I never heard, "Note the fibrosis of the lungs, due to emphysema. Look closely at the upper thoracic regions of the spine."
No one said, "Observe the postsurgical scarring and severed carpal ligament in the wrist. Check the lower cervicals carefully. What do you see?"
This afternoon, my new CA asked me whether or not subluxations can be seen, and what physical evidence there is of their presence and destructive influence on the body. I mentioned osseous, muscular and fibrous degenerative changes that occur. I reminded her of the malfunctions that she has already witnessed in distant tissues supplied by the nerves from subluxated spinal segments.
"Well, then," she persisted, "can't you see these changes in dissection? Wouldn't that prove that chiropractic subluxations exist?"
I had never before considered this question.
If students compared each cadaver's history and pathologies with the degenerative spinal changes, the would: explode out of their first year of anatomy with firsthand knowledge, faith, confidence and belief in the chiropractic principle; or the subluxation would be debunked in their minds.
THEORY: Obvious tissue degeneration in a cadaver should show a high correlation to degenerative changes in neurologically related areas of the spine.
Isn't this a basic premise of chiropractic?
If I were a student today, I would begin immediately to record any pathology in the cadavers being dissected in my anatomy lab. I would also note the condition of the spine, and would do this with or without the endorsement of my college. I could then make my own decisions about whether or not the subluxation exists and causes disease.
Comparing the locations and severity of pathologies with subluxations during dissection is easy. Perhaps this is already being done at some colleges. It should be ongoing, every day, at every chiropractic college in the world.
Our first-year students could become highly and intelligently motivated to find and remove subluxations - regardless of insurance companies, or of ignorant persecution - for the benefit of their patients.
On the other hand, what if the correlation between spinal pathology and tissue pathology does not exist? Would that be something that we should conceal from our students? Could chiropractic stand such a rude shock? It would certainly be a shock to me. Maybe the reason why chiropractic works so well is not for the reason(s) we previously thought.
I still wish I were a student again.