Current Newsletter

We’re not talking about your listing in the phone book (do people use them anymore?) or whether your boat is tilting in the water. When chiropractors use the word “listing” it’s used to describe the direction your vertebrae or spinal bones are subluxated or out of position.

For example, let’s say you’re told your listing is “C-1 right.” What does that mean? Well, C1 is shorthand for your first cervical (neck) vertebra. It’s located just underneath your skull. “C-1 right” means that C1 is shifted to the right. C-1 RA means that vertebra is shifted right and has rotated anterior (or forward) on the right.

If we said that your C-2 is left that would indicate that your second cervical vertebra is shifted left. Your seven cervical vertebrae are named C-1, C-2, C-3 all the way to C-7.

You also have 12 thoracic vertebrae named T-1 to T-12. You have five lumbar (lower back) vertebrae named L-1 to L-5.

Your vertebrae can misalign in many individual directions – left, right, inferior (down), superior (up), rotation, anterior (towards the front), posterior (towards the back), medial (towards your center), lateral (away from your center) – and many combinations of directions. There are also different listing systems based on the various adjusting techniques chiropractors use.

It can get very complicated.

Since we were discussing the C-1 vertebra we thought you might like to know a little more about it. C-1 is also called the atlas. Just as the Greek god Atlas held the globe of the world, so your atlas vertebra holds the globe of your head.

The atlas lies in a very important area between the skull and the spine. This is known as a transitional area. Your atlas is shaped like a ring and your spinal cord extends through the center of this ring as it leaves your brain. A subluxation (misalignment) of the atlas could affect billions of nerves. If the atlas is badly subluxated the effect could be devastating.

Such devastation was revealed in a fascinating research paper. Coroners X-rayed 74 newly dead infants in a specially designed structure that put their spines through a range of motion. In this triple-blind study, a dangerous distortion of the atlas was found in the majority of SIDS deaths.

This research indicates that at least some cases of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome also called crib death) may be due to obstetrical damage at or near birth. Indeed, there are cases of babies suffering serious spinal, brachial plexus and brain damage from obstetrical mistakes.

For that reason chiropractors have always supported gentle birthing practices – midwives and doulas, water births and home births – as safer birth approaches.

And of course it is essential to have your baby’s spine checked after birth and for the rest of his/her life by a doctor of chiropractic to help ensure a healthier, happier child. (1)

Since we’re on the subject of crib death, did you know it has been linked to vaccination, particularly the DTP vaccine? There is much evidence connecting the two.

For example, in 1975 the Japanese government raised the minimum vaccination age from two months to two years. (2)

When that occurred SIDS virtually disappeared and overall infant mortality (death rate) dropped dramatically; Japan zoomed from 17th to first place in infant survival in the world. A medical researcher even wrote: "It is difficult to exclude pertussis vaccines as a causal factor … the adverse events occur in close temporal association with vaccination." (3)

The same thing happened in England after parents stopped vaccinating due to media reports of brain injury after the DTP vaccine. “Low [vaccination] compliance was linked to low death rate.” (4)

With infants being injected at younger and younger ages it is especially important to keep in mind how dangerous these “shots” can be, especially to a developing, growing brain. For that reason many parents are refusing vaccinations for their babies while others are delaying injections until their children are close to school age.

Every healing art follows a philosophy. While medicine follows a mechanistic philosophical model, chiropractic follows a vitalistic philosophical model (the body is intelligent and reactive).

Chiropractic recognizes that the ultimate healer is your inner healing ability that can heal anything – from a cut to cancer. Our purpose as chiropractors is to help your natural healing ability to function as close to 100% as possible.

We do that by correcting subluxations – structural distortions in the body that interfere with the flow of energy and information throughout the body.

Chiropractors are specialists in locating and correcting subluxations in everyone – from the newborn to the elderly – so you’ll function with more balance, harmony and energy.

1. Schneier M, Burns R. Atlanto-occipital hypermobility in sudden infant death syndrome. The Journal of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigation. 1991;7(2):33.

2. Iwasa A, Ishida S, Akama, K. Swelling of the brain in mice caused by pertussis vaccine: its quantitative determination and the responsible factors in the vaccine. Japan J Med Sci Biol; 1985;38:53-65.

3. Noble GR, Bernier RH, Esber EC, Hardegree MC et al. Acellular and whole-cell pertussis vaccines in Japan: report of a visit by US scientists. JAMA. 1987;257(10):1351-1356.

4. McFarlane A. Infant deaths after four weeks. Lancet. 1982;ii:929-930.
5. Kado DM, Huang MH, Karlamangla AS, Barrett-Connor E, Greendale GA. Hyperkyphotic posture predicts mortality in older community-dwelling men and women: a prospective study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004;52(10):1662-1667.

6. Whittle-Davis H, Czegus K. Chiropractic care of a pediatric patient with asthma: a case report. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2011;3:77-81.

7. Briggs L. Management of post-traumatic fibromyalgia in a female undergoing subluxation based chiropractic care for 15 years. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. April 6, 2011;9-14.

8. Roberto F, Sousley E. Resolution of type 2 diabetes mellitus in a patient undergoing subluxation based chiropractic care and dietary recommendations: a case study. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. July 21, 2011;73-81.