Question
I was a hair dresser for 20 and have had my share of back and neck pain. I also spent alot of time in the chiropraters office, at times 3 to 4 times per week. Ihave a very strong family history of degenerative joint issues, back, hip, knees etc... A few years back I began having excrutiating pain in my arms and hands apon waking bringing me quickly to tears. I suffered with this for quite a while until I found I could press and massage a nerve alnong the side of my neck near the top of my shoulder and the pain and pins and needles went away imediatly although temporarily. However my hands still do not function properly, I cant make the motion, like if you were to snap your fingers and have no strength in my grip. I can not feel any thing that I toutch or determine the heat of water. But if I toutch a pointy but blunt object with my finger tip it feels like a needle! When I accidentaly hit my hand against something the sensation is nearly unbareable, worse than any serious funny bone hit could ever be. My hands are so cold sensitive that I can not hold a cold drink (that is if I don't drop it first),with out inducing imediate pain it feels like it goes to the bone. I wear gloves all the time and have learned to deal with ice. There used to be times where apon waking to the phone ringing I would sruggle in effort but never get it answered (flip open cell phone). Or be able to close my hand enough to grip the door knob to let my self out. (Came awfull close to having a few accidents first thing in the am)!My hands literaly could not close further than making a c shape! This for some reason has seemed to have improoved. The pins and needle feeling has been constant for about 4 yrs. now and the muscle in my palm that controls my thumb was so emmaciated it actually dented inward. Since I decided to just work through it all I have been able to  build those muscles back up quite a bit, mostly in my left hand. Of course not at doing hair but would you belive wood carving and metal engraving, my hands rarely hurt or go compleatly numb while doing this! but 1/4 head of hair and it's all over! I realize thats all in the wrist position. When things were really bad I made arm straps like used for tennis elbow, I believe. Fits snuggly around forarm, since tightly compressing that nearve area made my hands feel better. But heres the latest, I've been living with this pain in my upper back (right side) the actually feels more like a cramp. If I sit up to straight, do any activity that requires my arm to be raised or stretched out forward (using the mouse on my pc). Pardon the pun but it is truely getting on my last nerve! To me in my (unproffessional opinion seem/feels like nerve pinching/damage?  thank tou for your time, sincerley  Erin.

Answer
Dear Erin,

Thank you for your question.  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.  I抣l then offer my thoughts on how this may relate to the situation you describe.  

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 specifically the same as the findings referenced in your question, but they may exist together.  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, perhaps even working conditions or postures, 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.  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 subluxations and specific symptoms of any kind, including the things you mention.  Remember that I said earlier that the findings you cite are not necessarily the same as a vertebral subluxation.  Whether you have a vertebral subluxation has yet to be determined, it seems.  I will address this further in a moment.

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.  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 this is not an explanation of why you have the hand and arm symptoms or back pain you described or whether they are related to vertebral subluxation.  Are there reasons for what you抮e experiencing?  Even though they may be challenging to identify with certainty, yes, there are; but pinning them down is not relevant to the matter of whether you will benefit from being free of vertebral subluxations.  Vertebral subluxation is, in and of itself, detrimental to your life.  It is not valid or reliable to try to connect it to back, arm or hand pain complaints or any other organ or tissue conditions.  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 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.

Visiting a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor can be of benefit to you, but perhaps in larger ways than you may think at first.  A key question to ask for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone with the arm symptoms you report 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 see a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR your symptoms ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH those symptoms.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about diagnosing and/or treating these complaints or any therapeutic-model or medical condition.  It is entirely separate in its goal.  

In order to determine if you have a vertebral subluxation, then, it would be wise to have your spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor - even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention or advice for your reported arm symptoms.  It抯 the only way to know.  Remember, the two objectives are not the same.  

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.  

It is possible and even likely that the chiropractor you had visited previously was of the mixed therapeutic viewpoint, particularly since you have all of your focus on pain when talking about chiropractic so far.  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].  You may also visit www.gschiro.com, a site that represents non-therapeutic straight chiropractic organizations on a state level.

Erin, 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.