Nobody taught me to read a room in chiropractic school.

They taught me to read an X-ray.

But the room tells you more. The way a patient holds the door handle. Whether they sit down fast or lower themselves carefully. The breath they take before they answer "how are you feeling."

I knew something was off with a patient last week before she said a single word. Her shoulders had moved forward about an inch since her last visit. Not pain posture. Protective posture. Those are different animals.

The spine is the last place the body stores a story. Everything else gives it away first.