ZONE THERAPY--FOR DOCTORS ONLY.
We grind and grit our teeth during paroxysms of pain. When we bump our
shins against a rocking-chair that has taken point of vantage directly
in our path, immediately we clasp the offended shin.
In the days before the blessed era of nitrous-oxide and local
anesthetics, when the muscular dentist leaned toward the door with our
pet tooth in the firm embrace of shiny forceps, we helped him to the
utmost by gripping the arms of the chair with vise-like clutch. This
maneuver seemingly had no more connection with tooth extraction than
have the effulgent rays of the moon upon the pumpkin crop. But we felt
our duty, and we did it.
When fury and anger sweep us in their red flame, and gentle, familiar
aspects of nature take on the hue of blood, we clench our fists until
the nails are driven deep into the flesh. In the first shock of the
agony of bereavement, or during those cruel dragging hours when we are
adjusting ourselves to living with our hearts torn asunder, we clasp
our hands in frenzy.
For ages we have been doing these things because they are natural and
apparently inevitable. We did them automatically, without knowing why.
But now we know we do them because they are instructive and scientific.
We do these things involuntarily and automatically because they relieve
pain or nerve tension--because they produce a form of analgesia, or
pain-deadening, similar to that which follows the injection of water or
some anesthetic solution into a sensory nerve.
Six years ago I accidentally discovered that pressure with a
cotton-tipped probe on the mucocutaneous margin (where the skin joins
the mucous membrane) of the nose gave an anesthetic result as though a
cocaine solution had been applied.
I further found that there were many spots in the nose, mouth, throat,
and on both surfaces of the tongue which, when pressed firmly, deadened
definite areas to sensation. Also, that pressures exerted over any bony
eminence, on the hands, feet, or over the joints, produced the same
characteristic results in pain relief. I found also that when pain
was relieved, the condition that produced the pain was most generally
relieved. This led to my “mapping out” these various areas and their
associated connections, and also to noting the conditions influenced
through them. This science I have named zone therapy. It is somewhat
complicated in many of its aspects, but I shall try and make it as
clear as may be. I would emphasize, however, that to master it requires
long study and patient application.
In zone therapy we divide the body longitudinally into ten zones, five
on each side of a median or central line. (See Figs. 1 and 2.) The
first, second, third, fourth and fifth zones begin in the toes and end
in the thumbs and fingers, or begin in the thumbs and fingers and end
in the toes, if you prefer it this way. For instance, the first zone
extends from the great toe up the entire height of the body, including
the chest and the back, and down the arm into the thumb. The other
digits are related to their particular zones, in like manner.
The tongue is divided into ten zones. Pressure on the dorsal (top)
surface of the individual zones on the tongue affect the corresponding
anterior (or front) sections of zones everywhere throughout the body.
But firm pressures on the tongue, continued for several minutes, affect
both back and front zones. The hard and soft palate (forming the roof
of the mouth) and the posterior walls of the pharynx (the back of
the throat) and epipharynx (where the back of the nose and throat
join) are divided in the same way, and posterior pressure or contact
affects posterior sections of zones; while anterior pressure or contact
affects anterior sections of zones. Traction (or pulling with a hooked
probe--see B, Fig. 11) on the soft palate in the epipharynx affects the
anterior zones, and traction on the anterior pillars of the fauces,
(pillars in front of the tonsils) affects zones one, two, three, four
and five, especially in arms and shoulders in the posterior sections of
zones. Pressure on the anterior surface of the lips and the anterior
surface of the anterior pillars of the fauces affects the anterior
surface of all zones. Pressure on the posterior surface of the lower
lips affects the posterior sections of all zones.
Pain in any part of the first zone may be treated and overcome,
temporarily at least, and often permanently, by pressure on all
surfaces of the first joint of the great toe, or on the corresponding
joint of the thumb. Should the pressure be limited to the upper surface
of the great toe, the anesthetic or analgesic effects will extend up
the front of the body to the fronto-parietal suture--where the bones
join on top of the skull. They will also extend across the chest and
down the anterior surface of the first zone of the arm and thumb, and
often to the thumb side of the index finger. Should pressure be made on
the under surface of the great toe, the effects will extend along the
first zone in the sole of the foot and up the back of the leg, thigh,
body and head in that zone to the above-named suture; also across the
back and down the posterior surface of the first zone of the arm and
thumb, and frequently the thumb side of the index finger.
Firm pressure on the end of the great toe or tip of thumb will control
the entire first zone. Firm pressure on the tips of the fingers or
toes control individual zones. Lateral or side pressure on thumbs and
fingers or toes will affect lateral or side boundaries of the zones
pressed, and also transverse extensions to nostrils, lips and ears.
A limited amount of anesthesia may often be established by pressure
over any resistant bony surface, in any zone compressed, and often the
mere momentary contact with the galvanic cautery, or pressure with
a sharp-pointed applicator, or with the thumb or finger-nail, will
produce the same result. Contacts, especially with aluminum combs or
pointed instruments, may be momentary, if frequently repeated, but
protracted contacts are often necessary.
Prolonged pressure with an aluminum hair comb is fast becoming a
popular method, but similar pressures with the nails of the thumbs and
fingers are likely the method Nature intended. Pressure with bands
of elastic, metal, cloth, or leather on the fingers, toes, wrists
and ankles, as well as on the knees and elbows, are often useful in
overcoming pain in an individual zone or group of zones. If these
pressures are resisted by pathological processes elsewhere in the
zone or zones, pain is sometimes excited. In other words, if there
is an abscess or some active inflammatory condition present,--as in
middle-ear trouble, pressure often aggravates or stimulates the pain to
renewed endeavors. It usually however, overcomes the pain momentarily.
Zone pressure has, for this reason, become a diagnostic factor of
great value in disclosing hidden pus conditions or inflammatory
processes--particularly in the roots of teeth, the ears, appendix,
ovaries, or in other organs.
Pain anywhere in any zone may be overcome more quickly by pressure with
an applicator, or with cautery contact at certain points throughout the
corresponding zone or zones in the mouth, pharynx, epipharynx and nose;
but the finger and toe pressures may be relied upon very often. What
applies to one zone applies to all.
Pressures average from one-half minute to four minutes or longer,
depending upon the susceptibility of the patient.
Heat or cold waves in varying degrees, depending upon the solution or
instruments used, may often be dispatched to the extremities from the
mouth, nose, etc., and similar waves of heat or cold will manifest
themselves in the mouth, nose and pharynx of susceptible individuals
from pressure or contact on the extremities. The most susceptible
patients will describe them accurately. For instance, if a cotton
tipped probe be dipped in camphor solution, or alcohol, the patient
will describe the sensation reflected along the particular zone pressed
as “cold.” If in nitrate of silver, or trichloracetic acid, he says it
is “hot.”
The majority of patients say that, while they are unable to detect
these sensations--only extra-susceptible individuals have this
faculty,--their pain is disappearing, or has already disappeared.
Patients who are most susceptible to pressure or contact will trace
heat or cold from an individual hair of the head, or an eyelash, to
the margin of the finger-nail or toe-nail, and if a hair or eyelash
be quickly pulled out, the sensation of numbness is often quickly
registered beneath the finger-nail or toe-nail of the invaded zone.
But to give these delicate results the subjects must be very
responsive.
Pressure or contact upon the occlusal, or biting, edges of the teeth
affect the innermost parts of practically every bone in the body. We
believe that the teeth, being the most accessible, are the natural
guardians of the bones throughout the body. The heat waves from the
application of a fine point cautery contact on the biting edges of
the teeth, are dispatched through the centers of all bones, and their
therapeutic, or curative effect is disseminated through the bones and
tissue in the zones treated. Naturally, the therapeutic effect is less
marked as the surface of the body is approached.
Pressure or contact on the anterior surface of the teeth affects the
anterior surface of the bones in the anterior sections of bones, and
to a greater or less extent the tissues of the same zones in the
corresponding sections. Pressure or contact on the posterior surface of
the teeth affect the posterior surface of the bones in the posterior
sections of zones treated, and to a greater or less extent the tissues
of the same zones in the corresponding sections.
An asset not generally recognized in normal occlusion of a natural
set of teeth is the ability of the patient to relax practically every
part of the body through firm, biting pressure for two or three
minutes on all surfaces of the upper and lower teeth. In this manner
pain may frequently be relieved in any section of a zone, or group of
zones, throughout the body, and occasionally even anesthesia may be
induced through firm occlusion of the teeth for two or three minutes
in these zones. This is at least one reason why all the teeth should
be preserved, if at all possible, and why normal occlusion should be
brought about if it does not already exist. If one be deprived of
the third molar teeth, for instance, his ability to prevent, relieve
or overcome pathological conditions in the fourth and fifth zones is
restricted; and this naturally applies to the various individual zones
or group of zones where teeth have been extracted.
You would hardly believe that offending corns or warts or bitten
finger-nails, where inflammatory processes have been excited, may be
responsible for rheumatism or neuritis, but we are daily proving such
to be the case.
Toe-nails and finger-nails must be respected and as well taken care
of, for health’s sake, as any other section of the individual zones.
There is not a section of a finger-nail or toe-nail that may not affect
(under stimulation or pressure) the most distant parts of the body.
Also, it might be of interest here to note that while enough pressure
is good, too much is mild murder. This can be testified to by all who,
by means of new shoes, foolishly apply constricting pressures to their
toes. There ensues, after the lapse of an appreciable length of time,
a condition made up of equal parts of bodily weakness and nervous
irritability--an actual physical and spiritual fatigue--relieved only
by removing the pressure--in other words, by relieving zone pressure
inhibition.
Tight belts, corsets, or collars will develop similar, or even worse,
effects, inasmuch as their influence embraces not only the undue
irritation of the nerve zones, but also the constricting influences
upon glands, blood vessels and internal organs.
All zones must be free from irritation and obstructions to get the best
results. For instance, if there be pain in the head, chest, abdomen, or
extremities in one or more zones, it may be relieved or quite overcome
by pressure on resistant surfaces anywhere in the zones affected. If
the pain be relieved for a few moments only, and repeated pressures
do not overcome it, it is safe to assume that the pain is due to some
abnormal pressure or irritation, as gas, pus, impactions, necrosis,
etc., somewhere in a zone or group of zones, which demands medical or
surgical interference.
We are repeatedly called upon for the theory of zone therapy. Many
theories are interesting but not conclusive, and rather than be obliged
to retract theories, we are not going to advance them, except very
superficially, at the expense of clinical facts. It is certain that
control-centers in the medulla are stimulated, as has been suggested,
but I believe that it is shock more often than stimulation. Some
theorists have pointed out, perhaps rightly, that “these functions may
be carried out by the pituitary body (a ductless gland at the base of
the brain) through the multiple nerve paths from it.”
We know that we induce a state of inhibition--a state which prevents
the transmission of the nerve impulse from the brain--throughout
the zone where pressure is brought to bear. We know that when this
inhibition of irritation is continuous, many pathological processes
disappear. We are certain that lymphatic relaxation follows pressure,
and the lymph stimulated to flow normally in its channels.
The theory advanced by Dr. Bowers: “that inasmuch as there are
ultra-microscopic bacteria--bacteria not seen through even the
highest-powered lenses,--it is more than likely that in the light of
this work there are ultra-microscopic connections analogous to those
we call nerves,” may contain some elements of plausibility.
Let the physician or the dentist, who ascribes these phenomena to
suggestion, attempt to relieve an aching, left incisor, for instance,
by pressing the little finger of the right hand of his patient, or
exercise his persuasive powers on a throbbing molar by pressing the
thumb of either hand. He will find himself up against a stone wall, so
far as results are concerned, for only by exerting proper pressure, on
the proper zone or zones, for an adequate length of time, will the pain
disappear. Anticipating such contentions, and to avoid the merest hint
at suggestion, we have purposely refrained from giving many patients
any idea that we were even contemplating the relief of pain, and the
first and only suggestions have been from the patient. He will tell
that he experienced pain in his jaw, eye, small of back, knee, foot, or
shoulder before pressure was made on his fingers, teeth, or elsewhere,
and will ask, “where has the pain gone? Have you done anything to
relieve it?”
Pathological conditions from irritation in the nose, epipharynx,
pharynx, mouth, vagina, rectum, etc., may be responsible not only for
annoying local manifestations, but for obscure pathological changes in
the most remote sections of the body; and their course can usually be
traced through an individual zone or group of zones. There is not an
existing pathological condition that cannot at least be relieved, and a
large proportion can be cured by zone therapy.
This shows how necessary it is that the physician and surgeon should be
capable of diagnosing and treating disease in all parts of the body,
especially if his practice be limited to the country, where he may be
unable to consult with specialists. If the pathological condition he
has treated does not “clear up,” the case should be referred to the
specialist or dentists, for, to secure results, all parts of the zones
or group of zones must be free from obstruction and irritation.
Zone therapy demonstrates the co-relation of all parts of the body,
also the manner in which pressure or contact upon certain zones is
effective in the relief of pain or disease.
Diagnosis of the cause of pain may be worked out quite perfectly over
or through any zone or part of zone. If a patient complains of pain,
and indicates that the right eye is involved, and you overcome the pain
by pressure on the front of the right index finger, it is absolutely
certain that his disturbance is excited by congestion or irritation in
the anterior section of the zone; but if it be necessary to look to the
palmar surface of the index finger for relief the cause is certain to
exist in the posterior section of the zone or zones.
We have never suggested this work as a panacea, but finding it
helpful in the treatment of human ills, we consider it an asset to
our knowledge of medicine and surgery, and have been glad to offer it
gratuitously to physicians, surgeons, and dentists, and to all who can
make use of it in the relief of afflicted humanity.
[Illustration: Valens Metronomic Interrupter (Style D)
(For Producing Dr. White’s Pulsoidal Current)
FIG. 33.]