CoreScore
As part of a full examination, our clinic utilizes three specialized tests which allow us to determine what the cause of your health problem may be, how progressed the health problem is and what needs to be done to correct your presentation.
These tests give us an accurate reading on how much recovery-reserve you have inside of you. This reading is called a CoreScore and ranges between 1 and 100.
What does this mean?
Imagine that you are crossing the street. A car races around a corner and is headed right at you. At that your sympathetic system takes over: your brain produces beta waves as it calculates what to do, adrenaline and cortisol floods your bloodstream, your heart races, respiration shoots up, muscles tense, your hands get clammy and cold.
Now your survival depends on how quickly you sense the danger and how well your brain is able to control and coordinate the different systems in response to it.
Luckily, you are able to jump out of the car's way. Your recovery-reserve number was sufficient to save yourself and this reflect on how healthy you are. Once the danger has passed, your parasympathetic system takes over and brings everything back to a relaxed, resting state.
This, in a nutshell, is health. It is the brain's ability to control and coordinate the different systems of the body appropriately for its current environment and circumstances. Be it a chemical, physical, or emotional stressor, your ability to respond appropriately - and then recover - will reflect on how healthy you are.
Not all stressors carry with them life or death consequences. A ringing phone, a crying baby, walking outside into the cold, waking up or even going to sleep... all of these situations require your body to adapt in an appropriate manner for the situation. All of these situations require a change from your nervous system. How efficiently and to what degree the changes take place is a reflection of how healthy you are. You have an incredible capacity for self-healing and self-regulation, but a repeated, chronic, or acute stress can overwhelm your systems.
The delicate balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems can begin to become imbalanced, leading to an over-aroused, under-aroused or unstable nervous system. Live too long in any of these conditions and you will likely end up with an exhausted nervous system. This exhausted nervous system either causes or leads to persistent spinal nerve tension known as a subluxation. A subluxation is a reaction to an overworked system which causes a disruption in the muscles, the spine and, eventually, the nerve connections that control all parts of your body.
NeuralTherm Scanner
CLA's patented INSiGHT thermal scanning technology represents the cutting edge in chiropractic analytical equipment, producing detailed and easily understandable readings on wellness benchmarks. The NeuralTherm Scanner contributes to this bigger picture of patient wellness by measuring temperature differentials.
The Principles Behind the NeuralTherm Scanner
Thermal readings have been used among chiropractors and other wellness specialists for more than a century to monitor health and wellness. Thermal technology was first used for chiropractic care in 1924 by Dr. B.J. Palmer. Since then, thermal readings have been repeatedly cited as an accurate way for chiropractors to gain actionable insight into each patient's well-being and how it is influenced by chiropractic care. Thermography is just one of the channels through which CLA's INSiGHT system breaks new ground in reliable and actionable analytics for chiropractors.
The NeuralTherm Scanner measures paraspinal temperature differential. A significant difference in the temperature on each side of the spine could indicate a lack of autonomic responsiveness, an important indicator that something may be interfering with the nervous system.
Pulse Wave Profiler (PWP)
At Chiropractic Leadership Alliance (CLA), we bridge the gap between good intentions and concrete results. With our INSiGHT technology, chiropractors have access to patient metrics that provide a roadmap to wellness that has never been accessible before.
As a part of the Space Foundation-certified INSiGHT stress analysis system, the Pulse Wave Profiler (PWP) helps chiropractors assess and monitor the impact of stress on patients through Heart Rate Variability (HRV) readings.
What is HRV and how does it affect well-being?
HRV refers to the beat-to-beat variability of the heart, and provides incredible insight into autonomic nervous system function. Though it may seem counterintuitive, a higher HRV is actually a good thing: it means that there is a greater variability in the time between heart beats so this organ is better able to respond to stress, sickness or physical activity. The more adaptable a patient's heart, the less damage any stress-related spikes will be for overall health and well-being. With the PWP, chiropractors can establish a baseline HRV for each patient. This provides a concrete starting point to track a patient's progress as they work toward wellness.
What data is collected from a PWP scan?
During a scan, the PWP collects data on the Instantaneous Heart Rate (IHR) throughout the unattended, 3-minute scanning period. This information is used to determine the variability in heart rate, and is presented in an easy-to-interpret graph. Any unexpected variances in nervous system stimulation are measured as Skin Conductance Response values.
Once this data is collected, the INSiGHT software calculates the HRV measurements to assess the state of the autonomous nervous system (ANS). This screen compares the two branches of the ANS: parasympathetic versus sympathetic responses. The PWP can reveal if these branches are balanced (as they should be), or if one component is stronger.
Finally, chiropractors can use the Table and Narrative Views to review statistical analysis from the scan and look over protocol instructions.
Static and Dynamic Surface Electromyography(sEMG)
CLA's INSiGHT scanning technology helps bridge the gap between known advantages of chiropractic adjustments and concrete measurements. Static and Dynamic Surface Electromyography (sEMG) is an essential part of our INSiGHT system, providing a major piece of the puzzle of general well-being by assessing paraspinal tension.
What is sEMG and how can it support chiropractic care?
This technology reads electrical activity (action potential) in order to measure paraspinal tension, similar to the use of electromyography in EKG/heart rate measurement machines.
The electric current pattern is a critical component in how your body functions. The muscles on either side of your spine should be balanced: if they are not working equally well, the body is forced to compensate, which takes energy. This imbalance can monitored by sEMG technology. Alterations in electrical activity in the paraspinal muscles can shed light on the muscular changes linked to vertebral subluxations. As such, chiropractors can use sEMG to establish a baseline for paraspinal electrical activity.
In contrast to EKG/heart rate monitors, the sEMG used within CLA's INSiGHT technology has sensors that are 1,000 times more sensitive. This enables them to read the electrical activity of paraspinal muscles, which is much weaker than that of the heart. The sensitivity and accuracy of the INSiGHT? technology is unsurpassed.
What do these results look like?
With CLA's sEMG system, chiropractors can access action potential measurements through the following methods:
Normal scan
This establishes normal levels of electrical activity for reference during treatment. The normal scan will have a pear-shaped pattern.
Amplitude scan
This scan reveals the amplitude (tension) among paraspinal electrical activity, noting areas of hyper or hypo-tonicity as it compares to a normal population. CLA's chiropractic tools use a color-coded system: Green bars show mild elevation (compared to the normal scan), blue bars convey moderate elevation, red bars indicate high elevation and yellow bars display readings below normal amplitude.
Asymmetry scan
This reading depicts the amount of muscle pull from one side to another along the spine using the same color-coded system. White triangles indicate normal.
Dynamic graph
With CLA's sEMG, chiropractors can track up to four channels of muscle activity as their patients are guided through different physical movements. The event marker feature assists interpretation by marking the position of the patient during the test. This graph is accompanied by a dynamic narrative report.
sEMG-Pattern view
This cutting edge graph is patent-pending and unique to CLA's INSiGHT technology. It highlights patterns in how energy is distributed throughout the spine and whether this system is efficient or not. With this view, chiropractors can easily visualize underlying imbalances and room for improvement for patients who are interested in better wellness.
