Question
QUESTION: Hi I work offshore and smashed my face into a support system for the tug I work on. I have seen a doctor and had many xrays but they seem fine. I have severe back pain to where its very difficult to bend over especially while holding something. The doctors assistant had me bend diagonally to the right and the placed her hand on my mid back and said "Oh I can feel it!". They want me to come in for an MRI. I am wondering what this pain in my back could be since my wife has since felt what she felt. A large lump a bit bigger than the palm of her hand right next to my spine, quite painful. I was diagnosed so far with cervical strain/sprain and lumbar strain/sprain. Any thoughts of what is wrong with me?

ANSWER: Jeffrey,
Yes, you have an Upper Cervical Subluxation that needs to be corrected in order for you to most efficiently get well.  This is when the top two bones of the neck get misaligned and interfere with the nervous system function. When there is an injury the bones of the spine and the muscles that run along the spine are affected and there can be much discomfort until the vertebrae get re-aligned properly by a Specialist.
This is not something that a Medical Doctor has any training in so it is no wonder to me that they are saying everything is fine, no, everything is not fine,  Just because they can not find the problem does not mean that the problem is not there, it just means that they are inadequate in locating and correcting the cause of your trouble.
What you need to do is locate an Upper Cervical Specific Doctor of Chiropractic and go there for help.
If you would like a quality referral from me personally, then send over some geographical locations that would be suitable for you to travel to and I will reply with at least one contact for you.
Don't worry, help is on the way.
Yours in Best Health,
Dr Rob Arnone
Upper Cervical Chiropractor
St Louis, MO

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I think the bulge in my back could be a muscle. It is hard and when I walk, I can put my hand on it and feel it tensing. I have not had the MRI yet but hopefully the insurance company will clear it soon. But yea... I have a lite pain in my neck when I tilt it up/to the right, but the neck pain has been starting to get a good bit better. However the pain in my back on that lump area hurts the worst. Every once in a while it will start to tingle on the skin surface. Again this bulge isn't on my neck, its on my midback, past my shoulder blades. Could I possibly have something wrong with a disk that is making the muscle bulge?

ANSWER: Jeffrey,
I am not chasing your pain around, and just so you know Doctors that follow and treat symptoms never get patients well, ever.  This is because when you treat symptoms you are treating the effect of the problem and not the problem itself.  The answer that I gave you from your last question will not be confirmed by an MRI with a medical doctor reading it, so don't hold your breath for that diagnosis.  Medical Doctors are simply not trained in the expertise surrounding the vertebral subluxation, this is a chiropractic thing that is only learned by chiropractors in a chiropractic school.  Medicine and Chiropractic are two completely different healthcare disciplines.
Medicine treats the effects with drugs, radiation, and surgery.  Chiropractic corrects the vertebral subluxation which is the cause of the problem without drugs, radiation, or surgery.
The problem in your spine is an effect of the problem at the top.
The area where your head meets your spine is where the brainstem resides and if there is misalignment there it can cause all sorts of health problems.
Try this little test right away and then write back to let me know what you come up with:  Go to your bathroom and stand in front of the mirror with your eyes closed.  then open your eyes and don't move, notice if the top of your left ear is higher or lower than the top of your right ear.  Then notice if the right shoulder is higher or lower than your left shoulder.  Also, is your head on straight to your neck or is it shifted to one side.  Is your neck on straight and centered to your body?
Let me know what you find out with that little test, would you?
Yours in Best Health,
Dr Rob Arnone
Upper Cervical Care in St Louis


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok I checked and no it looks fine as far as the test goes. My wife checked it out too and can't see any kind of difference.
Earlier I laid down flat on my stomach and started having hard stabbing pains in my very lower back and lumbar area too. I think those were some of the worst pains I have had so far. It seems that my pain kinda sorta comes and goes every few minutes. Sometimes is just feels sore and I can move around and bend over, but then it will just start to hurt right below my shoulder blades in my spine area. About once a day now my right forearm may start to hurt and then stop, and then very light tingling and numbness in all of my fingers. I also had my bottom lip go numb all of a sudden and also started twitching, not sure if they are related but you would know. It feels a bit better to lean to one side when I sit, but it still feels like there is a rock in my back or like someones fist just right there on my spine. That feeling is pretty much constant with no end in site. I should be having an MRI done some time within the next few days and am a bit nervous as to what they are going to tell me. I can walk fine, I can even bend over and probably reach for my toes. When I would keep doing that though, I will get this warm burning pain in my back.
My email is [email protected] if you rather reach me through there. Any thoughts on my progressing condition, cause it just feels like my neck is feeling better but my back is getting worse.

Answer
Jeffrey,
First of all, I apologize for such a late response, we recently had twins and I have helping around at home as well as running the practice so I am sorry.
Now, have you had the MRI yet?  I would like to know the results, and would like it even more if you could send me the pics via e-mail.
You could send them to  [email protected]
What I would like for you to understand is that although your neck feels fine and your back is what is bothering you, the problem is most likely in your neck.  You see the injury that you sustained was originally in your neck and then you had neck and back trouble.  Juts because you no longer have pain in your neck does not mean that your neck has spontaneously re-aligned itself.  It just means that your body is learning to deal with the problem and you are not experiencing this as pain.
Using pain as a guide to tell you whether you are having trouble or not can be very misleading.  Only a small portion of the nerves are sensory which carry impulses that you feel as pain, so you can have pressure upon nerves that do not interfere with that small part and not even know it.
The fact that you had a neck injury that has not been resolved is a tell-tale sign that you have an Upper Cervical Subluxation that needs to be corrected. The rest of the spine follows the top anyway, so when you have a misalignment in the lower spine and you neglect to correct the upper spine, then the lower will keep going out on you and give you persistent problems.
The only way to correct your problem is correct the cause and not deal with the effect.  The back pain and the back injury is an effect of the real problem.
I know that this can be somewhat difficult to swallow, but I have seen this same situation over and over, and you can not believe me on this and take the long way which will not get you well, or you can follow my advice and get this cleared up in the most sensible and efficient manner, the choice is yours.
Yours in Best Health,
Dr Rob Arnone
St Louis, MO