Is This the Era of the Thoughtless Adjustment?
Dear Editor:
I really enjoyed Dr. Heller's article in the current issue on low back syndromes ["Missed Causes of LBP: It's the Syndrome, Not the Subluxation," July 2018 issue]. I doubt if we will ever get the ability to diagnose in terms of specific syndromes, but he offers some great advice on getting a handle on what's wrong with the patient.
I get adjusted twice per week at present due to a very mild sciatic radiation from the low back into the calf. I have seen three different colleagues about this. Each has a general approach (at best) to my problem – even when treated on a good flexion-distraction table. Nobody does what Jim Cox taught me – to draw on the leg(s) when distracting (never using the straps in hot low backs). What I generally get is a ton of drops on my sacrum and iliac. The relief is less than what I desire.
I finally told one doc to please take hold of one of my ankles and to contact my L-3 spinous while slowly distracting - and briefly holding that posture. He wasn't pleased, but I was getting frustrated.
Another DC took contacts alongside the lumbars, pressing on the mammilaries and getting a report. Cox never taught that, either.
What I see is lots of DCs just using general – thoughtless – adjusting, even in the face of frank dermatomal symptoms. Of course, it is best termed a manipulation. But that's not what we are taught to do. So, what we have is a prize-package type of treatment. It may help; it may not. But by God, we will keep banging away and hope something helps.
John Gantner, DC, DABCO
Cape Coral, Fla.
Concise and Right on Point
Dear Editor:
Dr. Hanks' article ["Corporate Chiropractic, Pt. 2: The Dark Side," June 2018 digital exclusive; see part 1 (advantages) in the May issue] is concise and very accurate. I have been working part-time for a large chiropractic franchise and find the information as well as the opinions of the writer to be right on point.
Corporations and the "industrialization" of services are part of our national economical model. Pros and cons are always present, and particularly for health care, the cons can result in the delivery of a completely different product, as noted in the article.
Ricardo Morelli, DC
Glendale, Calif.
