G'day Joe,

I was thinking, as I signed off my last post, that I ought to have been a bit more balanced! I have a friend (we were in a 'Bush Band' together in the 1970s ... and now he comes along to my Monday Night Music Sessions - as do his daughter, two sons and daughter-in-law!) who trained in chiropractic ... and came out believing there was an extreme end that believed all sorts of dubious formulas and fixed dogma ... but that there was a wealth of good knowledge and technique embedded among the rest.

I had a dramatic illustration of this late last year in respect of migraine headaches. I'm prone to a particularly "visual" type of migraine ... I first notice (often after I have suffered a flash of reflected sunlight or a bright artificial light) that a 'spot' appears to 'glow' ... then spread, like a fire in the middle of my vision. Left unchecked (if I notice early enough ... and apply some 'defocussing / mental relaxation .. I can stop the migraine) the "fire' spreads out, blacking out the central vision and spreading flickering, flame-coloured "jaggy" patterns until I can scarcely see... and I'm feeling physically drained (although without the intense pain of many migraines).

One Monday Night Session, concentrating hard on getting the Concert Party Group up to scratch with a tight demonstration dancing set for our Dance Workshop, and probably accidentally catching the beam of a spotlight in our stage area, I realised I was well into the development of one of these 'visual migraines' ... too late for me 'turn it off'. I asked the Session to carry on without me, as I needed to drive home while my vision held out ... and I packed up to go.

My friend John (who, these days, is in remission from spinal cancer ... but going well, post radiation & chemo- treatment ... and a spinal fusion!) intercepted me in the outer room and suggested he could fix the migraine by some 'gapping' and 'extension'. (I know that mainstream medical science has now identified nerve points that trigger migraines, so there is, now, agreement between the disciplines on this point.)

Despite the effort and pain of his own condition, John arranged me in a chair so he could extend and 'gap' my neck vertebrae and I could immediately see the visual effects of this migraine stop ... and recede! John's training, in this respect, came from chiropractic ... and predates the identification and recognition of the technique in mainstream medicine.

I should also say that, in the '70s, when I suffered back problems while playing accordion in our band on gigs, John straightened out some of the effects of bad work I had copped from much more "qualified" (and expensive) chiropractors! One of John's 1970s objections to his training was the disregard for the benefits of massage ... and a quasi-religious belief that making vertebrae 'click' magically cured everything. This was the characteristic mantra of those 'chiropractors' who did so little good for me in the '70s.

Regards,

Bob