![]() When we put a shock wave into the spine, we look at both the force that returns and how fast that force is returned. Thus, these people's spines resonate differently than normal spines do. "People with back pain, whether it's spinal joint dysfunction or subluxation, disc degeneration, arthritis, or other problems, have spines that function differently than people with healthy backs. Colloca told me when the test was complete. "The main thing we're looking for is the association between the spine and the surrounding muscles," Dr. The data on stiffness and electromyography were sent to a signal converter, which recast the data in digital terms and shuttled it on to a computer manned by Dr. Attached to my muscles were electrodes that measured the energy produced by the corresponding muscular reaction to the thrusts. The Activator was equipped with two sensors to measure load and acceleration to calculate effective dynamic stiffness. The feeling was similar to getting flicked on the back by a strong finger. Colloca applied electrodes to my skin on either side of my L5 and 元 vertebrae and began systematically firing a consistent amount of force into my spine with the Activator. This is the first time chiropractic has been involved in studying the effects of zero-gravity on the stiffness of the spine, and it seems like we may have an important role to play there."įirst, there were the spinal tests to complete on the students who would go up in the KC-135, which is why I found myself face-down on the examining table. Fuhr, president and founder of NICR, explained to me, "NASA is very concerned with the issue of rehabilitation surrounding people who stay in space for very long periods of time. Fuhr, both of Phoenix, Arizona, in diagnosing and treating spinal dysfunction through assessing spinal stiffness via an Activator instrument linked to a computer. Keller had worked with the chiropractors from the National Institute of Chiropractic Research (NICR), Drs. ![]() Tony Keller, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UVM, discussed a possible side-project related to the NASA trip: What if an Activator instrument was used to measure the stiffness of the students' spines before and after experiencing zero-gravity? Wouldn't such a study be of great interest to NASA, which is building its program around space flights of longer and longer duration?ĭr. Our experiment involved a complex and exquisitely designed piece of machinery that would record the activity of fruit flies in zero gravity.īut before we left for Houston in March, Arlan Fuhr,DC, Chris Colloca,DC, and our faculty adviser on the NASA trip, Dr. The program is an innovative outreach effort that allows nearly 100 teams of college students annually to conduct scientific experiments - designed and built by the students themselves - in zero-gravity aboard NASA's KC-135, an aircraft normally used for astronaut training and hardware testing. "We" included a half-dozen representatives of the mechanical engineering department at the University of Vermont (UVM) - four undergraduates, a graduate student and a faculty member - and myself, an accompanying journalist, who were participating in NASA's 1999 Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program. We took turns lying face down on an examining table in a south Houston motel room, electrodes and wires bristling from our backs, as a chiropractor systematically pinged our spines with an Activator. It was Thursday evening, the night before our first flight aboard the NASA aircraft that would introduce us to the wonders of weightlessness.
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