03/06/2026
Let's get nerdy!!
The spine is not just a column of separate joints.
It is a tensioned, fluid-coupled, fascia-integrated, dura-anchored communication organ.
That's not poetry. That's anatomy, once you account for the structure most chiropractors were never taught to engage directly.
It's called the NeuroSpinal System.
The NeuroSpinal System (also known as the Cranio-Spinal Meningeal Functional Unit) includes the brain, spinal cord, and multilayered meningeal system: the pia mater (with its dentate ligaments), the arachnoid space (with its cerebrospinal fluid), and the dura mater, with particular emphasis on where the dura attaches to the movable bony structures of the cranium and spine.
This system is not passive. It is active, dynamic, and independently motile.
Modern histology has revealed α-SMA-positive myofibroblasts within the meninges, cells that provide intrinsic contractile force. The meningeal system possesses independent contractile motility and is in constant motion, modulating its tone moment to moment as it assesses and responds to tension, movement, and the perception of threat.
In 1978, neurosurgeon Alf Breig documented what he called Adverse Mechanical Tension (AMT), a state of aberrant tension in the meningeal system and spinal cord that disturbs neural function even without vertebral displacement. No bone out of place. No compression. Just tension, and it was enough to create interference.
More recently, Dr. Heidi Haavik's neurophysiological research has demonstrated that neural interference more often stems from tension, distortion, and altered afferent input, not direct compression of nerve roots. Her neuroimaging work shows that chiropractic adjustments produce measurable changes in brain function, including nearly 20% change in prefrontal cortex processing.
And here's the mechanism that makes it persist: when incoming stress exceeds the body's adaptive capacity, the NeuroSpinal System tightens as an allostatic response. Under sustained stress, TGF-β1 signaling drives fibroblast-to-myofibroblast conversion within the meningeal tissues, creating contractile force that holds Adverse Mechanical Tension long after the original stressor is gone.
Because of this dynamic responsiveness, the meningeal system functions as the primary tone setter in the body, governing the global tension patterns that shape adaptability, breath, posture, energy, and regulation. The reason we do CLA Insight scsns!
This means vertebral misalignments are secondary compensations to primary tone distortions. The musculoskeletal system organizes itself around a central imbalance. Bones move and hold their positions as a result of core dural and fascial tension.
So the question becomes: If the primary interference is tonal, should the adjustment also be tonal?