Expert: Dr. Paul Newhart - 8/3/2011

Question
got in a car accident in 2006 have had very bad back pain since. I've been back and fourth to chiropractors but the last one did a x ray and told me my spine is backwards its the top neck half he told me what he was doing was trying to align my spine back with alignments while i lay on the table but after every appointment i was in more pain i also have damaged nerves that starts in my spine but goes threw my body, what should i do and is it possible to have a backward spine?

Answer
Without an actual hands on exam, it is very difficult to diagnose; I think what your chiropractor means by backward, is that the normal curvature is reversed.  Adjusting can help, but rehabilitative exercises should be done in conjunction with them to help correct muscular imbalance that would be leading to a lot of the reversal.  Some of the reversal can be from damage to the muscles and ligaments from the actual injury