Question
Hello again,

Well its been a while since i last mailed u. I've been perservering with the gym three times a week and pilates once. Ive had a couple of little niggles but generally all has been improving very well.

I am working my legs on a few of the resistance machines at the gym so dont know if this has anything to do with my back problems or with working out at the gym but today i have been experiencing little spasm type pains in my right leg as i walk. It seems to be around the quadricep area, the outside side of my upper leg. It happened a couple of weeks ago a few times in a day but has been fine since although today it is doing it alot more so i dont like walking. It doesnt do it at all when i sit down. Its not excruciating but it isnt pleasant as its a sudden twangey type pain and i am worried about it getting worse.  Any ideas what it could be? I dont want to stop using the resistance machines at the gym as i want to build my legs up as they are very slim.

One last thing while i am mailing you anwyay. Since going to the gym and using weights etc i have noticed more and more that i click in joints as i do certain movements. Its quite worrying to em as it isnt normal. I know i have been told i am slightly hypermobile but are all these clicks a bad thing?

Thanks

Nicola



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Followup To
Question -
I have been seeing a chiropractor now for a few mths as some low left back pain started back in november. I have now had an mri scan of the lumbar region and the neck but all my discs looked ok and there appeared to be no probs. I was told by my back specialist to exercise and that was it! Well it's been a few weeks now and at first i thought things were improving but i started to feel very tight on my lower left side of my back around monday and its got worse since. I dont know is its down to the exercise, whish is gym equipment and pilates but i didnt think i was overdoing it. I went to the gym last on fri and the tightness started tues properly. I wanted it checked out so went to the chiropractor today and she said i had a locked joint in that area. I am concerned about this and to why it is locking. will it always happen? The other thing that worried me is i asked her if it wud have corrected itself if i hadnt have been to see her to which she said no! What about the people who dont see chiropractors or those who cant afford to! Is this correct that it wudnt have got better?

I still have the tightness and tenderness there afer seeing her today. Is this right too?

Thankyou so much for listening
Answer -
Dear Nicola,

Thank you for your question about your low back pain and tightness and the discovery of a 搇ocked joint.? This is a question similar to those I have heard from others who are investigating chiropractic.  Unfortunately, though, it is based on some misconceptions.  In order to answer it properly, I'll first need to give you some background on the chiropractic profession.

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 at all the same as the findings mentioned 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.  This misalignment and resulting interference are the basic elements of a 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 accidental trauma, sleeping posture and mattress condition, the birth process, sneezing, falling down, etc., possibly even stretching or exercises), 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.  For example, try specifically to "feel" your liver.  Try to be aware of exactly what it's 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 the spine and specific symptoms of any kind, including the pain or tightness you mention.  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 or sensation.  The question of how your individual body carries out the myriad of activities just to maintain life is enormous and would require your Creator's (or creator's, for the agnostic) knowledge, or at least far more than our educated knowledge of the complexities of 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 method of "analysis."  Based on what you have told me in your question, what you had performed is not the equivalent of analysis for vertebral subluxation.  When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible using a procedure known as 揳djustment.? 

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.

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 low back pain you mention or whether such is related to vertebral subluxation.  Are there reasons for what you're experiencing?  Even though they may be beyond our ability to identify, yes, there are; but it 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 any organ or tissue conditions, such as back pain.  A key question to ask for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone with low back pain 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's not that you should see a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR your back pain ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH that complaint.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about diagnosing and/or treating this or any other medical condition.  It is entirely separate in its goal.  

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 information I give you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about the treatment of back pain or tightness at all.  You ask for advice about your pain and the identified 搇ocked joint.? It would be irresponsible for anyone, even if they were dealing with therapeutic matters, to advise you on specifics without ever having seen you, but it is also not the intent of my field to address such therapeutic measures.  If nothing else, we know what you are doing so far seems not to be effective for the therapeutic goal, since there has been no change as a result.  Still, that is a separate matter.

Similarly, the 搇ocked joint?you reported is not a valid or reliable indicator of the presence of vertebral subluxation or whether a vertebral subluxation is involved.  In discussing vertebral subluxation earlier in this message, I used the word misalignment.  I am not talking here about locking, 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 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.  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'm getting at is that there is an individually determined, innately normal position for the body that cannot be described by geometry.

Certainly, it would be wise to have your spine checked for vertebral subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor, even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for your low back pain.  Remember, the two objectives are not the same.  It seems that the chiropractor you had visited was of the mixed viewpoint.  I say this because of the focus on your pain other related matters and the use of therapeutic measures instead of a unique focus on checking for vertebral subluxations and specific adjustments for their correction.  I cannot tell you whether the chiropractor you went to previously is right for you, but hopefully you now have enough information at hand to make that decision with greater confidence.  

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.

Nicola, I wish you the best in understanding chiropractic and the benefits that may be available to you with non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.  

Answer
Dear Nicola,

Thank you for your follow-up questions.

Before you read this response, I encourage you to review our initial correspondence.  Give particular attention to the discussion on vertebral subluxation and the distinction between non-therapeutic straight chiropractic and everything else.  I ask you to do this because your present questions seem to go in a much different direction than what was addressed in my earlier message to you, meaning you may have missed some very important and helpful information.  You will note in that message that non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about treating pain or advising on spasm during exercise, the subject of your question to me about the pain and spasms you experience in your leg.  

You also ask about clicking noises from your joints.  Realize that this is not a valid or reliable indicator of vertebral subluxation nor within the realm of non-therapeutic straight chiropractic to evaluate such things.  Even if it were, it is impossible to tell you why these noises are occurring or if there is cause to be concerned in this type of format.  I have never met you.  In addition, there are several lines of reasoning to explain how or why such noises may occur, ranging from movements of joint fluid to actual physical compromise of the joint, without universal agreement as to which is the most likely.  So, it may be that the noises you hear are harmless or they may indicate something that needs attention.  It would be irresponsible for me or anyone else to guess about your situation through this type of interaction.  

Please recall that I mentioned to you the value of being checked for vertebral subluxation with a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor.  This is true even if you are also investigating and/or pursuing therapeutic advice for pain or spasms.  The two objectives are not interchangeable.  Living free of vertebral subluxation is important no matter what else is happening with your circumstances.

Nicola, I wish you the best.  I do hope you will take the opportunity to re-read my earlier message.  I believe you will get more out of it if you understand and apply the information.  

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, DC