• Oakley PA
• Cuttler JM
• Harrison DE

• Open Access Document
• Radiation Exposure
• Radiography
• Spinal Diseases / rehabilitation
• X-Rays

To remedy spine-related problems, assessments of X-ray images are essential to determine the spine and postural parameters. Chiropractic/manual therapy realignment of the structure of the spine can address a wide range of pain, muscle weakness, and functional impairments. Alternate methods to assess such spine problems are often indirect and do not reveal the root cause and could result in a significant misdiagnosis, leading to inappropriate treatment and harmful consequences for the patient. Radiography reveals the true condition and alignment of the spine; it eliminates guesswork. Contemporary approaches to spinal rehabilitation, guided by accurate imaging, have demonstrated superiority over primitive treatments. Unfortunately, there are well-meaning but misguided activists who advocate elimination or minimization of exposures in spine radiography. The radiation dose employed for a plain radiograph is very low, about 100 times below the threshold dose for harmful effects. Rather than increasing risk, such exposures would likely stimulate the patient’s own protection systems and result in beneficial health effects. Spine care guidelines need to be revised to reflect the potential benefits of modern treatments and the lack of health risks from low X-ray doses. This would encourage routine use of radiography in manual spine therapy, which differs from common pharmacologic pain relief practice.

Author keywords: spine rehabilitation, radiation exposure, X-ray, chiropractic, routine radiography

This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher; full text is available by subscription. Online access only.  An open access version of this article is available here: Oakley PA, Cuttler JM, Harrison DE. X-ray imaging is essential for contemporary chiropractic: Radiography increases benefits and reduces risks. Dose Response. 2018 Jun 19;16(2):1559325818781437. PDF