Question
Hi Dr. Healey,
I asked you a question a little while back, and your advice was excellent, and based on that, I am seeking out services from a Chiropractic Center here in my home town.
I have been suffering from peripheral neuropathy for about 3 years, and recently a switch to Tofranil has reduced my symptoms dramatically.
Today I was evaluated, and I'd like to know what you feel the treatment(s) will be for the following problems:  1)drop foot (my left leg), 2) hemisphericity, 3)burning feet and 4)headaches.
The doctors have suggested that the problems probably lie in the S1, and atlas vertebrate.  I thought very highly of your last reply, and await your wisdom once again.
Thank you very much.
Rik

Answer
Dear Rik,

Thank you for your follow-up.  I do recall your initial question to me.  

After reading your message, I'll strongly invite you to review my original response with particular attention to the information on vertebral subluxation and the comments I made about non-therapeutic straight chiropractic before you go through the following information.  If you no longer have that message, contact me directly at [email protected] so you can have a chance to read it again carefully.  It is that important to your getting the most out of the information here.  

Please understand and remember that choosing to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor should not be based on such things as treatment.  It is based on the presence of vertebral subluxations, which are keeping you from being your best.  In my original reply to you I noted that there's a saying in my field that chiropractic is not about your back or your complaints, it's about your life.  I mentioned that the choice is not so much to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR your complaints as it is to go WITH your complaints so that you may face them ?and all the other aspects of your life and performance, for that matter - free of the hindrances of vertebral subluxations!  The service you'd be seeking is so that you can express your life to your fullest potential, whatever that may be.  Since I or (any other chiropractor) didn't create you, I don't know what your full potential is.  I do know, though, that the expectation of 搕reatment?for 損roblems?is not at all what I was describing to you.  

If the office you have chosen is addressing such things as you describe and attempting to connect these problems to particular bones in your spine (recall from my previous message that attempts to make such connections are guesswork at best if for no other reason than the complexity of nerve pathways in the body!), it is not at all likely that you have chosen a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor with the expertise and knowledge ?and, especially, the non-therapeutic outlook - to check your spine for vertebral subluxations.  It sounds as if the office you've chosen is, instead, probably of the therapeutic mixing chiropractic school of thought.  If so, this is not necessarily a bad thing.  In fact, if you go back to my original message to you, you will see that I encourage you to visit a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor for the purpose of having your spine properly checked for vertebral subluxations because they, in and of themselves, are absolutely detrimental to the expression of your life, not as a treatment for a complaint.  This does not mean you will not make decisions to have therapeutic concerns addressed as well.  You may, indeed, choose to do both.  Many people do not know what you now know about the separate and different forms of chiropractic.  You now have the power to make an informed choice ?and you may actually choose to use both!

If you wish to investigate this more fully, below is a method for finding a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor.  Hopefully, this will lead to a local office.  Remember, though, that not all chiropractors are the same and it will be worth a few minutes of travel to find the right office to meet your needs.

The best method for locating a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor without the benefit of a direct referral is a two-question telephone interview.  By doing this over the phone, you can save time and money by avoiding the trial-and-error approach of visiting various offices.
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, as I said, 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.

Once again, Rik, I am happy to provide you with information.  I wish you the best and invite you to contact me if there is any further information needed.


Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.