By Dr. Joseph F. Unger, Jr. DC, FICS
How good do you want to feel? This is the question that all of us should be asking ourselves when it comes to our health and well being. We suffer from an array of discomforts and diseases that get little to no relief, despite spending substantial portions of our household incomes on health insurance, pharmaceuticals and surgeries.
The variety of theories and interventions to promote healing in the mainstream and alternative medicine disciplines are almost as numerous and diverse as there are people on the planet. It seems that different people need very different things to assure optimal healing. Nutrition, structure, exercise, energy flow and many other factors are all essential ingredients in our overall well being. The ultimate question is: How to know when to do what treatment?
In the early 1900’s a brilliant physician and engineer set out to answer that question and made it his life’s work. Major Bertrand De Jarnette, D.C. developed a system of healing known as Sacro Occipital Technic (SOT). Dr. De Jarnette truly understood the importance of diet, nutrition, structural well being and nervous system function. Over his lifetime he authored over 140 books and thousands of pages of research articles. The system that he developed integrates many of the essential facets of health and healing.
All parts of the body must work together and the most successful approaches to healing assists in coordinating all of the parts. The SOT system incorporates clinical nutrition, reflexology, organ manipulation, chiropractic and Chiropractic Craniopathy, as well as other treatments in an attempt to provide the best response.
Dr. De Jarnette also believed it essential to discover accurate tests and measures to determine what a person truly needs and what will benefit their healing process the most. In SOT there are systems of indicators designed to evaluate structural problems, cranial issues, or pain-related dysfunctions as well as muscle and other treatments. This system provides a comprehensive approach to evaluating the totality of the human condition.
SOT is a specialty in chiropractic. After undergraduate college and ten semesters of the chiropractic doctorate program, a minimum of two more years of study is required to become certified in this technique. The most advanced certification levels in SOT require a minimum of ten years of post-doctorate training including written and oral examinations, papers and journal publications.
We are most fortunate to have a high concentration of certified SOT practitioners in St. Louis. Future articles will explain some of the systems of healing unique to SOT.
Learn more about SOT at www.youtube.com/atriumhealthservices or www.atriumhealthservices.com.