30 November 2006

The Body Electric

Connective pathways and communication

Complete health corresponds to total interconnection with clear free-flow of communication along the connective network of pathways which synergies the body's biological system. However, accumulated physical and/or emotional trauma impair these connections. When this happens, the body’s defence and repair systems become impaired and disease has a chance to take hold.

  (Oschman & Oschman 1995).

Circuitry

For the connective pathways to have free-flow of information we need to first consider the circuitry of the human body and how it communicates. 

Oscillations of the heart's and brain's electrical activity form a conductor that are propagated through the entire body. The main tissue that acts as a circuitry system is the peripheral nerves  and the perineural connective tissue cells that constitute more than half of the cells in the brain. Perineural cells encase every nerve fibre, down to their finest terminations throughout the body.The perineural system is a DC (direct current) communication system reaching to every innervated tissue. (Oschman)

Other tissues in the body are ensheathed in continuous layers of connective tissue: the vascular system is surrounded with perivascular connective tissue; the lymphatic system with perilymphatic connective tissue; the muscular system with myofascia; and the bones with the periosteum. 

Conceptually, this highway of connective tissue forms what is known as the 'Living Matrix'. It encompasses all of these connective tissue systems, including the cellular and nuclear scaffolds within them.

The Human DC Field Pattern

R.O. Becker's research into both animals and the human body revealed that the electrical potentials on the skin and inside the body reflected the arrangement of the nervous system. In humans the entire head and spinal region, with its massive concentration of neurons, was strongly positive. 

The three specific areas of greatest positive potential were the: brain, the branchial plexus between the shoulder blades, and the lumbar enlargement at the base of the spinal cord. Also recorded was a midline head potential that suggested a direct current flowing from back to front through the middle of the brain. 

Measuring from these three points of positive potentials the readings grew increasingly negative as measurements were taken further away from these collections of nerve cell bodies; the hands and the feet.

Becker's research also revealed that when experimenting with a limb fracture, healing around the breakage formed a positive zone and then between the 5th and 10th day reversed its potential back to negative as the fracture began to heal.

Tissue and Cell Frequencies

All the above connective tissues along with every other cell in the body have unique frequencies in order to identify one cell or tissue (i.e. skin, bone, nerve, tendon) from another. This is no different from ringing a friend on their mobile telephone and only speaking to that person rather than being connected simultaneously with millions of users connected to the vast network.

Each tissue or cell in the body functions at a specific frequency with a specific purpose. Looking at the genetic make-up of the body if every cell genetic makeup is uninhibited and has order then the body can function effectively and efficiently on all levels. 

Breakdown in Communication

The body like other items of circuitry which we buy requires balance, order, structure and flexibility to function: effectively, efficiently and preventatively.

As we begin to appreciate the delicate and specific way that the body needs to function without dis-order we can start to begin to understand what happens when it all goes wrong. Circuitry requires the body to be wired up in a way that allows all biological systems to communicate 24/7 autonomically and voluntarily. 

When we are exposed to physical and/or emotional trauma a disruption is caused along the connective pathways in a specific region of the body as well as to the surrounding and other pathways leading all the way to the brain. For as long as there is trauma and the related memory patterns then dis-order, physical pains and physiological deterioration will stay in place.  

A simple analogy is to that of the traffic lights failing at a busy central London junction during peak hours. Not only will it cause chaos to those drivers in the immediate vicinity but before long it is causing backups to the wider area as well as a nightmare to the controllers let alone the commuters, businesses, families and every other person who is reliant on someone stuck in the traffic. 

We also appreciate that what affects a person on a physical level will be connected on a psychological level either prior to (i.e. the cause of) or subsequent to (i.e. the result of) the physical manifestation. The relationship between the physical and emotional is well documented through the study of Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI).

From the viewpoint of PNI, trauma causes: chaos, rigidity, inflexibility, distorted perception,  irrationality of mind and ultimately a breakdown in communication and dis-function to both healing and performance mechanisms. Caught in this loop, the body will bring about further adaptation and will no doubt manifest further or harsher symptoms. 

Injury Repair

The perineural system is a direct current communication system that establishes a ‘current of injury’ that controls injury repair. The current of injury is generated at the site of a wound, and continues until repair is complete. One function of the current is to alert the rest of the body to the location and extent of an injury.

The current also attracts the mobile skin cells, white blood cells, and fibroblasts that close and heal the wound. Finally, the injury current changes as the tissue heals, and therefore feeds back information on the progress of repair to surrounding tissues. Becker’s research demonstrated that the current of injury is not an ionic current, but a semiconductor current that is sensitive to magnetic fields (the Hall effect). Semi conduction takes place in the perineural connective tissue and surrounding parts of the living matrix.

|t has been suggested that the current of injury is not confined to the skin, but will arise in any tissue, epidermal, vascular, muscular, nervous, or bone, that is injured. Which systems are activated will depend on the depth and severity of the injury. This perspective is leading to a detailed explanation of how the body coordinates its responses to injuries of all kinds.