A colloid is a substance or structure that sometimes behaves like a solid and sometimes behaves like a liquid. The Dynamic Colloid Fluid model envisions all aspects of the body—muscle, bone, blood, organs—as essentially colloidal in nature. In other words, this model sees our body’s tissues as capable of dynamically shifting from a more solid state to a more fluid state and back again.
While this may seem like a purely conceptual analogy or metaphor for the intrinsic motility of the body’s organs that is associated with a state of good health, it is actually a physiologically demonstrated fact that even bones, often thought of as rigid, exhibit plasticity.
Recognizing the Colloid Fluid Model in Existing Modalities
Many healthcare providers—and body workers in particular—may recognize parts of this model, albeit within the specific context of their modality of expertise. Body workers may recognize this truth in working with the musculoskeletal system; neurologists may recognize this in working with the neurological system; and so forth.
The Colloid Fluid Model (CFM) can even be recognized in modalities that are less physical in nature, but rather psychological and mental. For examples, stress can trigger the flight-or-fight response, which has strong physical implications. Those healthcare providers who are skilled in more than one modality will inevitably recognize that the knowledge and skill of one modality complements the knowledge and skill of another.
For more detail on the Colloid Fluid Model (CFM) – here is a Case Study
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
The body is a single organism, and we recognize that while each body system has its own task, it does not work within a vacuum, devoid of influences by the other body systems. Indeed, the impact of a state of distress in one part of the body will inevitably negatively impact another part. Thus rigidity in one area—often the result of trauma or disease—will inevitably impact that of another.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) in addition to the extracellular matrix is the communication highway in the body that influences and regulates the colloidal nature of the body. In other words, the ANS itself is impacted by external forces or an imbalance of the body as a whole, and will by extension impact the processes that it influences and regulates. In this way, we recognize that subtle changes in the ANS can have a profound impact on the CFM and thus impact the body as a whole.
Manual Regulation Therapy (MRT)
Manual Regulation Therapy (MRT) is the synthesis of all the modalities and understanding that I have acquired through my training in a variety of therapies. These including manual, body and mind therapies, and biological and energy medicine. MRT is evidence-based medicine, and has been validated through monitoring of Heart Rate Variability (HRV), which is widely recognized measure of autonomic function.
MRT is based on the following premise:
1. The human body behaves as a colloid fluid structure, existing in a constant state of flux, moving between viscoelastic and viscoplastic properties, on every level, whether micro or macro, local or systemic.
2. The ANS both influences and is influenced by the colloid nature of the body.
MRT begins with a body scan (motility test), which is an assessment to find increased levels of rigidity in the organism. The body scan is guided by the extracellular matrix, the communication highway of our bodies, as well as other indicators. Once the primary locations of rigidity are identified, we use these areas as an entry point into treating the patient’s system, moving in and out of modalities that are best suited to relieve the rigidity in that system. As the rigidity is released and or motility restored , we move to the next region of rigidity.
It is imperative to understand that at any one time or place in the system, we may be manipulating micro and macro aspects of the organism, reducing sympathetically charged areas that have led to micro-macro levels of inflammation, stasis and toxicity. Because the human being is an organism, it uses a collection of stimuli to reorganize around its maladaptation(s) in order to reach homeostasis. In the case of dysfunction or disease, the stimulus is the lessened functionality of the impacted system. In the case of MRT, it is the manipulations and information the body receives from our work.
MRT recognizes the human being as a whole, single organism that is impacted by endogenous and exogenous stressors both traumatic and subtle. Treating the system as a whole through MRT often provides a more significant impact than treating using individual modalities. This does not negate the importance of system-specific therapies for acute diseases and disorders, but rather complements them. Indeed, when patients reach an unsatisfactory level of maximum medical improvement using allopathic and individual therapies, s/he often experience a significant shift using MRT. By influencing the ANS, MRT either allows the body to work toward an ideal homeostasis on its own, or to allow the positive influence of acute treatments.
