CLINICAL INSIGHT:
GERD (Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disorder) - The Burning Question - Why?

I sometimes wonder what percentage of television advertising is comprised of commercials for remedies for heartburn and acid reflux. I suspect it represents about 5-10% of commercial air time. Why is this?

My first experience treating this condition was, as usual, by accident. A healthy male presented to my office with chronic low back pain. I proceeded to assess him and found some of the common issues relating to pelvic and visceral disturbances, which I quickly and easily released using gently pressure and recoil. Easy on me and him!

He returned within a week on a scheduled visit to report that his back was much better and, by the way, the severe heartburn he had been suffering with for over nine years had also vanished. Well, I responded as I often do, that I will gladly take credit for anything that is going well and will deny any responsibility for any negative effects. He laughed at my humor, but was seriously very appreciative of the change in this distressing condition. He had not mentioned this problem to me, assuming there was nothing that could be done, based on what he had been told by his M.D. and numerous other specialists. He had pursued the usual, endless round of medications, some of which helped slightly, but never fully relieved the problem.

This turn of events obviously had me wondering about what I had done to alleviate this condition. I reasoned that whatever structural imbalance I had corrected had served to also restore normal function to the esophageal hiatus. It made sense to me that this must have been the case since his condition responded so quickly following treatment.

My impression is that restoration of structural balance always tends to restore balanced tone and tension in all of the tissues of the body. Asymmetrical tension on the diaphragm may result in a distortion of the esophageal hiatus, which may prevent it from closing completely. The stomach is designed to handle highly acidic fluids, whereas the esophagus is not. I believe now, based on over a hundred cases of successfully treated GERD, that this condition is not, as is often touted by tile pharmaceutical ads, "too much acid". It is simply put: acid in the wrong place. Normalizing the tone and normal function of the esophageal hiatus and therefore the cardiac sphincter, will usually result in a resolution of this distressing and often debilitating condition.