The following are testimonials from people who have had chiropractic adjustments and questions related to chiropractic care.

I became ill two months ago and fortunately, my general practitioner recommended chiropractic care as she herself had benefited from treatment at Dr Harvey’s Chiropractic Centre. The spinal manipulation immediately alleviated my neck pain and after five visits, I started to walk without assistance and experienced considerable relief of my pain.

(For her first visit, she was in a wheelchair due to pain and being unable to walk; and, for her second visit she needed assistance from at least two people to walk into the adjusting room.)

My enthusiastic testimonial is based on my personal experience with Dr Davis’ clinical skills. I had neck pain, chronic lower back pain radiating down to my knee and spasms with sleepless nights. Initially, I had to use a wheelchair but after a few days, I began to walk with assistance. Today, thanks to him, I am nearly independent again.

(She is now driving herself to the office and ambulating of her own effort.)

Dr Davis performed the procedures and manoeuvres expeditiously and with great care and concern for my welfare. His bedside manner and patience with my many questions are two more reasons why I will always get my care from his office. This is my first experience of chiropractic care and when I think of the many years that I experienced neck pain, I chide myself for waiting so long to seek out this alternative help.

Capt Sandra M Taylor Wiggan

I have suffered from chronic back pain for over 15 years; as a physician I took a number of medications which only provided temporary relief. After having chiropractic adjustments by Dr Chris Davis my pain was gone. I felt stronger and more flexible. I have also stopped taking pain medication. I have had about five chiropractic adjustments and after each I have noticed that my entire body felt more in tune. I even found myself with more energy. I highly recommend Dr Davis to anyone in search of alternative health and wellness.

Dr Rakesh F Thomas, MD, Portmore

READERS’ QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

From Annetta: I’m a 47-year-old female. I discovered about 10 or so years ago that I have two prolapsed discs in my lower back. I have no idea how it happened. I experience lower back pains if I walk or stand too long and finding a comfortable sleeping position is a challenge.

I’ve been grinning and bearing it and wonder if as I get older I will need surgery or is it something you can help with. Will health insurance cover treatment by you? Thanks much.

Dr. Davis: Anetta, thanks for your question. Please allow me to state for the record once more, that I do not treat symptoms or cure anything. Your body has the ability to cure itself under the right circumstances and with assistance.

That being said, I do one thing. I align the human spine and extremities. If your spine is out of alignment, prolapsed disc or not, then you can have symptoms from pressure being applied to nerves. If you have a herniation, or other such diagnosis, then it is even more vital to align the bones and to allow the nerves the most space as they exit the spine. And, if any ignorant person tries to tell you that the adjustment can damage your disc further, then they do not truly understand the scientific and anatomical fact that discs have no blood supply or nerve supply. They are not alive and they have no pain receptors. A blown-out tyre cannot logically be “damaged” further. The pain comes from the pressure the bones are putting on your nerves. Get your bones aligned.

A couple of absolute facts are that if you do nothing, then your condition will get worse as time goes by; and, surgery is very expensive, extremely invasive, dangerous (even if it is crisis in nature), and up to 80 per cent of surgeries recommended and performed are totally unnecessary and ineffective. Even the ones that are necessary run the inherent risk of infection, nerve damage, paralysis, and more problems than you had before. This is called iatrogenesis, and refers to physician/surgeon-induced damage.

Here is my eternal advice to everyone who has questions like yours: Why would you try the natural or least invasive way last? The logical way to approach this is to try the safe, gentle, effective chiropractic adjustment first. If you respond well, then you have just saved yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars and a lifetime possibly of frustration, pain, disability, and even subsequent surgeries down the road.

In 15 years, I have lost only one legitimate patient to surgery. That person has loss of nerve, bowel and bladder function. Surgery could not have realistically harmed them any further.

We will know relatively quickly if the adjustments can help you. If they do not help you (which is highly unlikely), then at worst you have only lost a minimal investment and at least you tried before having no other choice. To simply go blindly under the surgeon’s knife is not thinking clearly, no matter how convincing or insistent they may be. I can offer you 30 full sessions that will cost you about half as much as one full body MRI, at J$60,000. If you can avoid a million-dollar surgery for that, you will be singing praises. If you can’t (which is rare) then at least you are really no worse off in the overall scheme of things. At least we can say we gave it an honest effort.

Save your insurance for sickness care. That is what medicine addresses. I am in the business and service of wellness and health care. For that you must invest. No worries, though, the 30-visit package I mentioned is discounted J$90,000 off of my regular office visit prices. No insurance company on this planet can come close to that with their so-called “benefits”, and you aren’t stuck waiting for a “reimbursement” cheque for prices that are inflated to offset the cost of “insurance”.

Call 890-0265 on Monday morning to schedule your initial visit with my assistant, Yanique. I have a feeling you won’t regret it.

Annetta: Thanks for your prompt response. I definitely will call her to schedule my visit. Do you need X-rays, etc, before to determine where exactly the prolapsed discs are located?

Dr Davis: If you have an X-ray report not older than six months, please bring it with you to the visit.

Annetta: Sorry, but no. It was that 10+ year-old X-ray that made me realise I had them. As I really had thought my backaches were from wearing too many high-heeled shoes.

Dr Davis: Annetta, X-rays only indicate primarily three things: dislocations, fractures and tumours (aggressive disease processes). A new X-ray would be no more than diagnostic in nature for those specific things/conditions, and cannot by nature diagnose actual disc, nerve and other soft tissue problems. You would need an MRI or a CT for that and they are very expensive. If I feel after evaluating and treating you that these are indicated, then I will refer you for them. Let’s not put the cart before the horse. When someone prescribes an MRI, they are generally unsure of your diagnosis; and, searching for a “positive” (bad for you) finding which is required by insurance companies to “medically necessitate” (pay the surgeon) further invasive treatments such as spinal surgery. As your chiropractor, my intention is to avoid your undergoing surgery. I do not desire to “diagnose” you, but rather to correct your underlying problem that is causing your condition in the first place.

Added Note: The comment regarding high-heeled shoes – these can and do cause exacerbations and irritation and most definitely are a contributing factor to low back pain and problems of spinal postural imbalance. They inherently increase the lumbosacral angle, thereby applying more aggravation and pressure to the nerve roots. I totally recommend wearing high-heels on an extremely limited basis (special occasions for short durations), if at all. Flats are the way to go biomechanically. If you are concerned about your height, then I suggest platform shoes, which can add inches to your height without increasing the lumbosacral angle of your spine.

To be fair, the same advice goes for gentlemen who desire to play “who has the fattest wallet” game. This typically puts a wedge between your bum and the sitting surfaces, which also cause postural imbalances and torqueing of the pelvis and entire spine. Men, take those wallets out of your back pockets (where it is an easy target for pick-pockets anyway) and put them in the front pocket.

Don’t forget to “Ask Your Chiropractor” every week where your questions may be published and answered in subsequent articles. Address questions to: Dr Chris Davis, the Spinal Mechanic at movethebone@gmail.com; or, Dr Michael Harvey, director, at dr.michael_harvey@yahoo.com or visit www.drharveychiropractic.com