INTRODUCTION

In the spirit of Erwin Schrödinger’s What is Life?, I offer this work not as a definitive thesis, but as an earnest exploration across the boundaries of chiropractic, mechanobiology, quantum physics, and neuroscience.

We have inherited from our intellectual ancestors a deep and enduring longing for unified, all-encompassing knowledge. The very word “university” reflects this aspiration, reminding us that, for centuries, the quest for universal understanding was seen as the highest aim of learning. Yet the explosion of knowledge over the past century has confronted us with a strange paradox: just as we begin to gather the pieces necessary to glimpse a more complete picture of reality, the sheer complexity and specialization of modern science makes it almost impossible for any single mind to hold it all together.

I see no other escape from this dilemma unless we forget the broader purpose of inquiry than for some of us to dare a synthesis of facts and theories, even if our knowledge of some elements is second-hand, incomplete, or imprecise, and even if doing so risks the appearance of folly.

This article weaves together strands from mechanobiology, quantum theory, and chiropractic principles into a coherent, if speculative, perspective on the vertebral subluxation complex (VSC). It is a gesture toward unity, inviting open inquiry rather than proclaiming certainty.

If I have strayed too far from the certainties of established science, it is not out of disregard, but from reverence for the mystery itself. The VSC, I suspect, will not yield its secrets to biomechanics alone, nor to any single discipline. But in the act of reaching across physics, neuroscience, depth psychology, and clinical practice, we may glimpse something truer than proof: a resonance, a pattern, a hint of unity. And perhaps that is enough to continue the inquiry.

DISCUSSION

The vertebral subluxation complex (VSC) remains one of chiropractic’s foundational concepts, yet it is contentious within broader medical and scientific communities. Traditionally defined as a misalignment or dysfunction of vertebrae that impairs nerve function and overall health,1 the VSC has been critiqued for lacking rigorous evidence. However, emerging insights from mechanobiology reveal it as a primary lesion altering neuronal transmission through cellular mechanics, potentially at quantum levels.2,3 While classical neuroscience views nerve dysfunction as emergent from electrochemical signaling, a speculative framework suggests that VSC may disrupt quantum phenomena in neural microstructures, influencing awareness, adaptation, and vital function.

This article explores the quantum basis of the VSC through mechanobiological models,3,4 quantum consciousness theories like Orch-OR (Orchestrated Objective Reduction), and interdisciplinary implications. By linking mechanical stress from subluxations to quantum events in microtubules, I propose a bridge between chiropractic adjustments and deeper physical reality.

What Is the Vertebral Subluxation Complex?

The vertebral subluxation complex (VSC) is a term used in chiropractic to describe a purported misalignment of the vertebrae affecting nerve function and overall health.1 It is a primary cellular, tissue, and anatomical lesion altering neuronal transmission quality and quantity, attributable to cell mechanics.2 Neuronal mechanotransduction—the conversion of mechanical stimuli into biochemical signals—has been extensively studied in sensory neurons, indicating that mechanosensitive ion channels are prevalent in the central nervous system.5,6

Displacement of any part of the skeletal frame may impact nerves, intensifying or decreasing their carrying capacity, creating aberrations sometimes referred to as dis-ease.1 Chiropractors adjust these displacements, particularly in the vertebral column, to remove nerve impingement or tension causing deranged function.1,7

Mechanical force affects physiological areas at the cellular level in nerve, cardiac, fibroblast, bone, and vascular cells².2,4 Mechanotransduction focuses on stress/stretch sensing, transducing mechanical force into biochemical cascades that control biological functions.3,6 In the absence of a universally accepted definition, research on VSC must examine underlying cellular dysfunction, with mechanobiology and mechanotransduction as key contributors to its histophysiopathology.2–4

Mechanobiology and Mechanotransduction in the Vertebral Subluxation Complex

Mechanotransduction in neural tissue is the process by which mechanical forces are converted into biochemical signals influencing neuronal behavior.3,6 Neural tissue responds to mechanical cues through the cytoskeleton, which provides structural support and impacts morphology and function.2 Changes in forces alter cytoskeletal organization, including microtubules, affecting ion channels, membrane receptors, neuronal excitability, neurite outgrowth, synaptic plasticity, and gene expression5,6

In the VSC, vertebral misalignment due to trauma, poor posture, inflammation, or visceral-somatic reflexes induces mechanical stress on tissues, including muscles, ligaments, intervertebral discs, and the extracellular matrix (ECM).4 This stiffens the ECM, limiting spinal motion and altering nerve microtubule function, leading to impaired nerve communication.2,3 The ECM surrounding the spinal cord and associated tissues acts as a dynamic scaffold, offering both mechanical support and biochemical signaling to neurons, astrocytes, and other glial cells. Stiffening of this ECM- often resulting from spinal cord injury (SCI), degenerative aging processes, fibrotic scarring, or persistent mechanical strain from vertebral subluxations- fundamentally shifts the tissue’s biomechanical properties. Measured in kilopascals (kPa), normal neural ECM exhibits soft, brain-like compliance (typically 0.1–1 kPa), but pathological stiffening can elevate this to 10–100 kPa or higher, creating a rigid barrier that impedes cellular adaptability and repair.6,8 In SCI, for example, activated astrocytes and fibroblasts overproduce ECM elements such as collagen types I and IV, fibronectin, laminin, and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs), culminating in a dense glial scar. This scar not only mechanically obstructs axonal regrowth but also chemically repels it through inhibitory molecules, perpetuating neural dysfunction and contributing to chronic conditions like paraplegia or neuropathic pain. (8.10) Chronic mechanical stress from subluxations, misalignments that restrict vertebral motion, further exacerbates ECM remodeling, leading to fibrosis and altered tissue homeostasis, where cells sense and respond to this rigidity as a pathological cue.9

Cells sense these changes through mechanoreceptors, triggering cytoskeletal adjustments via microtubules.3,6 Cells detect ECM stiffness primarily through mechanotransduction, a process that converts external mechanical forces into intracellular biochemical signals. Integrins, as key transmembrane receptors, bridge the ECM to the cytoskeleton, transmitting forces inward via focal adhesions. In spinal neurons, stiffened ECM engages integrins, inducing conformational shifts that activate focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and downstream pathways like RhoA/ROCK signaling. This promotes actin-myosin contractility, cytoskeletal remodeling, and influences microtubule (MT) dynamics, often stabilizing actin at the expense of MT flexibility.9,10 Key effects include:

  • Altered Neuronal Morphology and Function: Stiff substrates reduce dendritic arborization and impair growth cone advancement, favoring retraction over extension. In SCI models, this manifests as axonal dieback, where stiffened ECM prevents MT bundling necessary for axon elongation and mitochondrial transport, leading to energy deficits and synaptic loss.8,11

  • Microtubule Disruption: MTs, tubulin-based polymers, are exquisitely sensitive to mechanical cues. Stiffened ECM imposes tensile stress through the neuroskeleton (integrated actin-MT network), destabilizing MTs, altering their polymerization/depolymerization rates, and disrupting motor protein-mediated trafficking (e.g., kinesin for anterograde, dynein for retrograde transport). This can converge multiple inhibitory signals, diminishing synaptic efficacy and electrophysiological responses.9,10 Interestingly, MT stabilizers like paclitaxel (Taxol) counteract this by attenuating TGF-β pathways, reducing fibroblast infiltration and CSPG deposition, thereby softening the scar and promoting regeneration.11

  • Spinal-Specific Implications: Subluxation-induced stiffness causes chronic nerve root stretch, fostering ECM fibrosis and dysregulated reflexes. Forces propagate to the nucleus via the cytoskeleton, modulating gene expression (e.g., via YAP/TAZ mechanosensors) and potentially accelerating neurodegeneration or pain sensitization.8,9

This can lead to inflammatory responses, activation of cytokines, immune cell recruitment, nerve irritation, muscle spasms, and long-term remodeling.4 Altered mechanotransduction disrupts ion channels, increases sensitivity (e.g., allodynia or hyperalgesia), induces neuroplasticity, impairs synaptic communication, and contributes to central sensitization.10,12

Forces are transmitted via the ECM, which binds to cell membrane receptors like integrins, linking to the cytoskeleton. The lipid bilayer separates cells but contributes little to stiffness; microtubules provide morphology, communication, and rigidity². Microtubules, polymerized from α- and β-tubulin, have high bending stiffness and stability, differing from actin and intermediate filaments.2,3

Recent studies show mechanical stretch effects on neuromusculoskeletal structures, triggering repeatable action potentials, with implications for chiropractic.6,13

The Role of Microtubules in Neural Function and Quantum Processes

Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR), proposed by Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, suggests that consciousness arises from quantum computations within neuronal microtubules, orchestrated by biological processes. Unlike classical models, these quantum superpositions collapse via an objective, gravity-induced mechanism (Objective Reduction), producing discrete moments of awareness at around 40 Hz. This non-computable process aims to explain subjective experience, creativity, and free will, positioning consciousness as a fundamental feature of the universe rather than an emergent property of complex computation. Though widely criticized for assuming quantum coherence in warm, wet brains and lacking direct evidence, the theory has spurred research in quantum biology and remains a provocative challenge to materialist views of mind.

Microtubules, essential to the cytoskeleton, are cylindrical polymers of tubulin subunits. They maintain cell shape, assist transport, regulate division, and coordinate processes.2 Spreading from nucleus to membrane, they act as a central executive, routing proteins and signals.3 Structurally, microtubules form a double helix-like lattice of 13 protofilaments, echoing DNA symmetry.2 Their dynamic instability enables adaptation. In single-celled life, microtubules predated neurons, suggesting primordial intelligence.

In neurons, microtubules may contribute to consciousness via quantum processes, as per Orch-OR theory.14 Proteins like tubulin have a dual architecture: a digital outer shell for classical interactions and a quantum inner core with π-electron clouds from aromatic amino acids (tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine).14 These enable tunneling, coupling, and entanglement, forming waveguides in microtubules for coherent states. Mechanical stress from VSC could disrupt this, altering quantum coherence and nerve signaling.3 In VSC, altered mechanotransduction may collapse these states prematurely, impairing structural transitions, biochemical signals, and neural function.3,6

Quantum Mechanics and the Spine

The human spine, like the brain, involves complex signaling potentially beyond classical physics. Traditional views see spinal function through biomechanics, but quantum theories suggest non-local processing via entanglement in microtubules.15

Quantum consciousness proposes awareness emerges from superposition, entanglement, and coherence.14 Applied to VSC, misalignment-induced stress might decohere quantum states in neural microtubules, explaining altered proprioception, pain modulation, and autonomic effects from adjustments.12,15 Endorphin release, gate control, neuroplasticity, and cortical changes from manipulation may stem from restoring quantum coherence in microtubules.12,14–16

The Orch-OR Theory Applied to the Vertebral Subluxation

Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR), by Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, posits consciousness arises from quantum events in microtubules.14 Objective Reduction (OR) challenges Copenhagen: collapse is objective, due to spacetime instability from mass separation, governed by τ ≈ ℏ / E_G.14

In Orch-OR, neuronal microtubules host superpositions; orchestration occurs via tubulin’s quantum cores.14 Collapses are non-computable, explaining insight beyond algorithms. Recent updates provide experimental support, including quantum optical states in microtubules at physiological temperatures and spintronic coherence linking to memory and awareness.17–19 Connecting to stiffened ECM: mechanotransduction from rigid ECM alters MT tension and vibrations, potentially inducing decoherence- the premature loss of quantum superposition due to environmental “noise” (e.g., thermal or mechanical perturbations in warm, wet biological settings).10,17 In spinal regions, subluxation-stiffened ECM transmits aberrant forces, disrupting MT lattice harmony and quantum-optical effects like superradiance (coherent light emission) or delayed luminescence.9,20 This could desynchronize the orchestrated vibrations essential for OR, impairing quantum computations and thus consciousness, manifesting as altered sensory-motor integration, cognitive fog, or even broader awareness deficits.17,19 Anesthesia studies binding MTs to abolish consciousness without halting classical processes further support quantum involvement.18

In VSC, mechanical distortion may destabilize superpositions, causing aberrant collapses and disrupted nerve function.3 Chiropractic adjustments could realign, restoring coherence and objective reductions, modulating pain, enhancing proprioception, and balancing autonomic responses.12,15,21–23 The double-slit analogy illustrates how unobserved waves (quantum possibilities) collapse upon “measurement” (gravitational instability), akin to how VSC might force premature collapses in neural waveguides.13

Implications for Chiropractic Practice

If VSC has a quantum basis, adjustments restore not just mechanical alignment but quantum integrity in microtubules, alleviating altered mechanotransduction and promoting homeostasis.7,15 This supports holistic care, integrating exercise, nutrition, and stress management.24 Subluxation-Induced ECM stiffness could “detune” MT vibrations, reducing coherence time for superpositions and hindering OR, per chiropractic models viewing adjustments as restorers of “innate universal consciousness” flow through MTs. (25,26) More research is needed on quantum effects in spinal tissues, using neuroimaging and cellular studies to validate.13,21,22

Conclusion

The vertebral subluxation complex integrates biomechanical, neurological, and potentially quantum aspects. Mechanotransduction and Orch-OR offer a framework where mechanical changes, including ECM stiffening, disrupt quantum processes in microtubules, affecting nerve communication and health.3,14,22 Chiropractic adjustments may restore this quantum basis, underscoring spinal health’s role in well-being.1,7 Ongoing interdisciplinary research is essential for evidence-based advancement.