Question
There was a chiropractic booth set outside of a retail store in my area. They asked if I wanted a free spinal test. I agreed. They did some kind of a scan of my neck area. I was then told my results were "not good". They showed me the colors corresponding to each area. Apparently red is bad. And black is worse. Well, I had a few black areas. They were there to promote the business, so I wasn't sure what to make of it. Now, I also rec'd a fee visit with that included xrays and and adjustment. I di go and get it done, but did not go in to view my xrays. They seemed a bit pushy to get me to come back. They did not accept insurance, they had some sort of other plan. The Dr. called me and told me she was very concerned about my xrays. My neck is straight and not curved.

I guess my question to you is, do these sound like valid issues? I think I am just apprehensive about going to someone that doesn't accept insurance and was advertising outside of a "big box" retailer.

Thanks for your time..

Answer
Dear Julie,

Thank you for your question and the information it contained on the context of the use of the test and x-ray in the offer made by a chiropractic office.

Before I go into specifics about how you could make sense of all this, it is important to discuss that 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, though they may exist together, nor is it reliably revealed by the tests performed.  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, food additives, perhaps even drugs, etc.), which are, unfortunately, for the most part, 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.  Vertebral subluxation is, in and of
itself, detrimental to your life.

In order to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation, it is necessary to have that person's spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a valid 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.?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 for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone with a colorful neck scan or 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.  It抯 not that you should visit a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR these issues, but that you would benefit from being free of vertebral subluxation even WITH such findings, whatever they may mean.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about treating this or any other therapeutically-determined condition.  

In discussing vertebral subluxation earlier in this message, I used the word misalignment.  I am not talking here about neck straightening, however, and it is 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 curve or straightening.  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.

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.

I have very limited information on the chiropractor you are visiting.  Aggressive marketing is not a reliable indicator of incompetence, though it makes many people quite uneasy, especially when it is presented in a scare-tactic manner.  As we抳e seen, chiropractic is not about scary things - it抯 about optimum life expression! - but fear is a powerful motivator and they want you to be a client.  Also, participation with insurance plans is not an indicator that everything is fine.  In fact, it means the office is of a therapeutic mixed viewpoint because insurance only pays for therapeutic care.  What we do have, however, indicates that the office may be of the therapeutic mixed chiropractic viewpoint.  I say this, in large part, because the procedures and conclusions are about addressing neck straightness.  This is not the type of objective that would be used in the proper delivery of non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.  This doesn抰 mean it is bad, it just means it is entirely different than what I would advise you on.  I will not comment, then, on this therapeutic goal.  Certainly, as I said, I have never met this chiropractor and am using limited information.  It may be that you do not have a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor available to you.  Ultimately, you will have to decide if the chiropractor is right for you.  

Julie, 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.