Question
QUESTION: hi DR
actually i have a problem in my left hand i always feel it heavy and this is happening to me since more than 3 years i thought first it is heart problem especially that it is accompanied and not always but occasionally with palpitations or disturbance in the stomach,i did all the test concerning heart and nothing all good but the pain still as it goes all over the hand to the shoulder and the neck and sometimes i feel my left part of my head getting numb like gonna explode and this problem is on the left part ,i am very scared and always think it is my heart especially that sometimes i feel like very heart fast beats and huge shortness of breath for like 5 seconds and it goes but the pain in my hand can last for hours,days and sometimes believe me for weeks without stop.as i said the pain is heavy hand and i need someone to message me always and press near my thumb,on my shoulder and my neck,i am 28 years old and i ant to mention that i did a ct scan for my head and it comes clear and i did an ENT FOR MY LEFT ARM AND IT IS GOOD AS WELL BUT THE PAIN IS KILLING ME ,thank you

ANSWER: Dear Mohamad,

Thank you for your question.  

Even though medical diagnosis is not a service that I would provide in my field, I would say to you that diagnosis under the best of circumstances is something of an art.  It would be irresponsible for anyone to give you a guess by e-mail or the web about your situation.  Diagnostic work and therapeutic advice is difficult enough when done properly.  It becomes a riskier proposition when done poorly.  You would be best served getting opinions from someone with first-hand knowledge about you, not a limited acquaintance through correspondence.  Anyone who is willing to speculate about your situation by e-mail is providing you little more than a guess and perhaps a dangerous one, at that!  

Mohamad, I hope you understand the seriousness of this advice and seek appropriate information about such matters in person from a qualified provider.  

That said, I also feel as if there would be value for you in knowing more about the field of chiropractic.  Please understand that this is not meant to be a conclusion about the findings you presented in your question but will still be important information for you to have when faced with decisions about your body.  

I am including a general guide for you below about the different kinds of chiropractic available.  I hope you find it useful.  

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.


Choosing a Chiropractor ?They抮e Not All the Same!


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).  

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, 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 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, perhaps even alcohol, 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.  In fact, they usually have no symptoms.  The reason is that most of what goes on inside you happens without your awareness.  For example, try specifically to "feel" your liver.  Try to be aware of exactly what it抯 doing right now.  You can't, 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 reliable answers as to a connection between vertebral subluxation 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 and there are some who would attempt to trace 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.  The question 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, or at least far more than our educated knowledge of the complexities of life.  

Now that you have more information about the body and vertebral subluxation, how do you make use of it?  Well, first understand that it is possible that you can experience all sorts of things as a result of vertebral subluxations or nothing at all, but there is much more to consider.  As mentioned earlier, every aspect of what you are capable of being or doing is dependent upon the transmission of life information from the brain to the body.  Vertebral subluxation is, in and of itself, detrimental to life.  That said, non-therapeutic straight chiropractic can be of benefit to you ?or any spine-owner, for that matter ?but in ways you may not have considered.  

The only valid 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 corrective procedure is 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 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 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 mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to the non-therapeutic straight chiropractic viewpoint and it is important that you be able to distinguish which ones do if you're going to seek this type of service.  In order to make the best choice, you need to understand very clearly that the practice objectives of therapeutic mixed chiropractic and non-therapeutic straight chiropractic are quite different.  



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

QUESTION: thank you for your time and your reply i appreciate that and i understand that but the point i am tired i tried everything and i went to many doctors and nothing i donno what to do how to start again i go to the doctor and he checks me and said everything is good and believe i live with this pain i donno if it is a muscle problem or nerve problem or anything i am lost and this is affecting my life i just wanna be normal as anyone,i know that stress and all these stuff might affect people in life but my life is good,my future is good and my family and my emotional life is stable but why i have this pain and i am living with it,i want a medical check and i wanna go all the way along but i donno where to start especially that i went to many doctors and explain them what is happening and no answer ,my problem my be dangerous or may be simple and can be fixed but i donno exactly the problem and that's why it is stressing me.i can do any activity with my left hand and left leg normally but it is heavy u feel like it doesn't belong to ur body or like it is something extra.please advice me.  

Answer
Dear Mohamad,

Thank you for your follow-up question.

I understand you are not satisfied by the course of things thus far.  Even so, and particularly with all the elements in your circumstance, I must stand by the sound reasoning behind my initial response to you; it would be irresponsible for me or anyone to speculate about your situation in this type of format.  

I hope you will appreciate this logic in your search for answers.  

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, DC