The quest for more complete care and sustainable results has come to a new conclusion with the evolutionary creation of a multimodal treatment system that utilizes synergistic functional neurology. This 3-dimensional assessment and treatment system is Trigenics® Myoneural Medicine. With neurology as the key, many doctors now using Trigenics neuromanual methods are claiming it to be the missing element of treatment for which they have long been searching.
Simply defined, Trigenics is a neurological treatment system designed to correct aberrant sensorimotor and energetic function.
From a more detailed perspective, Trigenics is a complex neurological treatment system, which resets the way the brain communicates with the body to instantly relieve pain, increase strength and restore neurokinetic function.
Dr. Frederick Carrick, DC, DACNB, PhD, founder of the American Chiropractic Association diplomate neurology program, gave his perspective with the following quote: “Trigenics is consistent with the principles of neuroplasticity and corticoneural re-organization of the sensorimotor and somatosensory systems.”
According to Dr. Carrick, “It is likely that attenuation of pain from Trigenics treatment is due to combined activation of mechanoreceptors with segmental inhibition of nociception as well as activation of the higher level brain-based descending inhibitory control mechanism. In its most simple form, Trigenics uses multimodal environmental stimulation based upon a motoric window of change.”
With the Trigenics system, a multitude of treatment techniques/modalities are applied at the same time during specific resisted moments to cumulatively affect the peripheral and central nervous systems with resultant brain-based pain relief and improved functionality. As we all quite obviously know, the brain controls all activities of the body, including movement and pain. It makes good sense, therefore, that, if we are to sustainably affect the behaviour and/or perception of tissues and bodily structures that we must first correct aberrant brain communication with procedures that affect the controlling neurology.
From a Western neuromusculoskeletal perspective, Trigenics is designed to do this with the purpose of correcting aberrant sensorimotor and neurokinetic function locally and globally. This, in turn, is meant to set the stage for sustainable correction of aberrant biomechanics, using mechanical soft tissue or osseous manipulative methods when needed. In addition, specialized applications of Trigenics may also be used to treat systemic conditions from an Eastern meridian medicine perspective to correct and balance aberrant neurosomatic energetics.
In understanding the premise of Trigenics’ treatment, it is important to be clear that the purpose of Trigenics is to affect the neurology rather than the histology or osteology. Trigenics is absolutely NOT a soft tissue treatment technique or an osseous thrust manipulation procedure. In the last few years, there has been an increased awareness of manual soft tissue treatments designed to affect aberrant histology through the mechanical breakdown of myofascial adhesions. Because of this and the fact that, during Trigenics procedures, the patient is interactively moving, it has sometimes been incorrectly confused with popular myofascial-release soft-tissue techniques, such as Active Release Technique. Also, because some of the Trigenics assessment procedures involve muscle strength testing and myomeridian work, it has been incorrectly confused with energetic treatments such as Applied Kinesiology. Certain Trigenics procedures involve length testing and neurological enhancement of muscular facilitation and, as a result, it has been confused with Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) stretching exercises. Questions have been posed by others who incorrectly draw comparisions of Trigenics with everything from Matrix Repatterning to Chi-gong to Autogenic Hypnotherapy to origin-insertion muscle-activation procedures, such as Touch-For-Health and others.
At the outset, it is important to note that, Trigenics is probably, in some small part, all of the above and also quite absolutely none of the above. This paradox can only be explained by the fact that Trigenics is a brain-based multimodal treatment system designed to synergistically and directly affect neurological communication, This makes Trigenics an evolution in care, as it is an entire treatment system which combines a multitude of treatment techniques/approaches with new advances in enhanced functional neurology, using the patient interactively to generate reflex pathways.
Direct treatment of aberrant neurology has been long overdue and greatly needed, as mechanical osteologic and histologic treatments have not completed the full picture of care. It makes good sense that if one removes the arthrokinetic fixation or myofascial adhesion, but there is a higher center involved, one must reset the neurology first. As such, it is believed that Trigenics is the first of its kind in this new field of corrective, direct neurological treatment.
In some cases, Trigenics works as a stand-alone system of care, although it is often used as an integral and critical component in a multidisciplinary approach to condition correction. From a manual medicine perspective, osseous manipulation, soft tissue techniques, and active rehabilitation may still be needed to achieve complete recovery and correction. All other treatment techniques or methodologies are enhanced with the initial inclusion of Trigenics as a team player in complete care.
History
Application of Trigenics has restored vitality and hope to many patients who suffer with seemingly intractable pain syndromes and has enabled many doctors to deliver superlative care with less stress in practice while also increasing their income.
It has been 30 years since I first started chiropractic college. Fifteen years into my practice, I was quite busy and relatively successful seeing an average of 100 patients per day. In spite of this, I began to feel that something was missing for me in the way I practiced and the treatment methodologies I was using. I was not able to correct every condition as effectively as I was led to believe I could, within the paradigm and philosophy of a relatively “straight” subluxation based practice. Certainly, most extremity conditions still required additional intervention outside of spinal adjusting or joint manipulation and many spinal conditions improved temporarily but seemed to recur over time.
In the early 80’s, I endeavored to explore various mechanical Western and Eastern medicines, with good results in many cases. One thing I soon discovered was that, when I applied variations of some of these techniques together at the same time, results were often better than when I applied only one. This led me to begin to understand that what I was searching for, and what was still missing in my treatments, could not be found in any one technique. It could only be found in the word synergy. Synergy is what creates the effect of all great formulations. Everything powerful in the universe works on the principle of synergy. Our productivity as human beings, at its highest level, is always synergistically interactive and interdependent, rather than singularly independent. All of the parts and systems of our bodies work synergistically and interdependently. The type of dialectic, non-linear convergent neurological interaction we observe with the effects of Trigenics defines synergy, wherein “the outcome is considerably greater than the sum input.”
Although often effective in treating specific conditions, complementary para-chiropractic treatments basically had the patient as a passive or active recipient rather than an interactive participant. It made inherent sense that the effect of a multimodal treatment system designed to create a synergistic summative result would most assuredly be much greater than if only one modality/technique were applied. (For instance, to increase the power required to run a 1000-watt, large multi-speaker stereo, I had to add a couple more batteries that could be hooked up together for a summative effect.) And so, postulating from a synergistic perspective, I wondered what would happen if a multitude of treatments, which all directly affect the nervous system, were applied simultaneously with the patient by being an interactive participant in the treatment procedures. What if one could get the patient to elicit a barrage of neurological reflexes using biofeedback with resisted movement exercises which were altered and enhanced by application of simultaneous nerve-sensor manipulations by the doctor? This thought occurred to me and I endeavored to find out what the outcome and effect of such a synergistic treatment would be.
Methodology and Technology Development
And so, the original essence of Trigenics began in the early 1980’s with the current treatment system, incorporating enhanced functional neurology.
Because of my knowledge of energetic Eastern medicine through my acupuncture training, I also was led to create an adjunctive system of assessment and treatment using Traditional Chinese Medicine methodologies, which could be used with Trigenics to treat a multitude of general bodily conditions. (This is now referred to as “Trigenics Myomeridian Medicine,” and also enables treatment of systemic conditions.)
Trigenics, as a neurologic and energetic treatment system, was thus born. Continued work and experimentation with a broad range of conditions yielded positive results in many areas and with many different and normally quite complicated and difficult conditions. Lost movement and ranges of motion would suddenly be restored. Weakened muscle strength and power would be very significantly increased. Chronic muscle “knots” that a practitioner would normally have little or no success in releasing would literally melt within seconds. Patients were reporting that they were experiencing a degree of pain relief and functional restoration, in minutes, that no other manual therapies were able to achieve. Cumulative treatments led to sustained improvement and correction. In many cases where the conditions presented were not localized but “systemic” or throughout the body, application of the Trigenics Myomeridian procedures also yielded excellent results.
As a Certified Chiropractic Rehabilitation Doctor, I found that the above findings were particularly applicable in the rehabilitation of personal injuries. Specifically, patients’ “return to pre-accident status” was being attained much more rapidly than ever before. Sports Medicine was of particular interest to me. In this special area, I discovered that I was not only able to attain accelerated results in treatment of sports injuries, but I was able to prevent injuries other than trauma from occurring due to training. I also discovered that specific applications of Trigenics were able to measurably augment and amplify athletic performance and achievement. Almost all the athletes I treated using specific Trigenics muscular strengthening and lengthening procedures were achieving “personal bests” in their respective sports. An entire specific system of assessment and treatment was, thereafter created to augment athletic performance for all sports using Trigenics. This is now referred to as the “Trigenics Sports Power Augmentation.”
Also of immense importance is the fact that a systematic neurokinetic assessment and treatment system has now been developed which can prevent sports injuries from occurring. This is accomplished with Trigenics neurokinetic assessment procedures conducted at regular intervals to detect functional imbalances and potential weak links in the neurokinetic chain, which would result in synergistic dominance and injury, if heavily stressed through competitive sport. Also, it appears, clinically, that specific treatments applied immediately prior to the actual performance or participation will enhance speed and power specific to that sport. This is accomplished by simply applying the Trigenics lengthening and/or strengthening procedures to each muscle that needs to be strengthened or lengthened in that sport to increase overall power and speed specific to the activity required. This is big news, as it represents a breakthrough in the performance enhancement field without the use of drugs.
Trigenics was first applied in elite sports circles in 2003 at the world games in Canada with members of the Canadian athletic team. Subsequently, it has been used with athletes of all professional sports, including basketball, football, hockey and baseball. In 2004, it was used at the Athens Olympics as an official treatment with the Estonian Olympic team on 2 of their athletes who won medals at the games. It was used at the World Athletic Championships in Finland in 2005 and will be at the 2006 winter Olympics in Italy.
The word “TRIGENICS” was created from a combination of two words: Triad and Genesis to describe this hybrid treatment system. Triad means “comprising of three” and the meaning of Genesis is “mode of formation” or “origin.” What makes the Trigenics myoneural treatment system distinctly different is that its mode of formation uniquely and synergistically combines a multitude of treatment techniques for a cumulative effect otherwise not attainable, with simple uni-modal or even more involved bi-modal techniques.
Over the ensuing years, Trigenics procedures were systematically mapped out for the entire body. In 1996, I began writing the Trigenics Procedures and Theory Manuals, as I realized that a school would be needed to pass on the knowledge of this remarkable treatment system. This facilitated formation of The International Institute of Trigenics (IIT) in 1998. Following fulfillment and approval of the necessary accreditation prerequisites, the Canadian government subsequently recognized the Trigenics Institute as a Certified Educational Institution in 1999.
In 2005, National University of Health Sciences granted the Trigenics Institute post-graduate affiliate status for acquisition of CE credits from completion of the Registered Trigenics Physician program.
Plans were soon formulated to commence the first Trigenics course for health practitioners, which was held in the fall of 2000. The RTP designation (Registered Trigenics Physician/Practitioner) was, subsequently born. The RTP course must be successfully completed within 1.5 years.
It is important to note that there is no one technique or treatment which is better than the others. All are effective for treating different conditions and all have their place in the healthcare network. It is never a matter of “better” but simply a matter of which treatment or combination of treatments is most effective and/or needed to treat each different type of condition. It is commonly accepted that joint manipulation is often required in the treatment of aberrant arthrokinetics and osseous dyskinesia. It is also known that treatment of myofascial adhesions often requires application of a soft tissue technique.
Combined application of manipulation and soft tissue treatment is often required in conditions in which both dyskinesia and myofascial adhesions co-exist. However, it is also now apparent that few, if any, neuromusculoskeletal conditions exist without associated aberrant neurology on some level. Direct corrective neurological treatment, therefore, is essential if one is to achieve full correction and sustained results/recovery.
Conclusion
There are innumerable forms of manual medicine and physical therapy. Many have existed for hundreds or even thousands of years. With rapid advances and discoveries in medical knowledge and technology over the last century, many new techniques have evolved. Hybrid treatments have also been created combining aspects of some procedures with others to provide an enhanced outcome. Trigenics Myoneural Medicine is a synergistic neurological treatment system, which has evolved from current concepts and discoveries with respect to etiology and treatment. It is believed that the discovery of how to use interactive, multimodal manual procedures for the corrective reorganization and rerouting of neurological transmission may well lead to the creation of a new therapeutic field called neuromanual medicine. Although Trigenics is the first in this field, it is probable that many will begin to incorporate this methodology into their practices and treatment triage, once the remarkable therapeutic benefits and necessity of such a treatment system is clearly recognized.
Canadian-Estonian chiropractor, Allan Gary Oolo Austin, DC, DNM, DAc, CCRD, CCSP®, FTIMM, is the originator of Trigenics. Over 500 doctors and therapists throughout North America, Australia and Europe have now taken the Trigenics RTP program. For more information, visit
www.trigenicsinstitute.com, call 1-888-514-9355 or email [email protected].
Dr. Oolo Austin will be speaking about Trigenics at The American Chiropractor Magazine Symposium in Panama, February 13-15.