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The Epstein Model recognizes that the stress perceived by the body as a threat to survival will elicit a series of physiological responses (Selye, 1956). In this regard, it is proposed that the cerebral cortex frontal lobe diminishes the function of maintaining cognitive awareness of the endogenous/exogenous environment. It is further proposed that the frontal lobes do not establish a coherent and flexible sense of self; that is, establishing and/or modifying a somato-emotional response, or evaluating adaptive appropriate short and long term changes. 

The Epstein Model of Neural and Spinal Integrity proposes that stress physiology accounts for a variety of observable and/or somatic and visceral changes. These include facilitation of muscles and nerves, postural adaptations (such as a posture of defense; hereafter, referred to as defense posture), bony fixations, and vertebral subluxations. It is further proposed that Palmer's concept of multiple cord tensions, Korr's concept of the facilitated lesion, and the adverse mechanical spinal cord tension described by Breig are all similar names for the same or overlapping processes associated with stress physiology and defense posture.

The efferent response to facilitation is non-linear, that is, disproportionately large relative to the single stimulus which provoked the afferent bombardment. The tissues that are stimulated can promote a wide range of effects, including osseous misalignment that may over-stretch the dura and promote adverse mechanical tension within the cord. The tension may then serve as a stimulus to perpetuate the pre-existing state of facilitation. If osseous misalignment is produced as a result of facilitation, whether the facilitation is initiated by adverse cord tension or some other stimulus, a Class B (Facilitated) Subluxation is the result if the other components of subluxation are also present. The factors that contribute to the formation of the Facilitated Subluxation and their interactions are presented in items 1-9.

1. Whereas a primary component of a Class A Subluxation is articular distortion, a primary component of Class B Subluxation is adverse mechanical cord tension (AMCT). The concept of AMCT, pioneered and exhaustively studied by neurosurgeon Alf Breig (1978), is extensively documented. Breig identified a variety of phenomena effecting the spine and tension within the spinal cord. These findings are germane to the concept of a subluxation arising from spinal soft tissue insult as well as the Somatopsychic and Respiratory Waves (discussed later) associated with NSA. Brieg states:

a) "The spinal canal undergoes considerable changes in length between the extremes of flexion and extension, particularly in the cervical and lumbar regions. The