Question
Would a chiropractor be appropriate for hospice and palliative care?  If so, how would someone find a chiropractor who specialized in this area?  Thank you.

Answer
Dear Rebecca Evans,

Thank you for your question.  Since I have no information from you on what you already know about this field, in order to give you the greatest benefit in answering you, 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 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.  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'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 of effecting a correction of a vertebral subluxation 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 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.  

Imagine if you were to ask, Who would benefit from being free of vertebral subluxation?, you would easily see that this service is critical to every person on the planet.  Once someone understands what is offered by non-therapeutic straight chiropractic, they typically make it part of their lifelong pursuits ?not as 揾ospice or palliative care,?but as a sensible measure in and of itself.  Hospice or palliative care are not parts of non-therpauetic straight chiropractic, though it is possible that they may be part of therapeutic mixing chiropractic.  Many people may initially come in to my office with therapeutic concerns ?it's a very common misconception about my field based upon the split that exists between the therapeutic and non-therapeutc viewpoints - but they choose to become life-long users for a much different and larger purpose.  It may be said that they come in WITH many different circumstances, but not FOR them.  That's why I'm glad to have you investigate chiropractic and hopeful that you may even choose to use non-therapeutic straight chiropractic for yourself or simply share this information with others.  

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.  You may also visit www.gschiro.com, a site that represents non-therapeutic straight chiropractic on a state level in New Jersey.  

Rebecca, it has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.  I wish you the best in understanding non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.