After attending an ACIM Connect Conference (Academy of Comprehensive & Integrative Medicine) and demonstrating the effectiveness of the cranial/structural core distortion releases (aka CSCDR), I was invited to spend a full day educating doctors about the importance of Structural Energetic Therapy® (aka SET) at a mini ACIM conference. It’s always a privilege to share SET which includes an explanation of the core distortion, one of the chief limitations to structural rehabilitation. However, it was very exciting to be able to share this information with medical doctors who were receptive and open to integrating it into their medical practices.

The core distortion is a spiral twist that goes from the top of the head to the feet affecting the structure and alignment of the entire body. I observed it over 40 years ago doing structural body reading before every client session. The amazing thing was that everybody had this core distortion and it was related to at least 90 percent of their musculoskeletal issues. Once the core distortion was observed and identified the pain, dysfunction, and degenerative issues in the musculoskeletal system could easily be understood. 90 percent were directly related to the stresses and imbalances found in the spiral twist of the core distortion. I questioned why no one mentioned it or sought to correct these imbalances.

This led to an extensive search of orthopedic, osteopathic, and chiropractic literature. Aspects of the core distortion were discussed as necessary for recovery and rehabilitation, but there was no agreement about the progression of the spiral twist through the whole body. I saw the same core distortion but with different interpretations of the same picture or x-ray. I continued doing full body standing evaluations of my clients and used both functional and applied kinesiology to verify my observations. The kinesiology was always consistent and it verified the structural body reading. What amazed me was this spiral misalignment within the structure did not have a name, and it was only when I was looking at Dr. Yokum’s research that I realized that it was considered “NORMAL” because everybody had it. Therefore, it was being overlooked as a cause for musculoskeletal pain, dysfunction, and degeneration. Rehabilitation therapies were not focused on significantly diminishing the degree of spiral twist to bring the body into functional pain free support.

Structural collapse from the core distortion creates stress and imbalances resulting in pain, dysfunction or degeneration in the body which are usually most evident around joints including the spine. In the development of SET 40 years ago I began focusing on reducing the spiral twist with the goal of creating weight bearing support which would result in pain free function. I chose to work initially on the areas of most pain and dysfunction, and then bring the rest of the body into alignment to support the improvements from the structural collapses found in the core distortion. I was still looking to be able to quickly shift the entire structure into support before I worked in areas of the pain and dysfunction which would give the body a support structure to rehabilitate to.

The biggest challenge for long term rehabilitation was bringing weight bearing support between the sacrum and iliums. The core distortion has a left anteriorly rotated ilium and a right posteriorly rotated ilium. This rotation of the iliums results in the sacrum slipping and tilting down on the left because there is no support. With the sacrum tipped the curvatures in the spine increase creating weaknesses and undue stress on the vertebrae and disc relationship.  This is described in physical therapy literature as a hip complex issue and considered next to impossible to correct. I also found it discussed in chiropractic and osteopathic literature where there were limited results for long term correction. Another consistent finding of the core distortion resulting from the rotation of the iliums was a functional long left leg caused by the hip socket being pushed forward and down with the anterior rotation, and short right leg caused by the hip socket being lifted up and back with the posterior rotation. Even though the literature disagreed on the interpretation and way of measuring leg lengths, the functional and applied kinesiology supported the structural observations 100%. Observing the thoracic and head / neck / and shoulders the core distortion was easily observed due to the tippage from the sacrum and lack of support for the spine – the thoracic rib cage twisted and down on the right, high low shoulders, exaggerated curvatures in the neck, head forward, and an imbalance in the cranium including the jaw. Functional kinesiology testing the strength of the legs and arms showed at least a 50 percent weakening with the more than 15 degrees imbalance from the core distortion. Further testing of all the muscles supporting every joint including the vertebrae has shown that approximately 50 percent of the muscles of the body are operating at 50 percent or less strength and efficiency.  The answer was releasing the imbalances of the core distortion in the cranium which created weight bearing support throughout the body. Thus, cranial/structural therapy was created and integrated into SET.

The doctors and medical professionals at the ACIM conference were excited by this explanation, and even more excited when the cranial/structural core distortion releases (aka CSCDR) was applied that brought weight bearing support and structural balance in the body from the cranium to the feet. This was verified using both functional and applied kinesiology. Muscles that tested significantly weak while in the core distortion tested significantly stronger after the CSCDR, an integral part of SET.  Doctors commented that this was the “missing link.” They comprehended the importance of releasing the core distortion for long term structural balance to achieve maximum rehabilitation of their patients. They also realized they can integrate this with their therapies and be more effective.

It is very encouraging to see that the medical community is becoming more aware of the importance of integrating massage modalities into their profession.