CHAPTER 17.

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.