Question
Hello,
I am writing on behalf of my 53 year old husband who was in a horrific traffic accident over 3 years ago. He suffered neck and spinal cord injuries.  Unfortuntately, he was working at the time and it has been a worker's comp. nightmare.  His company would only recognize the neck injury as part of the accident. He had surgery on his neck Oct. 31, 2008.  Since that time, he has had nerve pain increase throughout his body. The pain has become increasingly more severe.  He uses Tramadol and Darvocet, but they don't work.  He has seen nuerologists, chiropracters, actupunturists, Bowen therapists, rhumetologist, and of course, general practitioners.  His pain is intermittant, but becoming more frequent throughout the day and range from miled to severe to the point of looking like he has MS and starts to black out with the pain.  On two different occasions, he had a nuerologist administer a nerve conductive study.  Each time he had miraculous results.  He hopped of the examining table and was moving like a 20 year old.  He didn't need his cane or wheelchair.  Unfortunately, it only last a couple of days and the pain came back.  No one seems to understand why this would help.  Also, the test results from the study were normal.  All pet scans, brain scans, body scans, blood work and numerous other tests have been normal.  Do you have any idea why this would help him.  We got a tens unit for home, but it is not strong enough and does not help much.  Do you know where we could get this done as therapy?  Would there be long term side effects if we did it long term?  Thank you.

Answer
Dear Lauren Goody,

First, I am sorry this has not reached you sooner.  I was away and had registered that with the site, but your question still posted.  I hope my response will still be of use to you.  Of course, thank you for your question.  

Your question seems to be related to physiotherapy / physiological therapeutic modalities and, for that reason, would be outside my area of expertise, since the fields are not identical.  If it is for me to answer from a chiropractic perspective, however, it is a question that is similar in many ways to those I have heard from others who are investigating chiropractic.  Unfortunately, though, it is based on still more misconceptions.  In order to answer it 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.  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, exercise, 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.  The reason 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.  You ask if I can comment on why your husband抯 sensations change with certain procedures or what causes them.  First, that question comes from the limited therapeutic concept, and such advice is not within my field.  Second, and perhaps of more use to him, the branching of the nerve pathways is quite complex and extensive, making it exceedingly difficult to predict or determine exactly how the person will be affected.  For this reason alone, it is impossible for anyone to give you reliable answers as to what may cause the various sensations you describe in your questions or if they may be related to a vertebral subluxation.  At best, such a conclusion would be no more than a guess.  Are reasons for the pain he抯 experiencing?  Yes, there are; but it is not pertinent to the matter of whether he will benefit from being free of vertebral subluxations.  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.

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.

A key question to ask for your husband抯 purposes, then, would be, Is someone who has the complaints you have described be 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.

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.  I do not offer an assessment or prediction regarding any therapeutic disciplines, including physiotherapy, and what I can tell you must not be interpreted from the therapeutic viewpoint.  

It would certainly be wise to have your spine checked for subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor, even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for your reported complaints.  I cannot comment on whether you should seek physiotherapy or such modalities or seek another therapeutic option.  Remember, the objective is 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].  

Lauren, I wish you the best in understanding what chiropractic has to offer.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.