October 2003

Nada bone

by Dr. Will Tickel

In consultation recently, a 36‑year old, well‑proportioned male reported that he had spoken with a "back specialist" prior to seeking our opinion on a lower back issue.

Tongue‑in‑cheek, I asked the young schoolteacher (who is also a tennis player), "Oh...what did the specialist say?"

"He showed me some x‑rays with all these screws and things in someone's back and said he wanted to fuse mine in the same way, citing a disintegrating disk as the reason why."

My time had come, as I had wanted to inform this patient‑to‑be just who the true "back specialist" is ‑‑ the D.C., of course. Now I had my opportunity to say it in such a way that the patient would most certainly "get it." Which, incidentally, is our reason for communication in the first place.

"Sounds to me like you consulted an orthopedist ‑‑ a bone and joint specialist ‑‑ not a back specialist."

This was my explanation to the would‑be patient (perhaps something you should consider in your communication, doctor?):

"The backbone is not a bone. Nor is it a series of bones. Your backbone is the idea, the thought, conscious or unconscious ‑‑ or 'innate' thought as we say in chiropractic. Your backbone is the message conveyed up and down the spinal cord, the extension of the brain, which is protected by its journey through the 24 moving bones of the spinal column. Your backbone is not a bone at all, but a much softer component of your body. In fact, your backbone is not even a component, but a thought, an idea ‑‑ the idea of life."

The educator nodded with enthusiasm. (I had him on the run.)

"The specialist you spoke with is a bone and joint specialist, a bone doctor. That's why he so quickly jumped to doctoring the bones with screws and orthopedic apparatus. He's concerned about the bone and joints not what we know to be the "backbone" ‑‑ the message, the communication, the thought of life, carried in the spinal cord and out over the nerves. Are you interested in the bones and joints?," I asked, knowing full well the answer.

"No, I'm interested in doing something about the pain and discomfort I have running down the outside of my leg, sometimes reaching all the way down to the top of my foot," the wannabe replied. "In fact," he continued, "my back doesn't even hurt! Never did."

It was time. Time to interrupt. "Then why did you consult me, a chiropractor if your back doesn't hurt?"

"Because I didn't like the sound of the surgery," he answered without hesitation.

"Good, I said, "Neither do I like the sound of the surgery. In fact, those orthopedic procedures are quite likely to result in a backache down the road. Fuse those joints and you're quite likely to have more disintegrating disks as the joints above and below the fusion compensate for the loss of movement. Were I a betting man, I'd bet dollars to donuts on it."

The educator was getting an education himself by now. And unlike the education he provides, this one was free ‑‑ as in, "Consultation and preliminary examination are at no‑charge in our office," which is our office assistant's telephone script with potential new clients.

"We haven't even begun to address how such an orthopedic intervention might effect the range of your tennis game" (he was definitely listening now).

"Ever been to a chiropractor before?," I asked.

"I've been going to the chiropractor for ages with this," the man explained. "This is nothing new. I've suffered with this for 10 years or more."

I noticed the inflection he used with "the chiropractor." Ever notice how people refer to us in this way? It's as though they're saying, "seen one [D.C.] and you've seen them all." It's often a dead giveaway for simplistic thinking where all chiropractors are the same. I get a chuckle out of it (chuckle, chuckle), don't you?

He went on to explain the depth and extent of his former chiropractic care that we ever‑so‑gently interpreted and corrected for him in our efforts to restore his faith in chiropractic.