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| Arthritis patients turn to chiropractic The Annals of Internal Medicine (of all places) published the results of a survey of 232 people who had arthritis and were under a rheumatologists care. Of those 63% responded to the survey by saying they were using some form of "complementary care" as named by the study. Of those people 31% were using chiropractic. These number may themselves be grossly under reported as only 45% of the patients told their doctor about using the other forms of care. These reported numbers translate to over 19% of the public who is seeing a rheumatologists is also seeing a chiropractor. And if less that half of the patients are telling their doctor about it the actual number may be twice as high. Possibly the most impressive statistic was that 73% of those trying chiropractic found it helpful. The reasons given why people said they tried the non-medical care was to control pain, because they heard it helps, because it is safe, because it helped someonethey know, and because their prescription medication wasn't working. |
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| Cancer patients quality of life improved with chiropractic An article published in the January 2001 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics follows two case studies of patients with various types of serious cancer. The article follows the chiropractic care and it’s effect on these patients pain and quality of life. The first patient was a 57-year-old man with serious terminal pancreatic cancer. This patient received chiropractic care during the later stages of the disease. In the remaining time the patient had before succumbing to the disease it was documented that the patient had significantly less pain and was able to reduce his medications. The Journal article summed up this case by stating, “In this case chiropractic care was able to provide significant pain relief, reduce the amount of pain medication being taken (as well as the potential side effects), and temporarily improve the quality of life for a patient with terminal cancer." The second patient was a 54-year-old man recovering from surgery for lung cancer. This patient was continually suffering from upper back pain and had gotten no relief for over one year. At that point the patient began chiropractic care. In this case the patient received immediate relief and was able to discontinue all pain medication after two chiropractic visits. The principles of chiropractic make it plain that the focus of chiropractic care is not to directly treat the patient’s pain but rather to assist the body and allow the body’s own healing abilities to work at that person’s maximum potential. These case studies show that ability and the effect on people suffering with serious conditions. The Journal article states it best when it said, “These clinical examples offer 2 specific instances of how chiropractic may improve the quality of a cancer patient’s life.” |
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| Chiropractic patient with glaucoma helped by chiropractic An interesting case study was recently published in the Journal Of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics July / August 2000 edition. In this journal was a case study review of a 25 year old woman who went to a chiropractor for back pain. This woman was also suffering from congenital glaucoma which severely affected her vision. Before chiropractic care was initiated, the patient was sent for a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination to determine the severity of her glaucoma. The result of that exam was that the patient did indeed have severe eyesight impairment due to her congenital condition. Almost immediately after she initiated her chiropractic care, (one visit), the patient noticed an improvement in eyesight. After four adjustments, the patients monocular visual field had increased from approximately 2% to approximately 20% of normal. Although the patient would never regain total eyesight the ten-fold improvement in just one week was significant. Although many other reports of this type have been made by chiropractors, in their practices this case was unique because it was verified by a before, and after, ophthalmologic examination performed by an independent medical ophthalmic surgeon. This case was also well documented and published in a peer reviewed scientific journal. |
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| Multiple Sclerosis patient helped with chiropractic: a case report In the May 2001 issue of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (JVSR) comes a Case Report study of a Multiple Sclerosis patient who was helped with Chiropractic care. According to the case report a 47-year-old female first experienced symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at age 44. These symptoms included cognitive problems and loss of bladder control. She then went to a neurologist who diagnosed her with MS after viewing multiple lesions on MRI (MS plaques). Two years later her condition worsened as she noticed additional symptoms of leg weakness and paresthesias in her arms and legs. Her condition progressively deteriorated without remission. At that point her neurologist categorized her as having chronic progressive MS and recommended drug therapy. At this point the patient decided to begin Chiropractic care. The patent's history also included a fall approximately one decade prior to the onset of her symptoms. A chiropractic examination and x-rays were performed and it was determined that there was the presence of an upper cervical (upper neck) subluxation. At this point regular specific adjustments were begun to correct the subluxation. The patient’s progress was monitored through observation, patient’s subjective description of symptoms, thermographic scans, neurologist’s evaluation and MRI. The patient continued to be cared for with upper cervical chiropractic care for two years. The patient continued to have the chiropractic care, as well as check ups with the neurologist and MRI studies. After four months of chiropractic care, all Multiple Sclerosis ( MS) symptoms were absent. A follow-up MRI showed no new lesions as well as a reduction in intensity of the original lesions. After a year passed in which the patient remained asymptomatic, another follow-up MRI was performed. Once again, the MRI showed no new lesions and a continued reduction in intensity of the original lesions. Two years after upper cervical chiropractic care began, all MS symptoms remained absent. |
| Premenstrual Syndrome |
| Premenstrual Syndrome and chiropractic A positive report was published in the November / December 1999 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics concerning the effects of chiropractic on the symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome. The study was completed on 25 women. Estimates of the prevalence of this condition vary depending on criteria. This study estimated that between 10% and 20% of reproductive age women have severe symptoms associated with this condition. The study included chiropractic adjustments for a ten day period prior to the beginning of the subjects cycles. The women were asked to monitor their symptoms and rate them with a score using "0" = none to "3" = severe. The results showed a reduction in symptoms from between 42% and 32% for the group that received chiropractic for only a short time. Although these findings are encouraging, and long term study would be interesting to see if the results were even greater, the researchers concluded, "results support the hypothesis that the symptoms associated with PMS can be reduced by chiropractic". |
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