Specialist Dr. David DeFries D.C.

Restoring the Balance

Dr. David DeFries Jr.

1520 Meetinghouse Road, Boothwyn PA 19061

Phone: 484-480-6820 / Email contact / Directions

Understanding your body

is the key to understandng your pain

Your brain is smart, and very selfish. It wants to not only be in the penthouse suite way up at the top, it wants to be in the center. This allows for it to receive and transmit all of the messages it needs to through the nerves and also provides proper blood flow. The brain's palace is the skull and it sits on top of the spinal column. The spine encases the nervous system and provides stability and protection. At the base of the spine sits the sacrum which is like an upside down triangle. This acts as the keystone for the spine as it wedges in between the bones of the pelvis. The large bony pelvis is therefore the the anchor of the whole system. Pelvis means basin or bowl in Latin. The job of this bowl is to not only hold some of your important organs but to act like a stabilizing point for the transition from the legs to the torso.

So the pelvis is the Key!

The pelvis is the foundation and the sacrum is the base. If the foundation is uneven, the base and everything above it is shifted causing chaos in the rest of the body. Imagine wearing one high heel and one flat shoe. One leg would obviously be longer than the other, but they both would have to touch the ground at the same point. So, this leg difference would translate all the way up into the pelvis causing it to tilt. This in turn would force the spine to one side and with it would go the skull and brain. This would be unacceptable to the brain because it would affect the blood supply, interfere with balance and disrupt nerve signals. In order to reduce this tilting and get itself back over the center line, the brain would send impulses to the muscles of the back and legs to rotate the pelvis and spine.

1. Normal balanced muscular system. Shoulders back and level, head balanced above body, pelvis even.

2. In this example the muscles on the right side of the body have become shortened. This could be due to injury, repetitive use or poor posture. This causes the right pelvis to be hiked up towards the right shoulder. The leg lengths would remain even but this would cause the person to lean to the right.

3. If left uncorrected, this position would put a tremendous amount of stress on low back and neck while leaving the head unbalanced and tilted to the side.

The pelvic shuffle

The femurs fit into the pelvis bone at what is called the acetabulum and this form the hip joint. The femurs come in on a small angle and form a ball joint with the pelvis. When the femur is rotated in, the foot turns out and conversely when the femur turns out, the foot rotates in. Because of the angle in which it sits, rotation actually causes the femur to rise up or to drop a slight amount. This provides a way for the brain to balance out the pelvis if it senses it is uneven. If the pelvis is tilted up on the right side, this would cause the spine to lean to the left and since the brain is so selfish I will not allow this. In oder to correct the imbalance there are several options the brain can utilize. If the pelvis tilts upward on the right the right leg becomes shorter than the left and the spine drifts to the side bringing the head with it and a cascade of problems ensue.

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4. The brain needs to get itself back over the center of the body but too much pressure on the vertebral column can cause damage to the spinal cord, vertebrae, joints and muscles.

5. One option that the brain has is to use the legs in order to balance the pelvis and spine. By rotating the hip in, the leg becomes shorter and this lets the pelvis drop on that side, lessening the pressure on the spine above the expense of many of the joints and muscles, in order to restore the proper positioning of the brain.

6. This imbalance leads to many problems such as neck, mid back, low back pain as well as hip, ankle, foot, knee and groin complaints. Symptoms related to the shoulder, arm, hands and head may also be associated with this condition.

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