What Is “Upper Cervical Specific” Chiropractic?

By Jason Gonzales, D.C. of Specific Chiropractic

It's been called the best-kept secret in health care...

            Chiropractic has been around for more than 100 years. Most towns have at least a few chiropractic offices. Chico has more than 40. Through the years millions of people have been treated by a chiropractor for conditions varying from asthma to vertigo. If you’ve never been to a chiropractor, chances are you know someone who has. However, most people are under the impression that chiropractic is good for stiff joints or low back pain and not much else. Truth be told, chiropractic was never intended to be used as a treatment for low back pain or stiff joints. From the very beginning the developers of chiropractic intended chiropractic to be used as way to restore health and function to the sick, regardless of the condition or where their symptoms were situated. So what happened? Why do most people think chiropractors are low back pain doctors and what the heck is “upper cervical specific” chiropractic? To answer those questions I need to bring you up to speed on a little chiropractic history.

In 1895 chiropractic was born...

            As the story goes, it was 1895 and a man by the name of D. D. Palmer had a chance encounter with the janitor of his building, Harvey Lillard. Harvey, who was nearly deaf, was telling D. D. the story of how he lost his hearing. One day while he was working, Harvey heard a loud “pop” in his back and like the flick of a modern-day light switch he lost nearly all of his hearing. D. D. was an inquisitive man and fancied himself an alternative healer, so he asked Harvey to show him where the “pop” happened all those years ago. D. D. noticed an unusual bump on Harvey’s spine and used his hands to adjust it back into place. The details of exactly where in the spine Harvey’s bump was and exactly how D. D. adjusted back into place have gotten fuzzy in the last 100 years, but all accounts of this story end with Harvey’s hearing being restored after D. D.’s adjustment. That chance encounter between D. D. Palmer and Harvey Lillard was basically the birth of chiropractic.

            D. D. Palmer is usually credited with discovering chiropractic (although the connection between the spine and health dates to Hippocrates around 450 b.c.), but it was his son, B. J. Palmer, whom we chiropractors have to thank for establishing our profession. For those who knew him and for those who have studied his work, B. J. is regarded as a man before his time. B. J. was driven by a simple idea and he spent his life validating the idea scientifically. The idea was this: "One cause, one cure.”

            Like his father before him, B. J. began to adjust the spines of the sick in an effort to restore health. He would sometimes adjust in the area of the low back, or the midback, or the neck, and sometimes in all three areas. Some of the patients would get well, but others would not. Why some and not others? Trying to answer that question is what drove B. J. to evolve the practice of chiropractic.

            Why didn’t Henry Ford stop after the first Model T? Because the goal wasn’t to make a car; the goal was to make the best car. Why didn’t B. J. stop after learning how to adjust all the segments of the spine? Because the goal wasn’t to simply adjust all the bones of the spine to help only a few; the goal was make only one adjustment that would restore the health of many. B. J. knew that an individual’s health didn’t depend on more intervention. It only needed less interference. So, not satisfied with “good enough,” B. J. went back to his chiropractic lab and kept performing clinical trial after clinical trial in an effort to increase both the efficiency and effectiveness of the chiropractic adjustment.

In the early 1930s upper cervical specific chiropractic is unveiled to the world...

            It took B. J. nearly 30 years to discover the unique relationship between the top two bones of the spine (often called atlas and axis, or C1 and C2 … hence “upper cervical”) and overall function of the body. In the course of his research, B. J. was the first health-care practitioner of any kind to use X-rays for diagnostic purposes. He also was the driving force for the development of technology that was capable of monitoring neurological function within the body. In many was B. J. was a health-care pioneer.

            In the early 1930s B. J. unveiled his findings to the rest of the profession, but much to his chagrin he discovered that the majority of his fellow chiropractors were resistant to changing how they practiced chiropractic. They were already earning a living, helping some of their patients get well, and they were comfortable with the status quo. Even many of the chiropractic colleges that had opened during B. J.’s research years were resistant to teaching his new methods, in spite of the fact that B. J. was using upper cervical specific methods to restore the health of individuals who were failed by both the medical profession and full-spine chiropractic.

            All was not lost when B. J. died in 1961. A small but ever-growing group of chiropractors has kept the upper cervical approach alive and intact. In fact, this dedicated group of doctors has been using modern-day technology and advanced imaging to validate B. J.’s original ideas and improve upon them.

Flash forward to today...

            There is a small but ever-growing upper cervical movement within the ranks of our profession and the public at large. The word is out about how effective upper cervical specific chiropractic can be when it comes to reversing the course of chronic disease and dysfunction within the body.

            The idea that there’s a distinct connection between the overall health and function of the body and the position of the top two vertebrae in the neck is not new. In fact, this knowledge predates B. J. and chiropractic altogether. For thousands of years we’ve known that a physical trauma that disrupts the position of C1 or C2 can have a devastating effect on one’s health and function.

            A tragic example would be the late Christopher Reeve, who fell off his horse and severely injured his upper neck. As a result of the accident he lost the ability to move both his arms and his legs. He lost normal bowel and bladder function. He lost normal digestive function. He lost normal heart and lung function. He even lost normal immune system function. Did he damage his legs or arms in the accident? No. Did he damage his stomach or intestines in the accident? No. Did he damage his heart or lungs in the accident? No. The only thing the fall from his horse did was displace the top two bones of his neck and yet he lost the function of every major system in his body and ultimately died from an infection that got out of control because even his immune system had been compromised.

            So if a major accident to the top of the neck can cause all of that to happen in just a few seconds, then what about a minor injury that’s left undetected and uncorrected for weeks, months, or even years? B. J. used to say that “small things can be big.” He was right. A misalignment at the top of the neck is a small thing. Watching your health fade through the years and losing your ability to live your life as you would like because you’re in chronic pain is a big thing. Correcting the misalignment and removing the interference to your nervous system is a small thing. Getting your life back is a big thing.

            If you find yourself losing your health in spite of the numerous "interventions" you’ve tried … maybe what your body needs is "less interference."