Leander J. Eckard, DC, hypothesizes about mole patterns and their correlation to chronic subluxations. He calls this The Leander Sign.

During my 40 years of practice in adjusting more than 1 million subluxations in patients of many different nationalities in places such as Europe, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, England, and nearly every state in the United States, I have noticed a distinct correlation between chronic subluxations and the presence of mole patterns that overlay the course of dermatomes.

To clarify, any time there is a pattern of moles near the spine or coursing its way down the arm or around the rib cage, you need to look closer for specific subluxation at the point where that dermatome exits from the spine.

Also, in many cases, you will see a line of moles starting at or near the atlas transverse tip and continuing along the lower jawline to the chin at the center—but never beyond the center. These examples are very common and are associated with lifelong symptoms of chronic subluxations.

This paper will discuss an ongoing, seminal research project regarding mole patterns and their correlation to subluxations. I have not come across any published findings regarding such a correlation. I have been lecturing about these lesions for several years at state conventions and Parker Seminars.

Moles were first noted and named nevus pigmentosus by Richard Lightburn Sutton in his book Diseases of the Skin.¹ Also George Henry Fox in his 1905 Photographic Illustrations of Skin Disease² shows a picture of nevus verrucsus linearis, which he wrote is a pigmented area that presents itself in lines or elongated patches.

While researching and reviewing several books about scoliosis for a lecture series, nearly every picture of patients with scoliotic spines had at least one major mole present at or near the subluxation lesion. Often, a distinct pattern of moles is present following the dermatome from the area of the spine to the center of the body at the front.

I call these examples of nevus verrucsus linearis the Leander Sign. If the line of moles exit away from the spine at a level of verifiable subluxation I call it a positive Leander Sign.

Conversely, if I was not able to confirm a subluxation at that level of the spine, I would give the situation the name, negative Leander Sign. I have yet to find a negative sign.

I have researched about 40 medical texts on the subject and none of them consider the possibility of a relationship between nerve root compression and the appearance of a line of moles.

The first reaction I have had from the disbelieving typical patient when telling them my findings is, “Well I've had that since I was born. But my back just started hurting last week.” My advice is to be aware of the mole pattern hypothesis and start making some of your own and write them in the patient’s file.

Figure 1: The mole pattern on the arm and back denotes a chronic subluxation of the second thoracic vertebrae.

A female patient whom I have adjusted and determined to have positive Leander Sign has large moles on both sides of the spine and down the backs of both arms (Figure 1). The subluxation level is located just immediately above the first mole. She admitted having these moles all her life and experiencing chronic pain at that level of the spine as long as she could remember.

I have also found several instances where the children of my patients had a mole pattern similar to that of their parents, which leads me to believe that the condition must be congenital. And the subluxation lesion existed in the child as well as her mother. Was the mole pattern congenital or the subluxation?

During my research, I concluded that the presence of a mole pattern denotes that there has been in the past an insult to the nerve fibers associated at the level of the cutaneous nerve supplying the cells that make up the mole itself. With this knowledge, DCs have one more diagnostic tool to better care for their patients.

I am still in the early stages of researching the Leander Sign hypothesis. I welcome any queries and insight that you, my fellow colleagues, may have in this matter.

Leander J. Eckard, DC, has been in practice since since 1964, served on the Parker College of Chiropractic Board of Trustees for 18 years, and is the inventor of the motorized flexion table. He currently resides in Santa, Idaho, and lectures all over the United States. Eckard can reached via e-mail: dr.leander@direcway.com

References
1. Sutton RL. Diseases of the Skin. St Louis, Mo; CVMosby; 1931:667.
2. Fox GH, Mason OG. Photographic Atlas of the Diseases of the Skin. New York, NY; Kettles Publishing Co; 1905:152.