PHILOSOPHY JOURNAL

by Valerie Pennacchio, D.C., '90

Article 1 "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."      - Sir Issac Newton It is with a sense of honor and pride that I begin writing the Philosophy Journal for Straight from Sherman. This section of the magazine has always been one I looked forward to reading with great anticipation. I am grateful to former Sherman College President David B. Koch, D.C., for the many years he shared his knowledge and expanding ideas with us through this vehicle, and I am humbled to “stand on his shoulders.”

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes."
      - French Novelist Marcel Proust (1872-1922)

In pondering which topic to cover in my first article, I decided to begin with the discoverer of our profession and went to D.D. Palmer’s 1910 book, “The Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic.” D.D. Palmer credits the concept of tone for his understanding of life and health. “Upon the comprehension of tone I built the grandest science of this or any age. Tone is a law, which can be comprehended; it is a principle upon which others are founded.”

I want to expand on this idea and explore how we can use the concept of tone in everyday practice. Because this topic is extensive, I will focus on its analytical aspects only in this article; specifically how muscle palpation really involves an evaluation of tone. I will follow-up in the future with how other assessment tools (such as osseous and motion palpation, leg check, instrumentation and x-ray) also help us evaluate tone. Ultimately, we will explore the adjustic aspects of tone as well.

The concept of tone represents our profession’s fundamental beginnings, the building block upon which it is constructed. The notion of tone has expanded my understanding of the objective assessments we use in every day practice as we strive to improve our techniques for locating and analyzing vertebral subluxations. On my personal “voyage of discovery” in chiropractic, the concept of tone has helped me “see with new eyes.”

D.D. tells us that life is best expressed when there is harmonious tone (not too much or too little); when there is resonance throughout the body. I’ve recently heard it said that life and health are an expression of harmonious synchronization.

When we initially learn the art of muscle palpation, it is challenging to distinguish if what we are feeling is increased tone (indicating a working muscle) or the natural overall tone unique to that person. The more refined our skills, the better we are able to determine if a vertebral subluxation exists at a given level, and to determine the nature of the misalignment. When a vertebral muscle is working unilaterally, it will possess a palpably different “tone” than a resting muscle. As chiropractors we must be able to explore these differences in tone and then determine through our palpation findings if a vertebral subluxation is present. If we can’t differentiate the tonal differences from the working to the non-working side, we will be far less effective in determining the presence of vertebral subluxation.

A musical analogy can provide a more common understanding of the concept of tone and how it relates to locating and analyzing vertebral subluxations. Musicians know that “C” and “D” notes in the musical scale differ from each other because of their specific frequencies or tone. A piano tuner makes sure that when a “C” note is struck all the “C” strings reflect the vibrational quality of that note. When they do there is resonance or harmony of all the “C” strings. If a string that was supposed to be a “D” also vibrated it would be evident that the “D” string was actually “acting as” a “C” thus not expressing the true quality of a “D” note. A musician must be able to differentiate a “C” from a “D” note to create harmonious music.

The same is true for the chiropractor who strives to help people’s bodies work more harmoniously by contributing to the removal of vertebral subluxation. A chiropractor can use the skill of differentiating between the tone of working and non-working muscles (like the musician’s “C” and “D” notes) to find and assess vertebral subluxations. It is through palpating the muscles that we differentiate when a muscle is in a “resting” state or actively working.

We also use our assessment of tone after we have combined all of our other objective tools and determined that a subluxation is present and it is safe to thrust into that area. We will consider in the future how the notion of tone can help the chiropractor deliver an adjustic thrust that will be best received by the body. And, we will consider how our post-checking procedures consider a change in tone that is resonant throughout the area and even throughout the spine.

As we attempt to explain the physiological phenomenon of life, recognizing that it can either be unsubluxated (integrated, harmonious, unmodified function) or subluxated (disrupted, unharmonious, modified function) it is exciting to me to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of tone and resonance. D.D.’s idea that “chiropractic is founded on tone” continues to provide a framework for us today in understanding the expression of living things: all matter has motion; motion expresses vibration; vibration is tone.

Read Article 2 in this series

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