Question
THIS IS RAJ SINGHAL.I AM 61 YEARS OLD MAN.I HAVE WEIGHT 135Lbs, Height 5-4 INCHES, NON SMOKERS, NON DRINKERS, PURE VEGETARIAN  NO(FISH,CHICKEN,BEEF) & HAVE A HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.FROM 25 YEARS,NECK STIFF,FROM 25 YEARS TOO. I HAVE A ANGIOPLASTY IN 1996 WITH (STEEL STENT).I HAVE A EYE OPERATION IN LEFT EYES IN 1991 FOR GLAUCOMA, OTHER OPERATION FOR RIGHT EYE IN 2004 FOR GLAUCOMA .

MEDICINES:-DIAVON 160/12.5 HCTZ TWICE.  CENTRUM ONCE HAWTHON 565MG TWICE FOR BLOOD PRESSURE. FISH OIL 1000MG, ONE SPOON FLAX SEED BULK ONCE,LUTEIN 6MG ONCE.CALCIUM MAGNESIUM-ZINC ONCE.

BLOOD REPORT:--EVERY THING NORMAL ,,EXCEPT  BELOW:-

CALCIUM                             NORMAL HIGH
WBC                                      NORMAL HIGH
CARBON DIOXIDE             NORMAL HIGH
SODIUM                                NORMAL HIGH
TRIGLYCERIDES                NORMAL HIGH
ALKALINE Phosphatese      NORMAL HIGH
HDL                                       LOW
CHOLESTEROL : HDL       HIGH
POTASSIUM                        LOW
EOSINOPHILS                     VERY HIGH
Eosinophil Absolute              VERY HIGH

PROBLEMS:
1.   NECK & SHOULDERS stiff(CALCIUM DEPOSIT IN BONES)
2.   ARTHRITIS IN FINGER & KNEE
3.   BLOOD PRESSURE (HYPERTENSION)
4.   DRYNESS IN ALL BODY
5.   ITCHING(LITTLE)ALL BODY
6.   EYE BLURRED & ITCHING

Yours-truly
RAJ SINGHAL


Answer
Dear Raj Singhal,

Thank you for your submission about your various problems.  In order to respond to 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.  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 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 like you, with multiple varied complaints, 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 visit a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR these complaints; you should visit one even WITH 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.
 
Raj, I wish you the best in understanding what non-therapeutic straight chiropractic has to offer.  Though there was no explicit question in your message, it has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.