Whiplash

The whiplash syndrome usually comprises a severe limitation of life quality. It often occurs after a traffic accident or a severe fall.
Unbalance, limited head rotation, and neck pain are the main symptoms. Injury of the neck's neuromuscular spindles seems to be at the origin of this syndrome. This injury disturbs the proprioceptive balance of the body.
The strategy we have put into place for the last 30 years has been to compensate this proprioceptive unbalance by reinforcing proprioceptive information on others body's territory. Active prisms are very effective on this syndrome. We can see results in just a few minutes after applying the prisms. Unbalance is the first item to disappear followed by neck pain and head rotation limitation.

More Symptoms of PDS

Agoraphobia, claustrophobia, space perception difficulties, false sensation of movement.

Consequences in everyday life:

Patients don´t like shopping in large commercial areas or using elevators.

They would rather use roads than highways to drive to their destinations (which seems a paradox).

They don't feel comfortable crossing large squares if there is not a monument in its center.

They show difficulties while parking their cars.

They have a false sensation of rearing movement while in stopped cars (despite no movement of other cars next to them).

Patients grind their teeth during sleep. This is due to a loss of control of the muscles of the mouth. The brain has the wrong information and believes the muscles are relaxed in excess. It then sends a neurological output to contract them. Some patients can´t open their mouth properly and have problems eating solid food.

PDS SYMPTOMS

PDS Symptoms are the direct consequency of a dysfunction of the proprioceptive system.

Symptoms are multiple because proprioceptive system is one of the widest systems of our body.

We can identify 7 main kinds of symptoms:

1- Muscular Pain



This includes headhache,migraine,neckpain,chestpain,spinepaine,limbspain,sciática (due to compression of the sciatic nerve by the piriforme muscle)



2-Unbalance



This includes, vertigo,dizziness, disequilibrium



3-Neurovascular Symptoms



This includes, palenesse of the face, cold but sweated hands even in Summer, Reynaud Syndrome.



4-Sensorial dysfunctions



This includes, perception deafness,auditive retarded perception (people need more time than usual,to understand what speakers are saying in spite of a good auditive acuity),footplantar sensation of pain but without lesion, skinhyperalgia, false sensation of rear mouvement in stopped cars.



5-Neuropsychic symptoms



This Includes agorofobia,claustrofobia, orientation difficulties,tiredness,depression non responding to antidepressive drugs,Anxiety.





6-Learning dificulties



This Includes dyslexia,disortography,disgraphy, lack of attention,hyperactivity.





7-Wrong perception of the body and space



This includes innermouth biting, unexplained falls down, collision against tables,chairs doors and others objects.



There are also digestive symptoms (nausea,vomits,alternating obstipation and diarrea)

Vision and Dyslexia

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Ophtalmology, and the American Association of Certified Ortoptists, they all have stated that vision problems are not the cause of primary dyslexia.
We most definitely agree with this statement as they are completely right on this item. The cause for DYSLEXIA is faulty perception produced by faulty proprioception. What these institutions are ignoring is that it is possible to correct a proprioceptive dysfunction by use of the secondary visual pathway as a neurological pathway to reach the brain.
They do not yet possess the know-how to prescribe active prisms because this option is still not part of their technical background.
They know how to prescribe passive prisms for correction of eye deviations but they don't know how to prescribe active prisms to manage the proprioceptive system.
This is a specific technique which must be learned separately.
The prisms we are using are neither passive prisms nor yoked prisms. We have been using this technique for the last 30 years with very good clinical results because our prisms are not aimed at correcting anything in the eye. They send only new visual information to correct the proprioceptive dysfunctions.

Active Prisms

There is a slow neurological system that is proprioception-based. It mainly receives information from the body but it also receives some information from the outside. The latter includes spatial visual information. The inside and outside information included in this system make a whole.
This system controls many functions in our body and when it is dysfunctional, patients show several symptoms like pain, imbalance and cognitive dysfunctions among others (see PDS Symptoms).
This system can be managed by modifying the information at the point of entry.
Prisms modify the spatial visual information and, through this, they can modify the functions of this neurological system. We have the know-how to modify the spatial visual information in the right way and to reestablish the correct functions of this system. Consequently, the symptoms disappear.
Prisms correct not only the distorted spatial information (before treatment, patients usually have some domestic accidents involving wrongly-localised chairs, tables and doors) but also many others symptoms of PDS.

Feet Proprioceptive Information and Shoes

The feet are prepared to receive information from the ground and to send it to the brain. This information is important to produce the brain mecanisms that keep the body in a correct stand-up position.
Shoes may distort this information. One of the most important sources of information in this matter has its origin on the big toe. If you observe a pair of usual shoes, the area corresponding to the big toe only touches the ground if the individual is running, impairing the feet of its source of information while one is standing, walking normally and/or sitting. This fact amputates the information to the brain and it distorts its output to regulate the positional muscles. This may be a factor to produce PDS and all its symptoms.
In order to prevent this situation, we need to wear the correct shoes. The shoes we propose are flat at the big-toe level and have a little depression on the inside to reinforce the big-toe support and allow the toe to be paralel to the sagital plane.
Postural Backpain has been shown to usually reduce or disappear when wearing this kind of shoes.

Note: there are some types of backpain that are not considered Postural Backpain. Nonetheless, close to 90 per cent of all back pains are postural backpain. A differential diagnosis must be performed in all cases.

WARNING

THIS WEBSITE CONTAINS NEW CONCEPTS.

IT IS JUST USEFUL FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO SPEND MORE THAN JUST 10 MINUTES VISITING IT.

NEW CONCEPTS NEED TIME AND ATTENTION TO MATURE AND BE INTEGRATED BY THE READER.

FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTENT, WE ADVISE TO BEGIN WITH OLDER PAGES.

Learning Disability II

If an intelligent child can't learn because his perception is blocked by the proprioceptive system what should be the most correct thing to do?
Insisting in learning techniques and prescribing drugs? Or unblocking his perception by correcting the proprioceptive system?
Our strategy consists in correcting the proprioceptive system first. After this, learning techniques have the opportunity to be fully effective. At this point, we are only using them in severe cases as a supplement and to reinforce our results.
Results are obtained short-term, which is a great advantage when comparing to the classical methods. Our patients are happy because they start succeeding in school faster and in a sustainable way and our therapists are happy as well because they finally obtain higher rates of success. This leaves more time to control their patients' clinical evolution and opens the possibility to treat much more patients.
Again, we emphasise that we must start the treatment by correcting the proprioceptive system. Otherwise, the learning techniques could be a loss of time and money.
We consider that proprioceptive system management is the correct way to improve learning in learning disability situations.

Hyperactivity and Proprioception

Skeletal muscles have two kinds of fibers: slow and fast. Fast fibers are organized by segments and slow fibers are organized globally, designing a system. This system is part of the proprioceptive system and it works globally connected to it. In the case of a proprioceptive system dysfunction, slow fibers are blocked and don't work properly. Patients will feel tired and the brain will try to solve the problem by using the only fibers that are working properly: fast fibers. In order to do so, patients need to enter in hyperactivity. If we correct the proprioceptive dysfunction though, patients don´t need to enter in hyperactivity, they return to using the slow fibers and their activity becomes normal.

Learning Techniques for Dyslexia, YES or NO?

The aim of learning techniques is to increase the ability to learn through brain mechanisms that are not being used by students. From this point of view, they are helpful for everyone, dyslexic or not.
But are they good enough for dyslexics as an isolated treatment?
The answer is NO.
Those techniques are only helpful after proprioceptive treatment.
In the cases where they are used before proprioceptive treatment, the effort/results ratio is usually very poor. Students are losing time, money and opportunities. The sooner they begin the proprioceptive treatment, the sooner they will acquire normal reading abilities.

Drugs, Dyslexia, Hiperactivity, Depression

Metilfenidatum is the drug usually used to treat dyslexia's associated symptoms such as hyperactivity, depression, and attention deficit.
This drug belongs to the AMPHETAMINE GROUP.
Doctors who are prescribing these drugs, usually declare they don´t know the exact cause and physical mechanism of those associated symptoms.
Are they treating a disease or just hiding some symptoms with drugs?
Drugs may affect some entries of the proprioceptive system and they can modify its working mode. Some muscle-relaxing drugs and some vasodilator drugs can be effective. However, their effectiveness is limited in both time and intensity.
We consider that the correct way of treatment is to eliminate the proprioceptive dysfunction that is at the origin of those symptoms.

This kind of treatment is drug free.

Proprioceptive Symptoms

The proprioceptive system is the widest system of our body. It goes from the feet up to the head. In terms of depth, it comes from the skin up to the digestive tract. Proprioceptive receptors can even be found in the tongue and mucosae.
This allows us to understand why this system can show several symptoms among several parts of the body whenever it becomes dysfunctional.
Also, the parts involved are the weaker parts of our body. This is why the symptoms are not exactly the same in every person. However, the origin is similar and that is why symptoms that are quite different such as dizziness, pain or cognitive dysfunctions disappear when submitted to a standard treatment.
To eliminate the symptoms, we only need to correct the proprioceptive system's dysfunction.
In long-term and severe dysfunctions, extra help reveals itself to be necessary.

Dizziness

Dizziness is one of the symptoms of the PDS (Postural Deficiency Syndrome). Doctors and patients must be aware of this fact. Otherwise, they are risking doing medical tests that are completely useless. They're risking prescribing useless drugs as well, which sometimes have iatrogenic actions.
The only appropriate solution is to correct the proprioceptive system. This symptom disappears at once and it increases the patient´s life quality. The technique is the same we are using for the others symptoms of PDS.

Chronic Tiredness

Tiredness is normal after periods of activity. This symptom usually disappears after pausing. However, there are some kinds of tiredness that don't disappear after pausing. With some of them, it is possible to detect organic problems (metabolic, degenerative, tumoral, malformation, heart and lung problems, etc.). However, there is a kind of tiredness where nothing is detected, the proprioceptive chronic tiredness.
In this case, the tonic muscle fibers remain in stress because their mechanism to relax is blocked by the proprioceptive system. The consequence is chronic fatigue. Tests for proprioceptive dysfunction are highly positive in these cases.
If we correct the proprioceptive system, tiredness disappears at once.

Eyes and Proprioception

The direct proprioceptive pathway in the visual system begins at the oculomotor muscle. To have a correct visual information on the position of our body and the objects we are seeing, we need information about the objects and about our eyes position. The information on the objects is carried out by the retina and visual pathways. The information about the eyes' position is carried out by proprioceptive pathways from the eye muscles. However, these two structures are not linked at eye-level but at brain-level.
Active prisms can modify the proprioceptive dysfunction at brain-level using the vision to reach the brain.

Shoes and Proprioception

The feet have important proprioceptive captors in their structure. They can inform the brain about the position of the body even with your eyes closed. To maintain the information from the feet correct at all times, shoes must be made according to main rules that replicate the position of bare feet. It is a hard task for shoemakers because usually they lack the proprioceptive knowledge to do so.
If we pass a sheet of paper underneath an usual shoe, we verify that the sheet of paper usually advances up to a 1/3 of the foot. The big toe being the guiding toe for the standing and walking positions, this means the big toe is completely deprived of its proprioceptive function.
Proprioceptive shoes must respect this physiological condition.
We are building proprioceptive shoes according to this condition.
Wrong proprioception leads to back pain, unbalance, cognitive disturbances including dyslexia and to the other symptoms of Postural Deficiency Syndrome (PDS).
To correct the symptoms of this syndrome, we need appropriate shoes among other techniques for treatment. These shoes are also required for prevention, not just for treating.
Inappropriate shoes could be a factor of aggression to the proprioceptive system and be harmful to human health.

Why?

Why put together UNBALANCE, PAIN and DYSLEXIA?

It seems nonsense to put together 3 completely different symptoms. However, this is just an apparent nonsense.
In fact, these 3 symptoms are linked. They are the consequence of a proprioceptive dysfunction and they belong to a same syndrome called Postural Deficiency Syndrome (PDS) and all of them respond to the same type of treatment.

Pain, Posture and Proprioception

Pain is a neurological information to the brain from receivers saying that something is wrong in the body. This information is unpleasant and stimulates the brain to reestablish well being. To reestablish the well being, the brain must recognize the origin of the pain. In posture, the origin of the pain is muscle contracture. However, the brain receives the information saying that those muscles are relaxed because the proprioceptive system that informs the brain about the muscle tonus is disturbed. The solution is not to prescribe analgesic drugs to eliminate the pain. The solution is to reestablish the normal proprioceptive functions. Afterwards, the brain can recognize the origin of the pain and send an order to relax the muscle.

Sciatica

Sciatica is often considered to have its origin at the inter vertebral disc, which compresses the nerve. However, we must consider one other kind of sciatica. This kind of sciatica has its origin in the compression of the sciatic nerve at the level of the pyriform muscle at hip level. In the first kind of sciatica, pain is associated to loss of strength at the homolateral leg but in the second kind of sciatica pain entirely dominates the symptoms.
The treatment is quite different in each of the two kinds of sciatica. In the first case, drugs or even surgery are needed. However, for the second kind we only have to correct the proprioceptive system. Doing so, we obtain a relaxation of the pyriform muscle, the sciatic nerve is no longer compressed and the sciatalgia disappears.

Vertigo and Unbalance

In a situation of vertigo or unbalance, we must verify if there is any problem with the inner ear or with the cerebellum. This is definitely important but it is not all.
There are many cases where both inner ear and cerebellum are in good conditions but vertigo and unbalance persist.
For a better understanding of these situations, we must consider the proprioceptive system dysfunction as a cause of vertigo and unbalance. In this case, the elimination of the proprioceptive dysfunction leads to the elimination of vertigo and unbalance.
Otherwise, we are forced to use drugs for which the target is not the disease but the symptom.
In the standing position, there are hundreds of information coming from the proprioceptive captors that contribute for that body position (neuromuscular spindles, baroreceptors, tendinous receivers, etc.). The proprioceptive system may become dysfunctional and the solution for treating vertigo and unbalance is to reestablish its normal function.

A Bit of Science

Dyslexia is usually seen as a disease. It would be a disease if it had its origin in a specific organic characteristic or in a cromossomic disturbance. Authors refer many origins concerning dyslexia and each one refers a different origin. What we are talking about is very clear. In every pathology, there is often two part. One is the biological condition of each person and the other is the agent which produces the disease or the symptom. In DYSLEXIA, we are looking at the research about the origin of dyslexia as just a way to search for the predisponent factors.
The origin is a PROPRIOCEPTIVE DYSFUNCTION. The factors referred by different authors are factors which can't be changed. However, if we change the proprioceptive system, dyslexic people can become normal readers.
The facts that we have come across with do not allow researchers to withdraw the conclusions they have been referring to until now.
They must recognize they are searching for predisponent factors and not for causal factors.
Our technique can eliminate the causal factors of dyslexia by managing the proprioceptive system.

How the Active Prisms Work - a bit of science

Whenever we look at an object to our left side, the image captured by our retina arrives to our retinal cortex. On the other hand, when we are looking at an object at our right side, the image arrives to the similar place in our brain (the visual cortex). How do we know both objects are not in the same direction in relation to our body ?
Only the proprioceptive input sent by the eye muscles to the brain can help make the difference concerning gaze direction.
Egocentric localization perception is the basis to understand how active prisms work in Dyslexia, Vertigo or Muscular Pain. The mechanism of egocentric localization is integrated in the proprioceptive system. Prisms modify the localization and this produces a new input in the proprioceptive system. We can treat Dyslexia, Vertigo or Muscular Pain by managing the proprioceptive system using the visual entry of this system. This entry is not the classical retinocortical neurological pathway but the retinocolicular neurological pathway. The brain reacts to the new information carried by this pathway and sends a stimulus to the specific eye muscle in order to reestablish the former egocentric localization. This is accomplished by relaxing the muscle tonus.
Consequently, the neuromuscular spindle (muscle sensor) sends a new information to the brain by the trigeminal nerve. This new information enters the proprioceptive system and modifies its way of working.

Be Aware of Multifocal Glasses!

Some people have referred feeling dizziness or suffering from back/neck pain after wearing multifocal lenses. Some also referred having difficulties calculating spatial distances when going up or down the stairs.
Difficulty in going up or down the stairs is often thought to be related with the power of the lenses for near sight. The maximum power added for near sight in a multifocal lens is 3.50. This means that if the user uses the near focus by mistake, he temporarily suffers from a 3.50 diopters' myopia.
A 3.50 diopters' myopia does not cause difficulty in going up or down the stairs without glasses.
The reason for these symptoms must be related to the prismatic action of those lenses.
The solution is not to avoid multifocals but to eliminate the prisms that the factory is incorporating in order to get thinner lenses. Nowadays, this technique is not so useful as before for this prescription because the modern materials associated with the pre-calibration technique allows to obtain thin lenses.

How To Lay Down

The position in bed is very important for a good proprioceptive treatment. Pillows must be eliminated but the body position must be adapted in order to equalize the tonus of the skeletal muscles. This technique makes part of the postural reprogramming according to its author MD Martins da Cunha, H.

In this position, sleep is good, nightmares disappear and people don't wake up tired. The quality of the mattress is also important for a correct body position. It must be slightly smooth on the surface and very hard inside. There are two types of correct body position for sleeping. 

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

The Extremadura Teachers Group in Spain has been in contact with us for some years now. Finally, they have obtained the necessary help from us for a new concept in school furniture.
This kind of furniture is designed in order to increase the students' attention level and prevent learning disabilities that are linked to proprioceptive disturbances.

Learning Disability I

To learn properly we need 3 kinds of qualities:

Enough intelligence level;
Background knowledge to understand and;

PERCEPTION ABILITY

The proprioceptive dysfunction leads to perception disability.

If a person has enough intelligence level and enough knowledge to understand but he can't learn properly, we must take action in order to find out the proprioceptive dysfunction.

If this is the case, this is the only way to properly help this person.

Can my optician do the work?

When a patient goes to an optician and asks if he/she is able to prepare glasses with active prisms, the answer is usually YES.

If, instead, the optician was asked if he/she had ever received a specific training for preparing glasses containing active prisms, the answer would usually be NO.

Many opticians declare that preparing active prisms is the same as preparing other types of prisms, that there are not major difficulties added or special knowledge needed... They say.

Please note this:

Preparing active prisms needs a specific knowledge to ensure good results. It is not enough to put the prisms in the frame.

Please see The Optician and Active Prisms for a better understanding.