Question
Hello Dr. Burnham,
I am trying to gain information about chiropractics. Actually, I am trying to find help for my wife. She suffers from chronic back pain. She has been to see many doctors. Nothing is helping. We live in Italy and are under statal health care. However, I am american, she is italian. I recommended to her to try an american chiropractor who lives here also. She has been to see the chiropratic doctor 3 times, so far. My wife is progressively getting worse (in the course of 3 weeks)...we believe that we should quit this care.
From what I understand of her problems, given the limits of my italian language comprehension, is that she is missing one lower bone in her spine...which has actually fused to her hip bone sometime when she was growing before birth. Then, she may suffer from some sort of spiny bone growth that may be affecting her nerves around the upper spine causing pain and uncomfort. When I say "uncomfort" this is mild pain that can be controlled with aspirin. The other pain is unbearable and we can find no type of pain medication or relief for her. No doctors will prescribe a stronger type of medicine to get her through the crisis...
Needless to say, this problem has controlled our lives--We are looking to control the problem or be done with it.
Reading these sypmtoms...do you think that we should continue with the chiropractor or can you recommend another class of doctors, such as orthopedics, who can be more helpful in this situation and who might have a better course of treatment?

Thank you for your time.
Gilbert & Cristina
Monza, Italy

Answer
first, may i apologize for any delay in my answer. i just received your question, but i have been informed it was placed some time ago. let's begin at the beginning. the sole purpose of chiropractic is to correct the cause of nerve interference. nerve interference is responsible for most health problems. i would seek an HIO METHOD chiropractor (somewhat rare here, i'm sure rarer in italy).i would accept no substitutes. when her nerve interference problem is corrected (which, by the way, originates in the upper neck) and is kept corrected, her body will then have the opportunity to resolve things as much as naturally is possible over time. it may be that some invasive procedure may eventually prove to be of some help if correcting the cause alone is unable to resolve the effects sufficiently, however i would only consider such as a last resort.