Question
Dear friend,
I am experiencing a clicking and misalignment in the base of my skull around the first cervical/s. I have tried a few chiropractics. What is your experience with working on this? Any suggestions? Now I am trying a specialized upper cervical chiro and may try a network chiro too.
Thanks,
Jake

Answer
Dear Jake,

Thank you for your questions.  I don抰 know how much background you already have in chiropractic, though the content of your question make it sound as if you have at least some experience as a consumer.  You may find, then, that some of what I will write is a review for you, and for that I apologize, but I feel it would be better to be too inclusive than risk being incomplete.  In order to give you the greatest benefit in answering your questions, I抣l first need to give you some background information.  

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 and it is distinct from the field of medicine).  My expertise is in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Therapeutic "mixed" chiropractic is an 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.  It抯 not clear that this is the same as the findings you mention, however.  Vertebral subluxation is not defined by 揷licking,?for example.  I will address the matter of misalignment in more detail a bit later in this message.  

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 vital 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 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.  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.  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.  The term for this is 揳djustment,?and can be accomplished in a variety of ways, depending upon the unique vertebral subluxation and the individual person.  

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 non-therapeutic 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.

In summary, then, a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor has the professional objective of checking the spine on a regular basis for vertebral subluxations and safely correcting those that are found so that the individual may express their optimum potential on all levels.  

It is important to discuss objectives here.  It is actually the objective that determines one profession from another.   Ask someone, 揥hat profession uses x-ray?? Consider that dentists, podiatrists, medical doctors, osteopaths and even chiropractors may employ x-ray methods in their work, yet they are not interchangeable professions.  It is the goal or reason ?in other words, the objective ?for which the x-ray is used that determines which profession it is.  An important consideration, then, when considering chiropractic techniques, is the type of chiropractic you wish to receive.  

As I mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to the non-therapeutic straight chiropractic division.  In non-therapeutic straight chiropractic, there are many different technical adjusting styles.  Rather than tell you what I think of a technique, consider this: it is more important what you think about it.  If you wish to receive non-therapeutic straight chiropractic services and believe that a particular technique package is best suited to helping your body be free of vertebral subluxations, then so be it!  Keep in mind, however, that the actual technical considerations inherent in its use are of less importance than whether it is being used in the correction of vertebral subluxations.  Methods will vary in whether they will require the use of drop-pieces, hands or instruments, more or less force, or whatever other variable you wish to name.  I would be more inclined to consider, then, more questions about why one would use a particular style rather than questions about how it is done, unless for some reason that is a major concern for you as well.  If the service you seek is to be checked for vertebral subluxations and effect their correction, ultimately, you will have to weigh your confidence in the chiropractor抯 ability to effectively and safely effect the correction of those vertebral subluxations that are identified.  I do not know enough about you to tell you that a particular technique is suitable to you and a particular vertebral subluxation(s) on any given day.  

In discussing vertebral subluxation earlier in this message, I used the word misalignment, but I want to make it clear that misalignment is not interchangeable with the term vertebral subluxation.  The misalignment that I address is that of a specific segment of the spine and, 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 straightness or curves, as viewed from the side.  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 introducing a particular geometric alignment.  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 to force geometric alignment.  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.  This is the only valid determinant of vertebral subluxation.  

Incidentally, I don抰 know what type of office you have visited in the past, but since you do not mention vertebral subluxation, it may have been to a therapeutic mixed chiropractic office.  Vertebral subluxation is the hallmark and sole concern in a non-therapeutic straight chiropractic office.  Remember, it is not the technical style that determines this.  If you are interested in finding out how to locate a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor in your area for your chiropractic needs, please contact me at this site again.  

Jake, it has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.  I wish you the best.  

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.