cord. Under physiological conditions with the column flexed the cord is in a state of normal pre-tension. On this will be imposed any tension of pathological origin. The total tension induced may well lead to neural dysfunction, and then the involved nerve fibers in the cord or nerve-roots may be said to be over-stretched. The most significant consequence of over-stretching nerve-fibers is impairment of their conductivity." 

Breig also states in the Preface to his text:

g) "The primary source of meningeal and neural tension is the lengthening of the spinal canal on forward and lateral flexion. Normally, the soft tissues adapt freely to these skeletal movements; but in the presence of space occupying lesions involving the spinal canal or located in the cord itself, and when there are sclerotic or fibrotic lesions that restrict the mobility or extensibility of nervous and meningeal tissues, the tension may be much increased. Even when the pathological lesion appears to be exerting an essentially compressive effect, the resulting deformation leads to a local increase in tension; it is the effects of this raised tension that appear to be of primary neurophysiological significance."

h) "The clinical implications of this principle are manifest particularly in cervical spinal cord disorders that have arisen as the result of acute or chronic damage to the tissue - ranging from sudden trauma to degenerative lesions. The cervical part of the spinal canal normally undergoes greater changes of length during postural movements than do other regions, especially the thoracic. However, while tension is transmitted in both directions - to the brain stem and to the cauda equina - the pathological effects are manifested chiefly in the lower region."

i) "... excessive tension in the cord may produce measurable changes in motor, sensory and autonomic function. These are accentuated whenever the cord is stretched, and may be reversed, and the symptoms relieved, if stretching can be eliminated and the affected tissues are kept relaxed."

j) "I have found that many neurological disorders in which no mechanical component has ever been suspected do in fact have their origin in tension in the nervous tissue ..."

k) "...analyses have shown that tension in the nervous tissue that gives rise to symptoms is characterized by focal deformation of its complex three-dimensional fiber network as seen in histological and microangiographical sections. It was evident that an important cause of functional disturbance both of the axis-cylinders and the blood vessels lies in the reduction in their cross-sectional area resulting from tension. By slackening the nervous tissue the tension is relieved and the conductivity and circulation are restored."

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