The following interview with Dr. Donald Epstein appeared in The American Chiropractor (TAC) in the September/October 1995 edition

TAC: How did you develop Network Spinal Analysis™ or N.S.A? 

DE: As I practiced, I noticed that some techniques worked better in some areas of the spine than others. Toggle worked in a certain way, S.O.T. in another, Basic, Diversified and so on. However, I also noticed that some adjustments didn’t work. For example, haven’t you ever set up to adjust a patient side posture and had lumbar musculature splint or resist being tractioned? Haven’t you set up for a cervical diversified maneuver only to have no osseous release? Consequently, I observed that the order of the segments adjusted was incredibly important. If performed in a particular sequence, the body was better able to process the adjustment - the adjustment results were incredibly enhanced. These discoveries were researched extensively in our field offices and were found to be repeatable and predictable

TAC: So Network isn’t a technique?

DE: I networked many existing techniques into a sequencing of adjustments. No more technique roulette - properly sequenced adjustments are more effective than an improperly timed technique or one that is not suited for that body. We’ve all given adjustments that have worked miraculously well. What we’ve done in Network is pattern out "miraculous" changes. We now know when, where and how to apply adjustive forces to consistently get exciting results.

It’s like chiropractic’s greatest hits all on one CD. It is dramatic. It is profound. It promotes the body’s natural rhythms, natural movements, and the natural unwinding of its own tension and interference patterns.

TAC: How is Network done?

DE: It’s based on classifying subluxations into two categories and prioritizing their correction so that the least amount of force can create the maximum effect. I want to find the most appropriate place, time, force, direction, and type of force application which will initiate the body’s own mechanism for self-correction. The goal is to have the body’s own self-healing capacities becoming more evident to that patient in both the chiropractor’s office and in their life. The Network protocol is applied through a series of levels of care where we find that as the spine and nervous system get healthier, patients become more involved in the health of their spine and nervous system and how it relates to their lifestyle.

TAC: What do you want to accomplish with N.S.A.? 

DE: I recognize that chiropractic is based upon detecting and helping the body correct mechanical tension and interference between the brain and the body (subluxations). Those subluxations which create the greatest spinal cord tension and spinal column distortion are the most damaging and are addressed first, with the least amount of force. Intersegmental subluxations are addressed later. As a matter of fact, most of the lumbar and thoracic segments spontaneously correct when the major cord tension subluxations are addressed in the specified priority system we use for evaluation and adjustment. Sometimes the corrections occur when the patient is merely set up for the adjustment.

TAC: How is Network Spinal Analysis™ different?

DE: In some ways Network is not very different because the results we’re getting are those that every chiropractor has experienced to a greater or lesser degree in his or her practice. It’s just that by using our protocol consistently you can make these occasional "miraculous" changes occur more consistently. We just want everyone to have their practices reflect more healing, more growth, and more success. If you study the latest scientific literature you’ll find acknowledgment of the physical, structural, neurological, psychological and spiritual changes associated with improved health. Perhaps that is uncomfortable to some D.C.'s who wish to remain musculo-skeletal symptom doctors, but they lose their discomfort when they start getting better patient results. At this centennial time, I see Network Spinal Analysis™ as a unifier of many of the seemingly divergent concepts in our profession. The great discoveries of D.D., B.J., Gonstead, Van Rumpt, Logan, Grostic, De Jarnette, Toftness, Harrison, Walker, Ward and others can be viewed as harmonious aspects of a unified system.

TAC: Can you give an example of your work? 

DE: Let me tell you about Arthur who came to my office in a lot of pain. His body was bent to one side. He was using a cane and he couldn’t even sit. I told him I understood he was in a lot of pain but I could do nothing for it, nor would I attempt to. I was going to help his nervous system to function more effectively. I found the interference needing adjustment in his upper cervicals and the results were dramatic. Within seconds Arthur’s spinal posture began to shift, he placed his cane on the floor and sat up comfortably. He then started speaking of his brother’s death in Vietnam. The second time I saw Arthur I adjusted another cervical vertebra and he reexperienced a fight he had with his father. His reaction was not solicited. It spontaneously came up when his nervous system became freed. When Arthur stood up he said, "The pain is gone". Within a short time, Arthur felt better than he had in years; his recurrent spinal problems stopped.

TAC: People criticize Network because of its emotional effects. We hear stories of people crying or emoting strongly after a Network adjustment.

DE: Chiropractors have always experienced patients who, after an adjustment, relive a car accident or other physical or emotional trauma and start to cry or laugh. That is because chiropractic promotes expression, letting the body/mind release its pent-up stresses. That is different from the medical model, which believes symptoms are bad and should be suppressed, and the emotional component of a person’s health can be ignored. I’ m surprised that there are doctors that are uncomfortable with the mind/body effects of the adjustment. After all, D.D. and B.J. both wrote quite a lot about this.

TAC: So chiropractic promotes expression?

DE: Yes! Along with natural healing arts that help the body to reconnect to its deeper centers such as homeopathy, classical acupuncture, and body work such as Craniosacral Therapy or Zero Balancing. Chiropractic has much in common with these systems. You see, to heal means to be made whole. Healing has nothing to do with whether or not a symptom or disease goes away. A person can have a disease and still be healing and becoming more whole as his or her physical, emotional and spiritual connections become greater. They might experience more pain, but sometimes the greatest healing occurs at times of the greatest symptom expression. Healing is not about feeling better. It’s about better feeling. The patient’s spontaneous expression of the release of tension and interference is a natural occurrence. In fact, when individuals express their deepest stresses they heal more deeply and more completely. The region that moves, and how it moves, is predictable, reproducible and consistent with the mechanical tension in the
system. Sometimes Chiropractors work too hard! We try to establish normal spinal curves using exercises or therapeutic machines. However, when the body’s own self-corrective mechanism is unleashed, expressing its vitalistic design, it begins to spontaneously re-establish its normal curves and range of motion, without using devices which have iatrogenic potential. We find that with this increased natural movement, there may be a release of tension and pent-up emotional stress.

TAC: Are these releases really chiropractic?

DE: These somatoemotional releases are not chiropractic any more than a bowel movement is chiropractic. They are processes associated with life itself.

TAC: Why is Network Spinal Analysis™ controversial?

DE: It may be controversial among D.C.'s who haven’t studied or experienced Network. I invite them to look at Network firsthand. Other D.C.’s are uncomfortable with how great and powerful the chiropractic adjustment is; they want only to treat musculo-skeletal problems.

Let’s be realistic: people will not be able to express their true health potential and will live shorter life spans for want of an adjustment. Isn’t that what we should be concerned with and not whether or not we’re politically correct? This profession was founded by those men and women brave enough to not be politically correct.

TAC: What do you say to those who only wish to treat musculoskeletal problems? 

DE: I’m not saying that’s bad at all. Those chiropractors do a lot of good and certainly save many people from surgery and drugs. If they study Network they’re adjusting effectiveness will increase and they’ll have happier patients and a more rewarding practice. They don’t have to buy into any particular spiritual or philosophical perspective to study Network.

TAC: You’ve said that healing is moving towards a vitalistic, holistic model? 

DE: The medical model that says symptoms need to be suppressed, the body is a machine, the mind doesn’t matter, etc., is extremely limited. The new paradigm of healing consciousness as exemplified by the writings of Deepak Chopra, M.D. in Quantum Healing and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind; Bernie Siegel, M.D. in Love, Medicine and Miracles; Bill Moyer’s Healing and the Mind; Robert Becker, M.D.’s The Body Electric; Hans Selye, M.D.’s The Stress of Life, and the emerging science of psychoneuro-immunology (PNI) is where the true advances in health care are going. We chiropractors can proudly tell the world, "We’ve been there all the time." Network is the future of chiropractic, and with it, chiropractors will assume leadership amongst the vitalistic, holistic practitioners.

TAC: Is there healing for the Network practitioner as well as the patient? 

DE: I think that’s one of the greatest benefits that doctors of chiropractic receive when they begin to use N.S.A. Not only are you awakening the deeper healing levels in others but, without even trying, your own healing is being awakened as well. The doctors start to see the deeper stress patterns within their beings and they begin to move towards their resolution. This doctor-patient interaction is basic harmonics. As you facilitate change, you too are changed in the process.

Of course, many individuals get involved in health care because they are seeking personal healing and they get burnt out if their healing is stifled. What I love about Network Spinal Analysis™ is that it can help awaken the doctor’s own movement toward health and wholeness and reignite his or her joy in practice.

TAC: Is Network involved in a research project? 

DE: Yes, researchers at the Medical College of the University of California Irvine, evaluated the many clinical results patients experience at Network Chiropractic offices. So far, the preliminary data is incredible. It shows patient quality of life improvement, greater awareness of their bodies, its movements and breath, ability to listen to their inner voice, enjoyment of life, adaptation to stress, adapting healthier lifestyles, and symptomatic improvement. But that doesn’t surprise me, I’ve worked with over 20,000 attendees at seminars and thousands of people receiving Network care. I’ve observed the processes that people go through in their healing, including my own. I’ve found that each person’s healing experience has certain attributes characteristic of different stages of consciousness. I’ve described this process in The 12 Stages of Healing (New World Library) which is in its third printing and being translated for European and South American distribution. It’s recently been included in the Doubleday Health Book ClubTM. Healing is achieved through many modalities, including chiropractic.

I never would have dreamed that I, as a chiropractor, would be lecturing to so many M.D.'s, psychologists and other health professionals about health. But aren’t chiropractors ideally suited to lecture on health? The medical model is expert on disease, not health, healing and wholeness. It’s natural that we should be doing this. I’m glad I’m in this position and I look forward to others in the chiropractic profession joining me.

TAC: Network has been getting a lot of press lately. 

DE: Yes, and it’s been very gratifying. Some of the magazines Network has been in are: Elle, Us, Shape, Fitness, Yoga Journal, plus the LA Times, Atlanta Constitution, and even the Journal of Veterinary Medicine and the ASPCA Journal. They’ve written about the physical, emotional, and life changes that Network practitioners are helping to bring about.

TAC: What do you say to doctors interested in Network Spinal Analysis™? 

DE: Do you want greater satisfaction in your practice? Do you want to be in awe of the body’s self-healing mechanisms? Do you want your patients to be in awe of your chiropractic care? Do you want to understand the different adjusting systems and use them in a unified manner? Do you want to be recognized for the real gifts you have as a chiropractor? Come to one of our Network Spinal Analysis™ seminars and start using these methods Monday morning. The great thing about Network is that you don’t have to make any great changes in your life. You don’t have to "believe in anything" nor is there any special equipment to buy. Just try it. Try it on your staff, your associates, and of course your patients. Your practice will experience a growth more profound than ever before. It’ll be more than just a quantitative increase in patient visits and
revenue; the quality of the healing experience will deepen and strengthen for both you and your patients.

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