By Dr. Donald Epstein, D.C. (Creator and Developer of Network Spinal
Analysis)

NSA is a unique system for advancing spinal and neural integrity;
developing new strategies of self-organization, and living life from the
“inside out”.

I am proud to report that studies of NSA patients’ self reported changes
span the largest range of health and wellness domains for a non-medical
approach. Even more exciting is that this study performed through the
University of California, Irvine College of Medicine indicates improvements
in all areas surveyed. Strikingly, 76% of the 2,818 patient self-reported
retrospective assessments show statistically significant improvement in
their Physical, Emotional, Stress, and Life Enjoyment categories of health
and wellness as well as their overall quality of life. Even in patients in
care for more than 3 years, there appeared to be no ceiling to improvement.

Network Care is associated with significant improvement in self-rated
perceptions of “wellness.” Patients who have been under care the
longest time reported the greatest improvement in wellness. This
retrospective study reflects a large epidemiological group and could be a
benchmark for future studies assessing health and wellness related outcomes
among patients with a more holistic view of health.

The completed longitudinal study followed a population in care over a one
year period. The data collected further validated the questionnaire used to
measure wellness and quality of life, and gave us great insight into the
strong changes patients achieve in Network Care.

It was found that patients continue in care long after symptoms reduce or
disappear. They make healthier choices in their life and enjoyed life more.
The study of people receiving Network Spinal Analysis demonstrated that
people found reasons other than physical symptoms to continue in care. This
was revealed by their improved wellness and quality of life indicators.

Network care is delivered to enhance improvement in the patient’s
passive, active, neural, and emotional sub-systems, advancing their spinal
and neural integrity. Outcome assessment revealed predictable and
reproducible development of new strategies of self-organization as one
progressed through a series of Levels of Care.

Each Level of Care appears to be accompanied by an increase in self-
awareness and self-responsibility by the patient for his spine, and nervous
system, in relationship to his healing and life.  Rather than attempting to
fix or control any problem, including nerve tension, pressure, stress,
pain, fixation or subluxation, or to return a patient to a previous state,
an NSA practitioner will seek to promote new properties within the nervous
system and spinal tissues. These properties are believed to assist in
advancing spinal and neural integrity, wellness, quality of life and self
organization, allowing the expression of a greater degree of wellness.

Research demonstrates that even if a patient changes diet, exercise,
meditates, and performs other health promoting practices, the wellness
index questionnaire does not predict greater wellness, unless there is also
a greater level of life enjoyment. This is paradigm shifting information.
In my opinion, this supports the concept that an internal state of well
being helps empower the educated choices we make, and that doing “the
right things” does not necessarily produce wellness and health. Increased
wellness helps our lifestyle choices to work for us.

The improvement in each of the domains of wellness almost doubled when NSA
care was applied, as compared to when only constructive health/lifestyle
changes were implemented.

You may have seen, experienced or heard about the two types of natural body
waves, one respiratory and one somatopsychic, that develop uniquely in
Network Spinal Analysis care. These waves are believed to dissipate tension
and re-organize the functioning of the spine and nervous system. The
awareness of the waves in patients is the most significant predictor of
enhanced wellness on all levels measured.

The “somatopsychic wave” is a consistent, repeatable physiological
phenomenon which can be studied as a non-linear mathematical model. This is
of interest to other disciplines studying the dynamics of human function.
At the University of Southern California, the NSA population is being
studied to assess certain mathematical aspects of biological
self-organization. Moreover, in a group of people expressing the
“somatopsychic wave”, it has been observed that movements of the larger
spinal muscles exhibit synchrony, or “entrain” within the population.

Preliminary studies demonstrate that the organization of the surface EMG
signal (recorded on patients possessing the strategy of the Somatopsychic
wave) develops greater levels of complexity as the subjects progressed
through subsequent Levels of Care. An exciting next step in research will
be to characterize the mathematics of this wave in relation to each Level
of Care. This would permit a correlation between each of the Levels of Care
and such aspects of patient progress as enhanced self-organization.

I am actively supporting further clinical investigation. I believe it is
essential to conduct ongoing research to further understand NSA’s mode of
action. This will advance our knowledge and improve the quality of service
we can provide to the public.

I have clinically dedicated myself to furthering the knowledge of the
biological links which will help us express a greater range of our
humanity. I believe this will help us make healthier choices for ourselves,
be to be a more compassionate, vital, creative, self aware, and responsible
human culture. I believe that by optimizing the individual’s biology, NSA
will facilitate positive transformation on a global scale, changing the
world a spine at a time.

Published in The Chiropractic Journal September, 2000