Welcome to 1st Step Chiropractic, S.C., Rockford, Illinois' only center for the NUCCA procedure, and also Rockford's only center for learning the Alexander Technique. My name is Dr. Philip R. Schalow.
Our mission is to seek the truth in all we do, to ask questions, and to gather knowledge so that people who want to be well can develop wellness.
How do we do that? I'm glad you asked!
First step is to address structural impediments to function, and then address (only if present) behavioral impediments to function.
What's a structural impediment?
From Biology, the study of life, we learn that the nerve system controls and coordinates all the other systems of the body. We also learn that the nerve system is surrounded by a bony "housing". When the bony "housing" slips out of beneficial relationship with the nerve, trouble ensues and the nerve system begins to advertise distress. Remember when you had to "pith" your frog in High School biology? You created changes similar to the changes observed with bony pressure on the human brainstem.
From Newtonian Physics, we learn that a body at rest remains at rest unless acted on by a net external force.
Put these two facts together in a practical system and you have the field of Chiropractic. Within chiropractic, there exists a specialty called "upper cervical corrective chiropractic", and within the upper cervical corrective field has developed the NUCCA procedure.
What is a behavioral impediment?
From the work of F. M. Alexander, we find that "there is nothing wrong with us except that which we have put wrong ourselves."
What an indictment !
But it raises other questions;
Is he right?If he is right, is there a practical procedure to use to correct ourselves? If he is wrong, under what conditions is he wrong? (The answer is... when an atlas misalignment is present)
This problem is perceived most often by musicians, actors, or other performers whose investment in personal control drives the quest for optimal function without tension. (And it is unecessary tension underlying those symptoms that we feel, is it not?)
I have seen many people who have experienced severe loss of health without having a structural interference, and whose entire problem stems from how they use themselves - too much tension.
Since Chiropractic works with structural interference (bones) with the nerve system, we can see that it is dependent on a specialist to bring about change.
Since Alexander Technique provides a hierarchy of choices an individual can make, it is remedial and dependent on a person's willingness to make new choices.
The relation between the two approaches is the primary hypothesis; that the human organism is supposed to work well.
Where they differ is the secondary hypothesis; If this well-working is lost, it is due to structural interference (chiropractic's hypothesis) or due to behavior interference (Alexander's hypothesis).
At 1st Step Chiropractic, S.C., we work with both concepts at the appropriate time.
