Do I Need X-rays?

Have you been to you Chiropractor and told that he is going to need an X-ray of your neck and lower back to treat you?  Did you get free X-rays with your first initial visit?  Did they tell you that without X-rays they could not detect where to adjust you and put your bones back into place?  If you have answered yes to any of these, you have been lied to!

I know that some practitioners in my profession will take offense, but my main goal is to educate patients and the general population so that they can make an informed decision when they are seeking out health care options. 

It is a common practice to take X-rays on every new patient, to tell those patients they will adjust a particular segment because it is rotated, flexed, or extended.  If they do not do this, the nerve will become compromised and lead to other problems.   These same practitioners will also use the phrase: "putting it back into place" or "it is out".  Unfortunately, a majority of new patients tell me their "back is out" and their last chiropractor would put it back in for them.   Patients will correlate the cracking/popping noise with the practitioner "putting it back in".  That is the same noise that happens when you pop your knuckles.  So were you knuckles out and you were putting them back in every time you cracked your knuckles?  Probably not. 

The sound you are hearing is tiny gas bubbles inside the joint capsule and with a quick rapid expansion of the joint capsule ( the manipulation) they make a popping noise.  If they really are putting joints back into place with that little force, then every time you fell, got bumped, or twist your back it would "go out".  That is just nonsense.

The only explanations I can come up with is that they actually believe the outdated theory that your bones go out of place and they can magically put them back in.  Research does not support the subluxation (bone out of place) theory, it does not support any visible changes of bones on X-ray after adjustments, and they are not needed for safe treatment of the spine.

There is definitely utility for X-ray in clinical practice, when medically necessary.  However, "first exam X-ray's", "first patient specials", or "free X-ray's with treatment" do not constitute as medical necessities.