Case Study 1- Chiropractic, Emotions, & Spirituality
Just now I finished an appointment with a patient I’ve been seeing for about a year in a half. She was originally referred in by her mom, who I see on a monthly basis for wellness treatments.
This patient is 45/F, chief complaint of right hip, right knee, and right sided neck and throat pain. Says that she hears a clicking in the knee when she walks downstairs, and hears a grinding in her knee when walking upstairs. Admittedly, she’s about roughly 30-40 lbs overweight, unmarried, and no children (this is relevant for later). She also notes that her right hip clicks when she flexes it while lying down. Mind you, none of these clicking or grinding sounds does she claim hurt her as she performs the movements. She had also noted that back in September 2026 she had this feeling in her throat that she was being strangled. She had gotten blood tests and an ultrasound that had not revealed any relevant findings to correlate with this feeling she was having. She had also mentioned that she had gotten a cold the week before our visit and that she was going to acupuncture and getting cupping and gum sha care on her upper back and neck.
As a whole aka holistically, there are a lot of contributing factors as to why these issues are presenting themselves. I decided to proceed with Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET) first. NET is based on the idea that unresolved emotional stress or trauma can become "trapped" or manifest as a physical response in the body, which practitioners call a Neuro Emotional Complex (NEC). We use applied kinesiology to test muscle strength while the patient focuses on a specific emotional trigger or memory. The process aims to locate the specific "original event" or age when an emotional stress response became stuck. The practitioner gently then stimulates specific acupuncture points (without needles) or chiropractic adjustments while the patient holds the thought or statement. The goal is to prompt a physiological shift that helps the nervous system process and let go of the autonomic stress response.
Upon going through NET on her neck, we identified several NECs within her neck when she held it and we performed the muscle testing. We ended up finding the emotions of 1) anxious, 2) anger, and 3) resentment that she associated with her mother that were part of this complex. Upon “clearing” those NECs with her holding her forehead (frontal cortex/amygdala) and her various areas (solar plexus, liver, and gall bladder areas), she mentioned that she had this exact memory of when she was younger that her mom had said that since she was fat, she would never be able to attract a man into her life. Since that time, she has felt that she’s never been able to sustain a relationship, get married, and thinks that she can’t have children. So, what we had her do was close her eyes and think back to the memory of when her mom said that statement. Once again, the emotion of “resentment” showed up upon doing the procedure, as well as the concept of “lost”. And upon clearing those 2 NECs, we also identified that she felt that she was not deserving of love. We broke it down to the idea that she was in a state of “worry” that she would never be able to find love.
After clearing those emotional complexes, we evaluated her posture, range of motion, and specifically her popliteus muscles on both knees since she came in with the complaint of knee pain. The popliteus is a small, flat, triangular muscle located deep at the back of the knee joint, forming the floor of the popliteal fossa (the hollow pit behind the knee). The popliteus muscle acts primarily to "unlock" the knee joint from a fully extended position and assists in knee flexion and stabilization. Its specific mechanical action depends on whether the foot is planted on the ground (closed-chain) or lifted in the air (open-chain). It turned out that both popliteus muscles were inhibited aka weak upon performing the muscle tests.
Luckily, being an Applied Kinesiologist, I knew about a “fixation” that existed in this manner causing both popliteus’s to be inhibited . There is a complex known as a “fixation” whereby 2 or more structures are involved with restricted movement between them, and there is a specific bilateral muscle weakness pattern demonstrated. In the case of the bilateral popliteus, it related to a mid-cervical fixation (Between C3-C6). Upon adjusting that segment with a high velocity low-amplitude traction maneuver, immediately when we re-tested each popliteus muscle, each one tested facilitated aka strong. Amongst doing a few other structural and muscle corrections, the patient reported to feel much “lighter” and was able to walk and bend her knee without the restriction of the clicking and grinding she had been dealing with.
This patient also happens to be born on January 12th, aka Capricorn season in Western/Tropical Astrology. In Medical Astrology, Capricorn not only rules the knees, but it also rules the gall bladder. In NET, the gall bladder is associated with emotions of resentment, anger, frustration, galled, and stubborn. This patient had also said that she had dealt with a cold 1 week previous to our appointment in addition to her knee dysfunction.
What makes this interesting is that when people’s “Vital Force” has been deficient or weakened through whatever factors in the world, you will notice in patients of that particular zodiac sign that they can show pain or dysfunction in that related area to their natal Sun zodiac sign. In her case: Capricorn- Knee and gall bladder issues. When she mentioned she had a cold, immediately I felt that her who vital force had been weakened, so I of course checked her chief complaint areas first. As an Applied Kinesiology doctor, we have to see with eyes that see, and hear with ears that hear. She had felt resentment from her mother at the age of 12, and now as a 45 year old, she’s had many “unfinished” emotions, causing her to repress her true authentic feelings, and those various issues have transmuted in her physical form.
By restoring your cosmic form within your physical form, it’s ultimately the best polarity of balance that one can harmonize their entire Being. And with this patient, it came full circle between her physical pains in her neck/hip/knee, her various NECs, as well as several fixated vertebrae that needed a proper adjustment, and honestly somebody just to be there to hold space for her.
We ultimately are spiritual beings living a human experience, and in cases like this, it shows how the integration of all processes works together. And by working with all those processes together, we can ultimately have the most optimal lives possible.