented the considerable back discomfort that so

many women complain of during pregnancy due to the

extra weight applied to the back in carrying a child.

(Gentlemen, you just try strapping one or two large

bags of dog food around your middle and see how it

feels!) All that new extra weight must be supported

by the same backbones.

 

Spontaneous release by positioning is my preferred

way to relieve backache and warm-up stretches or yoga

postures are my preferred ways to prevent backache.

First, they are easy to do, with exercise books and

yoga classes available in abundance to guide you.

Second, it is virtually impossible to do them

incorrectly unless it hurts. As the old joke goes,

" Doc, it hurts when I do that. " The reply: " Well,

don't do that. " Doing it right means doing it gently.

If you do a set of each first thing in the morning

and again at bedtime, you will work better, sleep

better, and feel better. Do this every day, and you

will notice that you are able to reach further and

touch those toes again. My high school Phys Ed

teacher told me a long time ago that the single,

simplest test of a person's physical fitness is to see

if they can touch their toes. Can you? If not, do

stretches. If you can touch them, continue doing

stretches.

 

If you want to foster your self-reliance in caring

for your back, these simple first aid techniques,

which are closely related to osteopathy, physical

therapy and chiropractic, may help. It still takes me

aback that there isn't more interest from those three

professions in spontaneous release by positioning.

Maybe it is because the name is too long. Maybe it is

because it takes more time than busy practitioners

want to spend. Maybe it is because wellness

self-reliance cuts into the profit of fee-per-visit

professionals.

 

In other words, perhaps it is because this procedure

works too well.

 

I was on the faculty of a chiropractic college for

three years, and although I am not a chiropractor, I

know a lot of them. I am yet to see an adjustment

technique that is more gentle and more effective than

spontaneous release by positioning. Once a woman, who

was an aide at a nursing home, came in with some

numbness down her arm and no grip strength. Her job

consisted largely of lifting patients, and at 52,

she'd been daily straining her back for a long time.

She had been to the usual flock of doctors and

received the usual gaggle of prescriptions. None

really helped; how can a pill correct the position of

a bone? Spontaneous release on her lower neck, a

matter of a few painless minutes, and she was better.

She said she could feel, right away, the change in her

arm. Her grasping ability came back while I watched.

 

Another woman, who had seen so many physicians that

she'd lost count, had numbness and tingling all down

her lower legs, and swollen fingers and toes. Doctors

had ruled out any malady they knew of, and told her to

learn to live with it, as she was getting old. The

lady was 60. Half an hour of spontaneous release

later, she had normal feeling in her limbs and, most

incredibly to me, the swelling was gone from her

fingers.

 

This is a great technique. Darned if anybody is

taught it anymore, though.

 

Copyright C 1999 and prior years Andrew W. Saul.

From the books QUACK DOCTOR and PAPERBACK CLINIC,

available from Dr. Andrew Saul, Number 8 Van Buren

Street, Holley, New York 14470.