Question
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Followup To
Question -
Hello James:

Four years ago I had two MRI's done on my back, because I was feeling sharp shooting pains in my tail bone area (between my hips) and right hip. When I walked I could hear and feel my hip popping.  In addition, I couldn't stand up straight, no matter how hard I tried, because my back seemed to lock in that area.

The first MRI report said:

There is decreased signal from the L4-5 and L5-S1 interspaces consistent with disc desiccation.  There is a broad based central disc bulge mildly effacing the thecal sac and mild narrowing of the neural foramina bilaterally.  There is no evidence of a herniated disc.  Within the right vastus lateralis muscle, there is a 1.6 x 2.8 cm region of increased signal on T2 and STIR images. This demonstrates signal equal to the adjacent muscle on T1 weighted sequences. This region is approximately 40 cm inferior to the femoral head and is not adequately evaluated on this MRI of the hips. Other masses can't be excluded.

So, with that I was ordered to have a second MRI.  The second MRI said:

There is a signal abnormality located in the right vastus lateralis muscle at the approximate level of the proximal femoral shaft.It is of low signal relative to muscle on the T1 weighted images and of high signal relative to muscle on the fast spin echo inversion recovery images.  There is mild lobulation to this structure and it does not enhance with contrast.  It is located within the posterolateral aspect of the vastus lateralis muscle.  Based upon the history this most likely represents a chronic hematoma.  
After that I stopped going to my Chiropractor, because he basically told me nothing was wrong.

However, I am now 32 years old and having the same problems again.  Only this time the pain is shooting all over that area and into both of my hips.  If I try to walk or cough or sneeze the pain just about makes me pass out.  My tail bone area is swollen and lying down does not releave the pain.  Up until now the pain has come and gone, but for the past week the pain has been non-stop.  Can you please give me some insight on what the problem might be?

Thank you,

Shannon Dunkel
Answer -
Dear Shannon Dunkel,

Thank you for your question.  In order to answer it properly, I'll first need to give you some background on anatomy and physiology and how they relate to the chiropractic profession.  I'll 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.  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, 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.  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.  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.  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's (or creator's, 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 various symptoms you described or whether it 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 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 pain or shooting sensations or swelling or other complaints, from the things you mentioned, or any other organ or tissue conditions.  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 with the symptoms you list 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 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.  

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 likely, from the limited information you provided, that the chiropractor you had visited is of the therapeutic mixed viewpoint.  It is quite understandable, then, why he would rely on the therapeutic or medical testing procedures and not evaluate for vertebral subluxations or place any importance on such an evaluation.  If the findings of medical testing indicate there is 搉othing wrong,?he is essentially unable to offer you anything more.

That said, it would be wise to have your spine checked for subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for your various reported symptoms.  Remember, the two objectives are not the same.  The non-therpaeutic straight chiropractor will use the methods of analysis, as I mentioned, to determine whether you have any vertebral subluxations.  As we saw, this would not be part of the procedures you experienced in a therapeutic mixing office.  

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.

Shannon, 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.

Hello James:

The first Chiropractor I went to had me coming in for an adjustment 3 times a week for a year.  He always did an adjustment with me first standing up, then he would do the rest of my adjustment on the table. After each visit he would check and see if my spine was straight and if my legs were the same length.  Shortly after my work requested that I go for an MRI, he decided to retire.  The second Chiropractor I went to had me coming in 3 times a week at first, then 2 times, then once a week.  He also did adjustments on me while I was laying on a table, but he also had me see the massage therapist and another person who did stuff with pressure points.

Now, from what you said I'm assuming the second one was a therapeutic Chiropractor and the first one wasn't?  I checked out the website you told me too, and there wasn't any non-therapeutic Chiropractors listed for Michigan.  Can you please tell me how I can find one in or near Lansing, Michigan?

Thank you for all of your help.

Shannon

Answer
Dear Shannon,

Thank you for your follow-up question. I am glad the information about non-therapeutic straight chiropractic was helpful to you.  

In discussing vertebral subluxation in my earlier message to you, I used the word misalignment.  I am not talking here about straightening the spine or evening out the leg length, however, and such variables are not interchangeable with the term vertebral subluxation.  The misalignment that I address is that of a specific segment of the spine.  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.

From the non-therapeutic standpoint, then, an adjustment is not a process with the goal of straightening a spine or leg length or one that requires a series of visits to shape a spine; it is a procedure that is accomplished immediately.  Repeat adjustments are made if and when a subluxation is detected ?and only then.  There is no schedule of adjustments involved nor is there a specific amount of time that must pass.  It would require prophetic powers to know with any certainty when and where someone would be subluxated in the future, even though the causes are very common and, therefore, being subluxated is certainly a likely event.

As I said in the original response, 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 is 揳djustment,?and can be accomplished in a variety of ways, depending upon the unique vertebral subluxation and the individual person.  

Realize that the goal in a non-therapeutic straight chiropractic model is not for the purpose of forcing geometric patterns into your spine.  This is not the type of objective that would be used in the proper delivery of non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.  This doesn't mean it is bad, it just means it is entirely different than what I would advise you on.  I will not comment, then, on the therapeutic goal of attempting to create any particular straightening of your spine or balancing of the leg length or even whether it will be possible to do so.  I agree with you that it seems likely that the second chiropractor was of the therapeutic mixed viewpoint but, based on the goal of the second, it is possible that both of the chiropractors you had visited were of that viewpoint.  

It is true that the site for the Garden State Chiropractic Society in New Jersey I had referenced would not be of much help to you in finding a Michigan chiropractor.  That's not insurmountable, however.  

Unfortunately, I do not know of anyone that I can recommend to you as a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor for you in or near Lansing.  That doesn't necessarily mean there isn't one available, it's just that I don't know of one.

There is, though, an interview method for locating a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor without the benefit of a direct referral, in case you find yourself in a situation where that becomes necessary, such as with you.  I encourage you to review my initial response to your question so that you can approach this as a well-informed consumer.  Use the local telephone directories for this interview process:

1.   Call the office and ask, 揑s this a straight chiropractic office??or 揂re you a straight chiropractor??br> 2.   If the answer is, 揘o,?go on to the next phone listing and repeat step 1.  If the answer is, 揧es,?ask, 揥hat do you take care of??or 揥hat sort of conditions do you deal with??br> 3.   If the answer is, 揤ertebral subluxation only,?or 揘erve interference due to misaligned spinal bones,?or some similar answer that indicates this, then make an appointment.  Otherwise, go on to the next listing and repeat step 1.

The reason you would ask these two questions in this order is because not all chiropractors are non-therapeutic straight chiropractors, though some will erroneously identify themselves as such.  The second question helps you know if they truly understand and practice according to those principles.

Shannon, I hope you are able to find the right chiropractor for you.   

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.