Around 10 years ago I had some lower back pain and went to see a chiropractor, as they were offering free assessments. They took photos and x-rays and in my follow up consultation they showed me my x-rays with different coloured lines drawn on them, showing me where my spine sat and where it should have sat if everything was in alignment. I started weekly “treatment” and at my 3-month assessment they took new x-rays and in that follow up they showed me how my spine was much more aligned than it was in my initial assessment.
I understand that the low back pain was fixed by placebo, and I now know that a chiropractor can not physically produce enough force to “adjust” someone’s spine, so I’m thinking that my imaging shouldn’t have shown any difference between the two sets. The way it all happened, it’s obvious that this is part of their usual system, so they are doing this stuff all the time. What, in your opinion, typically accounts for these differences in imaging?