Question
Dear James
I am not sure if I sent you this email before and gave the wrong addy so I am sending it again hoping you receive it.I have been having pain in the coccyx area, I do not know if it is my sacroiliac joint, For months I have had pain not bad but annoying in my Iliac crest and in my little toe at the metatarsal near cutaneous bones into small toe and across the pad of foot ,it would burn if I walked too far. I am 60 year old and in good health, I was rocking back and forwards with my legs crossed with my granddaughter whilst sitting on a hard surface and I felt my tailbone hurt, this was weeks ago, now if I sit too long my buttocks hurts really bad and I am also getting a pinch in groin and into my groin inside near labia but not on labia. it feels like a tendon or nerve . Can you get a sore buttocks  from sitting .I have been travelling for months now which of course means hours and hours of sitting  like something is trapped, it hurts when it pinches ,I also have pain and slight weakness in the left leg and that is the same leg with the foot problem, I have had the leg problems for years. I do suffer from b12 deficiency, and panic disorder
How should I treat this. Will it heal by itself as I am no where near a Doctor and I am scared, Please I just lost my sister to liver cancer and I am in a pretty low place at the moment .I am so scared of everything and feel venerable and can only think of negative things about this I knew I had to talk to someone about this so I googled and came up with allexperts,I hope you can give me advice and I thank you
Rosemary"

Answer
Dear Rosemary,

Thank you for your question.  Yours is similar to those I have heard from others who are investigating chiropractic. Unfortunately, though, your questions seem to be based on some misconceptions.  In order to respond properly, I抣l first need to give you some background on the chiropractic profession.

There are two branches or schools of thought in chiropractic. Briefly, they are differentiated by whether they deal with the limited therapeutic approach for aches and pains (commonly termed "mixed" chiropractic because it represents a mixture of a chiropractor with a non-chiropractic matter) or a non-therapeutic approach to optimum body performance (termed "straight" chiropractic because there is no mixing of chiropractic with anything else). My expertise is in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Therapeutic "mixed" chiropractic is the older approach based on a split from the founding principles of chiropractic about a century ago.

Non-therapeutic "straight" chiropractic is the more modern of the two. It deals with a particular, common situation called a vertebral subluxation. This is not the same as the findings mentioned in your question, but they may exist together. The spine is made of many bone segments which house and protect the spinal cord and the smaller spinal nerve branches that come off the spinal cord and exit between the bones. These nerve pathways carry information or messages between the brain and the cells of the body. These messages are essential for the life of the cells. Without brain messages, the cells immediately begin the process of dying; i.e., they can no longer function the way they should to maintain life.

Because the bones are moveable, they can misalign in such a way as to interfere with the messages and, ultimately, the ability of the person to function at their best or express their optimum potential. People with vertebral subluxations are not able to get all they can out of life.

Vertebral subluxations can be caused by a wide variety of factors, what we'll generally call stresses. These stresses can be physical (such as accidental trauma, sleeping posture and mattress condition, the birth process, sneezing, falling down, etc.), mental / emotional (in its many forms, probably the most familiar use of the word stress), or chemical (such as pollution, drugs, etc.), which are, unfortunately, regular parts of daily living for all age groups. In short, a vertebral subluxation can occur for a multitude of reasons.

Tragically, vertebral subluxations are rarely obvious to the individual they affect. They usually have no symptoms. You say in your message that you experienced various types and locations of pain and other concerns. Unfortunately, when it comes to determining if there is a vertebral subluxation present, pain and the other things you list are not valid or reliable measuring sticks.

The reason pain cannot be used to reveal the nerve interference of vertebral subluxation is that most of what goes on inside you happens without your awareness. As an example, try to "feel" your liver. What's it doing right now? You can't know, so you can't know if it's functioning at its best or something less. To complicate things, nerve pathways that carry messages of control (termed "motor" nerves) have no way of transmitting ache or pain messages, so your body function may be far from perfect and you'd not have any alerting signal whatsoever. The branching of the nerve pathways is complex and extensive, making it exceedingly difficult to predict or determine exactly how the person will be affected.  In order to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation, it is necessary to have that person抯 spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a method of "analysis." When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible using a procedure known as 揳djustment.?br>
Since vertebral subluxations are caused by so many different things, people choose to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor on a regular basis to enjoy the most time free of the life-robbing effects of vertebral subluxation. There's a saying that straight chiropractic is not about your back, it's not about your pain, it's about your life. Each person has a unique potential in life. With vertebral subluxation, it's impossible to realize that potential.

Now, that you have more information about the body and vertebral subluxation, how do you make use of it? Well, first understand that this is not an explanation of why you have the problems you list or whether any of them relate to vertebral subluxation. Are there reasons for what you抮e experiencing?  Even though they may be beyond our ability to identify, yes, there are; but it is not relevant to the matter of whether you will benefit from being free of vertebral subluxations.  Vertebral subluxation is, in and of itself, detrimental to your life. It is not valid or reliable to try to connect it to symptoms, such as pain or physical movement limitations you report, or any other organ or tissue conditions or emotional states. A key question to ask for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone with pain or the other complaints you have better off with vertebral subluxation / nerve interference or free of subluxation / with the nerve channels open? It is easy to see that having all the available nerve messages getting through is better than only some of them getting through, regardless of the person's situation otherwise.  It抯 not that you should see a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR your back pain or other symptoms ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH those complaints. Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about diagnosing and/or treating these or any other medical conditions. It is entirely separate in its goal.

As I mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to this and it is important that you be able to distinguish which ones do if you're going to seek this type of service. You need to understand very clearly that the practice objectives of therapeutic mixed chiropractic and non-therapeutic straight chiropractic are quite different, as described above. What information I give you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about the treatment of pain at all. Attempts to connect vertebral subluxation to such complaints are not valid. The theories that are proposed to demonstrate the validity of spinal manipulation for ailment treatment certainly are topics of great debate and are clearly different from what would be proper non-therapeutic straight chiropractic procedures or principles.

Further, the nature of your inquiry - seeking a medical diagnosis and recommendation - is something of an art, and a difficult one even when done correctly.  Anyone who would give you an opinion or advice about your conditions by way of e-mail is making a guess, at best.  I will not comment, then, on the therapeutic goal of relieving your pain, bringing greater ease to your movements, feeling less fear, etc., or even whether it will be possible to do so.

Certainly, as I said earlier, it would be wise to have your spine checked for vertebral subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor, even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for your other concerns or wish to continue with a therapeutic practitioner to do so. Remember, the two objectives are not the same.

If you are interested in finding out how to locate a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor in your area, please contact me at this site again or at [email protected].

Rosemary, I wish you the best in understanding your choices in chiropractic. It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.


Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.