Question
I have been receiving Chiropractic adjustments of and on for about 22 years. About 2 years ago, I fell and hurt my neck. Since that time, I have Chiropractic adjustments, Physical Therapy, Steroid injections in the joints of my neck. Nothing has given me relief. I went to a different Chiropractor, he has shown me my before and after x-rays, which show my neck to be straight instead of having a curve. He put 4 pounds of weight on my head and took another x-ray. This time, there was a curve. His recommendation for treatment is to wear the weight on my head two times a day for 20 min each time. I cannot find information on this type of treatment. I would like to know if doing the weight treatment would be harmful or helpful.

Answer
Dear Michelle,

Thank you for your question about your 搒traight?neck.  Your question is similar to those I have heard from others who are investigating chiropractic.  In order to answer it properly, I抣l first need to give you some background on anatomy and physiology and how they relate to 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 finding of neck straightness you mention in your question, though it may exist together with vertebral subluxations.  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, whatever that may be.  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 sports, exercise routines, 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, food additives, etc.), which are, unfortunately, uncontrollable and 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.  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.  For this reason alone, it is impossible for anyone to give you valid and truly reliable answers as to a connection between the spine and specific symptoms of any kind.  Certainly, every part of the body must have connections to the nerve system so that vital information may be transmitted between the brain and the cells.  There are some who would attempt to review the possible nerve connections between a nerve root and specific organs or tissues, but this ignores the multitude of variables that determine the expression of function.  Quite directly to your question, the matter of how your individual body carries out the myriad of activities just to maintain life is enormous and would require your Creator抯 (or creator抯, for the agnostic) knowledge to explain or control, or at least far more than our educated knowledge of the complexities of life.

In discussing vertebral subluxation earlier in this message, I used the word misalignment.  I am not talking here about spinal curving or straightness, however, and these are not interchangeable with the term vertebral subluxation.  The misalignment that I address is that of a specific segment of the spine.  Technically speaking, we have to get even a bit more advanced in what is meant by misalignment to make this clear.  The question is, Misaligned with respect to what?  It is possible to describe the body geometrically, reasoning that we are bilaterally symmetrical and concluding that there is a measurable 搈idline?or that our hips and shoulders should be 揵alanced?on a perpendicular line to this proposed 搈idline?or that the body can be presumed to take on a certain geometry in other planes as well, such as a neck curve.  The problem with this thinking is that it assumes we are simply machines and ignores that we are alive, capable of movement, adaptation, growth, etc.  At any given moment, there is an optimum state for us to carry out life to our best abilities.  That optimum state will vary depending upon the circumstances, both within us and of our environment.  There are many examples to illustrate this.  If you carry something heavy with one hand, you must lean away from it, putting something of a curve into the spine, to keep yourself balanced.  Does that mean the body is failing because there is imbalance or a curve, or is it instead being quite successful in adapting you to the situation?  In another example, consider that those who argue for geometric balance or symmetry would be hard-pressed to explain why the carpenter who swings a 28-ounce hammer all day with his right arm only would have certain physical adaptations that favor his right side.  Should the carpenter have some of the tissue removed from his arm, hand and back so that it is equal to that on the left?  Or is he merely adapted to his circumstances?  The point I抦 getting at is that there is an individually determined, innately normal position for the body that cannot be described by geometry.  

From the non-therapeutic standpoint, then, the method of the non-therapeutic straight chiropractor is not for the goal of straightening a curved or spine or curving a straight one.  Adjustments are made if and when a subluxation is detected ?and only then.  Geometric positioning is not within the realm of non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.  There are no procedures that are used within non-therapeutic straight chiropractic for the purpose of introducing curves, even if that may be a possible result of having proper function restored.  

Your question, whether the technique of hanging weights on the head is beneficial or harmful, is quite reasonable.  Realize that the objective of doing this is simply to create a particular geometry (a curve) in the neck.  This is not valid in the analysis or correction of vertebral subluxations, as we have addressed here, so I will not comment on it.  Whether it is wise to force geometry into the body is an issue of debate but it is certainly not within the non-therapeutic straight chiropractic viewpoint.  

The only way to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation is 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.  The term for this procedure is 揳djustment.? 

Notably, 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 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, then, would be, Is someone with a straight neck 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.  So, having one抯 spine checked for vertebral subluxation is tremendously important, but it抯 not for the purpose of dealing with straightness of the neck.  In other words, non-therapeutic straight chiropractic can be of benefit to any spine-owner, but perhaps in much larger ways that you may not have considered.  It抯 not that someone should visit a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR a straight neck ?a person should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH a particular neck shape.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about diagnosing and/or treating spine shapes or any therapeutic-model or medical condition.  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 I can tell you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  

That said, it would 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 therapeutic concerns, such as a straight neck, whatever their cause, with another provider, whether that is with a therapeutic mixing chiropractor or some other provider to do so.  

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].  

Michelle, I wish you the best in understanding what non-therapeutic straight chiropractic has to offer.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.  

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.