Guest guest Posted April 8, 1999 Report Share Posted April 8, 1999 Geoff - I'm very much at a loss as to your suggesting a specialist in C-1. Given that a C-1 problem would effect every system of the body but the head (this is the one Reeve broke), I fail to understand your point. Maybe this is a nomenclature problem? All I know for certain is that C-4 andC-5 are responsible for the arms. At least the majority of the arms. That's where my own nerve damage is and any swelling or spasm in this area leaves my arms in pain, weak, tingly, and pretty useless. Best - Jan K > or perhaps a Chiropractor who specializes *ONLY* > in the C-1. Would stay away form a " regular " chiro for the time being. > > Geoff Crenshaw wrote: > From: Geoff Crenshaw <geoff@...> > > Hi Mark! Geoff Crenshaw here. > > > " HOLMES, MARK T. " wrote: > > > > Did any of you have tingling feet or hands when you first contracted > > RA? My older brother is telling me that he has had very painful > > shoulder joints for the past 8 days and his feet and hands have been > > tingling with his right hand sometimes feeling numb. Any thoughts? I > > never had tingling hands or feet with my RA, but his sore shoulders > > don't sound good to me. > > Sounds more like a neural problem in the cervical spine area - perhaps a > " pinched " nerve or slight swelling in that region placing pressure on > the spinal cord. Might want to have him checked by a D.O. or > D.O./Chiropractor ... or perhaps a Chiropractor who specializes *ONLY* > in the C-1. Would stay away form a " regular " chiro for the time being. > > HTH > -- > Regards, > > Geoff Crenshaw, ACC ---------------------- > Managing Partner ** No Disclaimers ** > Captain Cook's Cruise Center ---------------------- > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Over 3,000 daily cruise & tour specials > Top 5% of Web Sites > http://www.800-800-cruise.com [specials] > Top 100 Travel Sites > . > Top Web Sites for > Cruise tips New Zealanders > http://www.800-800-cruise.com [tips] > > USA PH: 800-800-CRUIse PH: 559-636-8413 FAX: 559-734-1420 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > geoff@... > > " Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you; He eats grass like > an ox. Behold now, his strength in his loins, and his power in the > muscles of his belly. He bends his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his > thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze; His limbs are > like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God. " > > JOB 40:15 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Looking to expand your world? > http://www.ONElist.com > ONElist has over 115,000 e-mail communities from which to chose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 9, 1999 Report Share Posted April 9, 1999 Hi Jan! Geoff Crenshaw here. Jan Kirsten wrote: > > Geoff - I'm very much at a loss as to your suggesting a specialist in > C-1. Given that a C-1 problem would effect every system of the body > but the head (this is the one Reeve broke), I fail to > understand your point. Maybe this is a nomenclature problem? Reeve suffered an angular injury to the C-1, which has a minor vertical node protruding from it. When one is hanged by the neck until dead, the hangman's intent is to break that vertical node thereby allowing the spinal column to snap with the weight and movement of the body. Sometimes by whatever force or fortune accompanies an incident, injuries to the C-1 which break this node are less than fatal, such as in Reeve's case. But as in his case, they are seldom pleasant. However, there are other sorts of injuries to the C-1; All are very dangerous and many - if not most - are fatal. A rotational displacement of the C-1 is one such injury, often caused by blunt-force trauma. These are occassionally associated with severe - even fatal - whiplash and characterized by the victim having their head turned to one side or the other from the direction of impact. These rotational injuries, *if not fatal,* will result in localized swelling and inflammation along the entire cervical spinal column and may give rise to the sort of symptoms Mark mentioned, as well as others of course depending on the exact neural pathways effected. One must understand that a 90 degree impact or anything which moves the C-1 laterally or angularly will, with any severity whatsoever, end in death. For a survivable injury of the sort I've mentioned to occur, the C-1 must literally rotate 'around' - but not too far - that itsy bitsy little node so that it stays not only intact - but in place. God's hand indeed. I for one suffered precisely this sort of blunt-force trauma rotational injury to the C-1 on multiple occassions, and *exactly* the symptoms he described - and more. The MRI's when modeled together into a true 3-D picture are much more fascinating than the experience, I assure you. It is interesting to note that this sort of injury is sorely aggravated by routine physiotherapy wherein the therapist " decompresses " the neck by pulling the head - whether sitting and done repetitively in a vertical motion, or supine and done horizontally by hand (usually on one plane - out, and side-to-side). The truly horrid part of it all is that Allopathic physicians, although they often see the displacement in a cursory examination without even the need to palpitate whatsoever, generally do not feel it is of any significance. If they do, they will usually refer the patient to the aforementioned physiotherapist who will then proceed to aggravate the situation beyond relief. Another interesting factoid is that these 'rotational' C-1 injuries are not all that rare, thanks mostly to automobile accidents. Another goody to watch out for with these is the 'general practice Chiropractor' who, not having been trained in this particular speciality, may inadvertantly try one of those tricky little " snap " maneuvers and end up snapping off that little aforementioned node. I know of this having happened in one instance where the patient/victim did not perish. In fact, they did not realize anything was wrong. They went to their rheumy, exclaimed excitedly how much ROM they had in their neck - demonstrated same and were promptly placed in a stiff collar, hustled off to x-ray where confirming pictures were snapped and then into emergency surgery for cervical spinal fusion! To my (admittedly limited) knowledge, there are 4 C-1 specialists in California and 1 in Nevada. Two of those in CA are in their mid-forties by now (one in the Silicon Valley area - the other I do not know where), the other two are near or beyond 80 (one in San - possibly deceased by now, the other in Turlock). I have no info on the fellow in Nevada. They treat *only* C-1 injuries, do not necessarily schedule repeat visits (unlike most chiropractors) and tend to be quite conservative not accepting insurance nor credit cards, nor carrying open accounts but charging only $35a pop (pun intended). These fellows use a machine originally modeled on a modified drill-press. The will use a device to measure the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) along the spine to determine it there is a problem. Properly positioned x-rays will show them at what angle to approach the vertebrae; They will then have the patient (Victim?) recline, ratchet down a solid metal spring-loaded mass firmly against the neck in the proper place, then release the spring. The metal mass shoves against the neck rotating the C-1 back into its proper position and - that's it. For some people, once is all they need. A DO (Osteopath), especially one cross-trained in Chiropractic, which is not all that rare, is often well able to handle these matters manually. My DO introduced me to this phenomenon and was able to rotate the C-1 back to position - which I promptly undid having had it 'out' for several years by the time I made his acquaintance and having become accustomed to the muscle mass being askew as it were. He prefers, however, not to do it at all and refers it to the C-1 specialists who have the proper equipment, training and on-going experience -- says he's not overly confident with the potential risk. I have noticed that whenever I flare even slightly, this is the first place to get it. I discovered all of this by experience, of course, being both too ignorant and too stubborn to matriculate in such matters I chose instead that long-recognized institution of higher learning, the School Of Hard Knocks (literally). Comes from an attitudinal problem which gives way to the concept that the study of Law is for those too slight of mind to be able to handle the Hard Sciences. From what Mark said about his family and all, it doesn't sound like it applies in his case. It was, however, possibly one of the progenetors of my RA. BTW - for those that don't know, the C-1/cranial union is the *only* " joint " in the spine. Oh... one more thing. As to it effecting every bodily system, you are correct. The only 'gotcha' as it were, is how and to what degree. The swelling accompanying a rotational injury as described would presumably be more injurious to those organ systems linked to the nerve packets closest to the phenomenon. However, proximity doesn't necessarily spell severity. A long light packet next to the swelling may be slightly impacted while a shorter packet opposite of the swelling but near some protuberence of some sort could be much worse off indeed. HTH -- Regards, Geoff Crenshaw, ACC ---------------------- Managing Partner ** No Disclaimers ** Captain Cook's Cruise Center ---------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Over 3,000 daily cruise & tour specials > Top 5% of Web Sites http://www.800-800-cruise.com [specials] > Top 100 Travel Sites .. > Top Web Sites for Cruise tips New Zealanders http://www.800-800-cruise.com [tips] USA PH: 800-800-CRUIse PH: 559-636-8413 FAX: 559-734-1420 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- geoff@... " Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you; He eats grass like an ox. Behold now, his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly. He bends his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze; His limbs are like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God. " JOB 40:15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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