Select then such others in the group as need to be listed yet do not conflict with the rule against adjacent subluxations. Proceed to discover and record the exact direction of each. When this is done examine the next lower group in the same way and continue until the whole spine has been palpated.
The Atlas must be considered alone and not as a part of any of the above mentioned groups and its position is judged rather by its relation to the head than to other vertebrae; the Sacrum also requires individual attention, being compared with the Lumbar curve and with the ilia.
The one most pronounced subluxation in a group is often mentioned as the “key” to the group, since its correction would effectually loosen the entire group and sometimes partially correct the apparent abnormalities of the rest. It has also been called “major subluxation” to distinguish it from “minor subluxations” which are the others of less importance in the group. This term is not a good one because it suggests what is not always true, namely, that the mechanically greatest subluxation is more potent than any other. Occasionally a slighter subluxation irritates nerves so as to produce a disease more serious and immediately alarming than the condition following the greater displacement.
If, in the Cervicals, it is noticed upon gliding downward over the spinous processes that the fifth is badly subluxated and must be adjusted, this fact is held in mind for a moment while the palpater remembers that he cannot adjust and must not list the sixth or fourth. This leaves only the second, third and seventh for consideration, the Atlas having been separately examined. The seventh may best be included in the next group when such a selection is made, so that the palpater need only decide between the second and third Cervical, providing Atlas has not been chosen, as to which, if either, most requires attention. If Atlas has been listed, then there remains instead only the question as to whether the third is or is not subluxated.
In using the Group Method no preference is given to subluxation in any particular direction, save only that below the Cervicals we discriminate against the anteriors, because we cannot adjust them. The Group Method has to do with determining the points of greatest pressure on nerves and this depends upon one’s impression as to the interrelations between all the members of the group. (See p. 80 under Subluxations.)