Annals of the Swiss Chiropractors' Association -- Volume IX

Edited by -- Pierre C. Tschumi, D.C.

See page xxx on how to order.

Volume IX of the Swiss Annals is the latest in a line of distinguished publications produced by the Swiss Chiropractors' Association. As with the preceding, this most recent volume continues to be one of the finest compendiums of research papers available to the profession.

How well I remember my first experience with a chiropractor. He was an upper cervical specialist and when I took a member of my family to him I remember being quite impressed with his x-ray procedures. The views of her cervical spine were incredible, especially to the layman that I was at the time. Lines and geometric configurations were splashed all over the image, making it a tapestry of things I knew nothing about.

The post-adjustment x-rays were equally interesting, demonstrating such a radical difference from the first ones that I was convinced he had made a switch in patients. What was also impressive were the terms he used to describe the vertebral positions.

A long time has passed since then. We've been to the moon and my children continue to grow. Unfortunately, the terms used by some chiropractors to describe perceived faulty vertebral mechanical relationships has remained virtually unchanged. Sometimes it almost seems that the listings of the subluxation complex have been carved in granite by the purveyors of some of the techniques so vigorously espoused.

An excellent paper in Volume IX by Dr. R. Sandoz addresses the exposition of both static and motion perceptions of the vertebral fixation. It reminded me of someone opening the window of a smoke-filled room.

The paper presented by Dr. Nardini and Dr. Tschumi was of particular interest to me since I served as a chiropractic physician in a medical clinic for over a year. The paper was concerned with that gray area between skeletal signs and inner organic lesions. My experience allowed me to participate mechanically in concert with allopathic and homeopathic therapeutics. This allowed a greater conceptualization of the structure/function hypothesis. The paper concludes that the benefits to our patients would be enhanced if both the medical and chiropractic professions cooperated more extensively on a clinical level.

Dr. J.P. Ladermann's iconoclastic exercise on the somato/visceral reflex hypothesis was excellent. While I believe very strongly that structure affects function, this belief is based to a great extent upon emotional sway from my clinical results. This is not enough and Ladermann makes this quite clear. His paper is a challenge that must be addressed by anyone who feels strongly enough about something to attempt to prove its validity.

Papers on the prescription of shoe lifts, paretic and paralyzing sciaticas, gait improvement after a chiropractic adjustment as quantified by computers, chiropractic theory, and the narrow lumbar canal of degenerative origin are just some of the papers that complete this volume.

While all of the volumes are soft cover, the paper, printing, and photographic reproductions are of extraordinary quality. In the future I plan to have them bound with hard covers. This is the only way to care for treasures.

RHT