What Is BGI?

Bio-Geometric Integration (BGI) is an understanding of chiropractic philosophy, science, and art developed by Sue Brown, DC. In the traditional understanding of chiropractic, the body is exposed to natural destructive forces and stresses. When you are unable to adapt to these forces, your body subluxates. A subluxation is a condition in which the bone is not in its normal position and creates interference in the nervous system. This nervous system interference reduces the activity of downstream organs, which will predispose you to disease and eventually kill you. Sounds great, right? Personally I think this model is outdated, incomplete, and frankly a little threatening.

BGI uses the potential energy theory of subluxation. When you have a new experience, it puts your system into a heightened state of chaos. You can then either integrate the experience and learn/grow in the moment or you can store it in your body as a subluxation and integrate it later at a better/safer time. Under this lens, the subluxation is not a threat but a normal function of the body that has a purpose. It is a tool for you to adapt, learn, grow, and evolve when you are capable. It is a pretty clever thing that your body does; however, it is not completely without repercussion.  To understand how it can be unwise to just carry them around indefinitely you must first have some understanding of the tensegrity of your body.

A tensegrity system is any system that is made of rigid components and elastic/flexible components arranged under tension in a manner that creates form independent of gravity. It is impossible for a tensegrity structure to be affected by a force in only one part. If any part is affected, so are all of the others. Your body just so happens to be an example of one of these structures. 

When you are subluxated, the shape of your tensegrity system is distorted. This distortion affects the function of you body, possibly down to the cellular level (read Donald Ingber’s, MD, Ph.D work on mechanotransduction). As the subluxation is integrated during an adjustment, the tensegrity system is allowed to release the potential energy that was stored in the subluxation and return to its normal configuration. 

This changes chiropractic from a wrestling match between me and your spine to a conversation through force input. Sometimes this force resembles a traditional adjustment; other times, it is a light contact on an area of rapport or a gentle push or pull on the fascia or muscle.