Question
Hi,my qustion to you is: Can a subluxation of the c5 create the same symptoms as a c1 c2 subluxation? for instance balance? Thank you Jan

Answer
Dear Jan,

Thank you for your question.  It is similar to some others I have received over the years.  To give you the greatest benefit in answering, I抣l first need to give you some background on the chiropractic profession.  I will also address aspects of human anatomy and physiology and bring it all together.  

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.  You use this term in your question but, because there is often some confusion over this even within the profession, we need to make sure we agree on what it is.  In particular, vertebral subluxation is a very specific term-of-art.  It is not reliably revealed by symptoms, as contemplated in your question, though they may exist together.  We will address that further in a moment.  

First, though, we need to describe the elements that go into this term.  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.  All of this is part of the term-of-art, vertebral subluxation.  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 being born, strenuous physical activity, sleeping posture and mattress condition, 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.  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 what may cause particular symptoms or if these may be related to a vertebral subluxation.  Even if it were possible to guess at what may be causing them, however, it is not pertinent to the matter of whether you will benefit from being free of vertebral subluxations.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, symptoms do not validly or reliably reveal vertebral subluxation.  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," relying on more appropriate and valid measures.  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 purposes, then, would be, Is someone who has a symptom of any kind 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 ?even if there were no symptoms whatsoever!  So, having one抯 spine checked for vertebral subluxation is tremendously important, but it抯 not for the purpose of dealing with symptoms.  In other words, non-therapeutic straight chiropractic can be of benefit to any spine-owner, but perhaps in ways that you may not have considered.  It抯 not that you should see a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR symptoms ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, WITH or WITHOUT them.  

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.  

You ask if vertebral subluxations at different spinal levels can cause particular or similar symptoms.  We simply have to recall that every aspect of human performance is determined by the successful transmission of brain messages.  Interfering with them at any level, including by way of misaligned spinal bones, whether it is at the nerve root or the spinal cord area, can potentially affect any and all functions!  In short, certainly, it is possible for there to be nerve interference along a pathway that ultimately winds up in one part of the anatomy and all the functions of the cells there or is related to the body accomplishing a particular function.  In fact, because many of the nerve pathways are quite long, extending like a wiring system between the brain and the various cells of the body, it is not necessary that the site of the interference be in one predetermined point of the spine at all.  It抯 quite possible that there may be interference at the level of the top bone of your neck, right below the skull, yet the 搕arget?cell is far down the line; it抯 just that the pathway doesn抰 exit the spine抯 bony tube-like covering in the neck.  There was a time, decades ago, when it was popular to try to 搕race?nerve pathways from organs or tissues back to the level of the spine where the root originated.  It was called the meric system, from the Greek word 搈ere,?meaning level or segment.  As people studied and understood more of the body, though, this system was easily shown to be flawed.  Unfortunately, we still see it used by some across a number of professional fields.  In summary, then, it is not necessary that nerve message be disturbed at a particular anatomical level of the spine ?it is the pathway that matters, no matter at what point along it is involved.  

So, although vertebral subluxation has the potential to affect every aspect of human performance, for many reasons it is impossible to determine with reliability or validity how or where that will be expressed, including whether it will be perceived as affecting balance, a symptom or simply be a disturbance in function outside the level of awareness.  

All that said, it would certainly be wise to have your spine checked for subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor.  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 directly at [email protected].  

Jan, I wish you the best in understanding what non-therapeutic straight chiropractic has to offer.  It has been my pleasure to answer your interesting question.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.