A Chiropractic-based research project is being used to study the effectiveness of Chiropractic care and it’s relation to the general health status of patients.

Data was collected from 311 patients for the project using the RAND Health Survey and a global well-being scale. X-rays of pre-adjustment and post-adjustment were also reviewed for the study.

Participants in the study were between the ages of 18 and 59-years-old. The patients received care until the maximum improvement for their specific complaint was reached.

Among the conditions being studied were back pain, neck pain, and headaches. 40% of the problems were acute, whereas 60% had been long-term problems.

Health surveys were distributed to patients at the initial visit, after four weeks, and again at the end of the program. The well-being scale was completed at each visit. Results showed Chiropractic adjustments significantly improved the musculoskeletal conditions of participants by an average 51-75%.

According to the health survey, significant improvements were noted following Chiropractic care in all of the surveyed categories: physical function, role physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social function, emotional and mental health.

Patients often find that Chiropractic is more successful than medical care, for treating a wide range of conditions and diseases.

According to nationwide surveys, results show the popularity of Chiropractic care is at an all-time high.

• Nearly 30% of the U.S. population, aged 18 and older, have used Chiropractic.
• 90% of Chiropractic patients felt their treatment was effective.
• 58% considered Chiropractic an essential part of their health insurance package.
• Chiropractic patients were three times more satisfied with their care than patients of family practice physicians.
• Chiropractors are now accepted as a legitimate healing profession by the public and by an increasing number of physicians.
• Chiropractic is a growing component of the health care sector, and it is widely used by the population.

Automobile drivers in the United States are involved in over 5 million auto accidents each year. As a result, over 2 million people annually suffer from some form of injury as a result of the crash. Whiplash is the most common injury received by an accident victim.

A history of disappointing results in the treatment of whiplash patients throughout the medical profession has lead researchers to further investigate the benefits of Chiropractic in victim care. The study published in the Journal of Orthopedic Medicine points out the superiority of Chiropractic care for whiplash patients and examines the type of injuries which might best respond.

Whiplash injury involves the sudden movement of the head in any direction. The result is that muscles and ligaments supporting the spine can become strained or torn. Some symptoms include neck pain or stiffness, pain between the shoulder blades, blurred vision, fatigue, headache, and dizziness, just to name a few.

This study was designed to determine which patients with chronic whiplash could benefit from Chiropractic intervention. One hundred Chiropractic referrals for chronic whiplash symptoms formed the study groups.

Group 1 members were those with radiating neck pain and restricted neck movement but no apparent nerve damage. Group 2 had symptoms of nerve damage associated with neck pain and restricted motion. Group 3 members had severe neck pain and restricted motion, plus had more serious symptoms including blackouts, vision problems, nausea, vomiting, and chest pain.

Each person received an average of 19 treatments over a 4 month period. Excellent improvements were seen in the first two groups. In Group 1, 72% of the patients gained “some benefit” with symptoms disappearing completely for 24%. Group 2 had 94% responding positively with symptoms disappearing completely for 38%. Only Group 3, the group with the most severe whiplash problems, showed only 27% improvement.

Researchers concluded that Chiropractic provided superior care in treating whiplash patients. “The results from this study provide further evidence that Chiropractic is an effective treatment for chronic whiplash symptoms,” the researchers said. Pointing to the results in Group 3, they emphasized that a careful history and physical exam be done on all patients before treatment is commenced.

Nowadays, Derise Rawls visits chiropractor Dr. Chris Beckwith on a regular basis for knee pain. She started seeing him after a tear in the cartilage of her knee had kept her in pain for two years.
“I couldn’t walk my grandchildren outside. I couldn’t walk with my husband,” Derise said. She tried the usual avenue of treatment first: pain medication. “I was living off of those and it
wasn’t getting any better.”

Derise used Chiropractic care as a last result – but many other people choose it first. “More and more we’re getting people who don’t want to go through other forms of treatment.

They want to try things that perhaps are less invasive first and they’ve heard good things about this type of treatment,” said Dr. Beckwith. Since Chiropractic care involves neither drugs nor surgery, it has far fewer side effects and does not require recovery times after treatment like surgery does.

“Chiropractic is incredibly safe, even compared to something as simple as an OTC (over-the-counter medication). When we say things like this, we don’t mean there isn’t a place for either over-the-counter medication or prescriptions because of course there is,” said Dr. Beckwith.

Derise has found that she won’t have to have surgery for her knee because after treatment with Dr. Beckwith, she’s pain-free.

“I can walk with my grandchildren. I can walk with my husband. I don’t have to sleep with a pillow under my knees because of pain. I don’t have to take any more pain medicine. I have my life back,” said Derise.

Your sciatic nerve is the longest and widest nerve in your body, and runs from the lower back, down through the buttock, and all the way into the lower leg, where it controls the muscles in that area. It also provides sensation to the thighs, legs, and the soles of the feet. When the sciatic nerve becomes irritated for some reason and causes pain, this pain is known as sciatica. Sciatica refers to the various symptoms associated with the irritation, and does not give any indication as to the root cause of the irritation.

Much of the low-back and leg pain reported is sciatic pain, and it is most evident in the age bracket of 30 to 50 years old. It is more commonly a result of general wear and tear, rather than an injury.

Symptoms of sciatica

The most obvious giveaway that you are suffering sciatic pain is when it follows the route of the sciatic nerve, as previously described, and is typically apparent only on one side of the body. However, there are variations in how exactly that pain is felt, including tingling, aching or burning. It depends on where the sciatic nerve is being affected. Some patients may also feel pins-and-needles in the toes or foot, or muscle numbness/weakness in the affected leg or foot

More often than not, sciatica first manifests slowly, then increases in intensity, often being accentuated after sitting or bending, or sudden movements such as sneezing or coughing.

Diagnosis of sciatica

This starts with your doctor of chiropractic taking a complete patient history. Your descriptions of where the pain is, how it is felt, when it began, and which activities cause you most pain, are all important in helping to form a diagnosis. It is also necessary to undergo a physical and neurological examination, with a particular focus on your spine and legs. Your ability to perform certain activities will be monitored to assess your sensory strength, muscle strength, and reflexes, and any pain resulting from these activities.

Diagnostic imaging, such as x-ray, MRI, or CT scan may be ordered by your doctor of chiropractic if it is felt there may be more at play, such as a serious underlying problem. This may happen if there is no improvement in symptoms following 6 to 8 weeks of conservative treatment.

Treatment options for sciatica

Conservative care, including chiropractic treatment, is a very effective solution for most people suffering sciatic pain. As there is an array of possible causes of sciatica, treatment plans will be individually tailored depending on what your chiropractor finds in your particular case. When we talk about “conservative”, it refers to the absence of surgical procedures or medication. Instead, chiropractic seeks to rectify spinal problems, thus restore spinal movement and reduce the inflammation that’s causing the sciatica. Treatment may include spinal manipulation and adjustments, the application of ice/heat therapy, ultrasound, use of a TENS machine, and rehabilitative exercises.

Prevention Is Better Than Cure

To protect your back, improve your spinal health, and guard as best you can against sciatica developing in the first place, follow these tips:

• Follow a healthy diet
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Exercise regularly
• Practice proper posture
• Avoid too much inactivity or bed rest
• Quit smoking
• Lift things safely, using good body mechanics

Every form of health care can contain some risk and the media often sensationalize those risks and create fear. But what are the real numbers? The following shows a comparison between spinal manipulation, spinal surgery, and anti-inflammatory drugs (non-steroidal).

Your patients need to know these statistics.

Cervical Spine Manipulation:

Complication 2.09 per million

Death .268 per million

Cervical Spine Surgery:

Complication 15,600 per million

Death 6,900 per million

Anti-inflammatory drugs:

Serious gastrointestinal event (all ages) 1,000 per million

Serious gastrointestinal event (65 and over) 3,200 per million

Almost half of all children will have at least one middle ear infection before they’re a year old, and two-thirds of them will have had at least one such infection by age 3. The symptoms can include ear pain, fever, and irritability. Otitis media can be either bacterial or viral in origin, and frequently results from another illness such as a cold. For many children, it can become a chronic problem, requiring treatment year after year, and putting the child at risk of permanent hearing damage and associated speech and developmental problems.

Standard treatment for most cases of otitis media is with antibiotics, which can be effective if the culprit is bacterial (antibiotics, of course, do nothing to fight off viruses). But, according to many research studies, antibiotics are often not much more effective than the body’s own immune system. And repeated doses of antibiotics can lead to drug-resistant bacteria that scoff at the drugs, while leaving the child screaming in pain.

Frequent ear infections are also the second most common reason for surgery in children under 2 (with circumcision being the first). In severe cases—for example, when fluids from an ear infection haven’t cleared from the ear after several months, and hearing is affected—specialists sometimes prescribe myringotomy and tympanostomy, more commonly known as “ear tubes.” During the surgical procedure, a small opening is made in the eardrum to place a tube inside. The tube relieves pressure in the ear and prevents repeated fluid buildup with the continuous venting of fresh air. In most cases, the membrane pushes the tube out after a couple of months and the hole in the eardrum closes. Although the treatment is effective, it has to be repeated in some 20 to 30 percent of cases. And this kind of surgery requires general anesthesia, never a minor thing in a small child. If the infection persists even after tube placement and removal, children sometimes undergo adenoidectomy (surgical removal of the adenoids)—an option that is effective mostly through the first year after surgery.

Before yet another round of maybe they’ll work and maybe they won’t antibiotics or the drastic step of surgery, more parents are considering chiropractic to help children with chronic ear infections. Published research shows that, after receiving a series of chiropractic adjustments, nearly 80 percent of the children treated were free of ear infections for at least the six-month period following their initial visits, which included maintenance treatments every four to six weeks. This pilot study is being used as a basis for larger scale trials of chiropractic as a therapeutic modality for otitis media (ear infections).

Chiropractic mobilizes the natural drainage of the ear in children, and if they can continue to drain without a buildup of fluid and subsequent infection, they also build up their own antibodies to recover more quickly and prevent infections to begin with.

Gentle upper-cervical manipulation on children with otitis media, focusing particularly on the occiput, or back of the skull, and atlas, or the first vertebra in the neck will help the middle ear to begin draining naturally. Depending on how chronic it’s been and on where they are in their cycle of antibiotics, children generally need to get through one bout of fluid and fight it off themselves. That means, for the average child, between six and eight treatments. If a child’s case is acute we will check the ears every day, using a tympanogram to measure the ear and track the movement of the eardrum to make sure that it’s draining. Adjustments every day or every other day for a few days if they’re acute, and then decreasing frequency over time.

Parenting and Baby Talk, both childrearing magazines report great success for childen with otitis media receiving chiropractic care. Many parents have reported that the only thing which finally resolved their childrens chronic ear infections was chiropractic care.

Many medical pediatric groups are now referring to chiropractors on a regular basis. Today more parents want a solution that doesn’t include anti-biotics or surgery and chiropractic offers the solution that keep parents and pediatricians both happy. It’s safe and effective and something that parents should definitely try before going the route inserting tubes in a child’s ears.

Chiropractic Care Can Help…

Talk to your doctor of chiropractic about your child’s ear infections. Doctors of chiropractic are licensed and trained to diagnose and treat patients of all ages and will use a more gentle type of treatment for children.

Patients under Chiropractic care experience strokes at a significantly lower rate than people who are not under Chiropractic care.

According to a report in the Journal of Vertebral and Subluxation Research, people who are not Chiropractic patients are 27,500 times more likely to suffer strokes than Chiropractic patients.

Results of this study are significant as many researchers have tried to link Chiropractic with the occurrence of stroke.

Chiropractic has also proven to be a significantly safer method of treatment than drugs and surgery. Aspirin and other NSAIDs have been linked to 80% of all ulcer-related deaths; people taking NSAIDS are three times more likely to die than those not taking the drugs.

More than 50% of all medications have serious and sometimes fatal side effects. In 1994, adverse drug reactions were responsible for 106,000 deaths.

Appendectomy procedures have a death rate of one in 74; Spinal fusion surgery has a death rate of one in 50; simple procedures such as drawing blood cause death in one of every 25,000 procedures.

An article published in In Touch Magazine noted that, “More Americans are killed in hospitals every six months than died in the entire Vietnam war; the medical death rate is equivalent to three jumbo jet crashes every day and that the disease care system may be a public health threat of epidemic proportions.”

The neck’s susceptibility to injury is due in part to biomechanics. Activities and events that affect cervical biomechanics include extended sitting, repetitive movement, accidents, falls and blows to the body or head, normal aging, and everyday wear and tear. Neck pain can be very bothersome, and it can have a variety of causes.

Here are some of the most typical causes of neck pain:

Injury and Accidents: A sudden forced movement of the head or neck in any direction and the resulting “rebound” in the opposite direction is known as whiplash. The sudden “whipping” motion injures the surrounding and supporting tissues of the neck and head. Muscles react by tightening and contracting, creating muscle fatigue, which can result in pain and stiffness. Severe whiplash can also be associated with injury to the intervertebral joints, discs, ligaments, muscles, and nerve roots. Car accidents are the most common cause of whiplash.

Growing Older: Degenerative disorders such as osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, and degenerative disc disease directly affect the spine.

• Osteoarthritis, a common joint disorder, causes progressive deterioration of cartilage. The body reacts by forming bone spurs that affect joint motion.
• Spinal stenosis causes the small nerve passageways in the vertebrae to narrow, compressing and trapping nerve roots. Stenosis may cause neck, shoulder, and arm pain, as well as numbness, when these nerves are unable to function normally.
• Degenerative disc disease can cause reduction in the elasticity and height of intervertebral discs. Over time, a disc may bulge or herniate, causing tingling, numbness, and pain that runs into the arm.

Daily Life: Poor posture, obesity, and weak abdominal muscles often disrupt spinal balance, causing the neck to bend forward to compensate. Stress and emotional tension can cause muscles to tighten and contract, resulting in pain and stiffness. Postural stress can contribute to chronic neck pain with symptoms extending into the upper back and the arms.

Chiropractic Care of Neck Pain

During your visit, your doctor of chiropractic will perform exams to locate the source of your pain and will ask you questions about your current symptoms and remedies you may have already tried. For example:

• When did the pain start?
• What have you done for your neck pain?
• Does the pain radiate or travel to other parts of your body?
• Does anything reduce the pain or make it worse?

Your doctor of chiropractic will also do physical and neurological exams. In the physical exam, your doctor will observe your posture, range of motion, and physical condition, noting movement that causes pain. Your doctor will feel your spine, note its curvature and alignment, and feel for muscle spasm. A check of your shoulder area is also in order. During the neurological exam, your doctor will test your reflexes, muscle strength, other nerve changes, and pain spread.

In some instances, your chiropractor might order tests to help diagnose your condition. An x-ray can show narrowed disc space, fractures, bone spurs, or arthritis. A computerized axial tomography scan (a CT or CAT scan) or a magnetic resonance imaging test (an MRI) can show bulging discs and herniations. If nerve damage is suspected, your doctor may order a special test called electromyography (an EMG) to measure how quickly your nerves respond.

Chiropractors are conservative care doctors; their scope of practice does not include the use of drugs or surgery. If your chiropractor diagnoses a condition outside of this conservative scope, such as a neck fracture or an indication of an organic disease, he or she will refer you to the appropriate medical physician or specialist. He or she may also ask for permission to inform your family physician of the care you are receiving to ensure that your chiropractic care and medical care are properly coordinated.

Neck Adjustments

A neck adjustment (also known as a cervical manipulation) is a precise procedure applied to the joints of the neck, usually by hand. A neck adjustment works to improve the mobility of the spine and to restore range of motion; it can also increase movement of the adjoining muscles. Patients typically notice an improved ability to turn and tilt the head, and a reduction of pain, soreness, and stiffness.

Of course, your chiropractor will develop a program of care that may combine more than one type of treatment, depending on your personal needs. In addition to manipulation, the treatment plan may include mobilization, massage or rehabilitative exercises, or something else.

Research Supporting Chiropractic Care

One of the most recent reviews of scientific literature found evidence that patients with chronic neck pain enrolled in clinical trials reported significant improvement following chiropractic spinal manipulation.

As part of the literature review, published in the March/April 2007 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, the researchers reviewed nine previously published trials and found “high-quality evidence” that patients with chronic neck pain showed significant pain-level improvements following spinal manipulation. No trial group was reported as having remained unchanged, and all groups showed positive changes up to 12 weeks post-treatment.

Three months ago, a former tennis professional was so hobbled by an apparent “bad hip” that invasive replacement surgery seemed imminent. Now, just 10 weeks after receiving a single Chiropractic adjustment, remarkably, he’s back on the path to pain-free living.

Jim Bartell’s troubles with his hip area began over 10 years before when he was in his mid-40s. He worked as a tennis director/teaching pro at world-class resorts teaching very high-end clientele. Sometimes, he’d work up to 10 hours a day on hard tennis courts. After a while, the wear and tear of the job took its toll and he began to develop a limp and hip-area pain.

The condition grew worse over the years despite many types of exercise and stretching therapies. At one point he had the area x-rayed by an MD whose only comment regarding it was, “Jim, your hip is older than you. Come and see us when you can’t take the pain any more and we’ll get it replaced.” Of course, pain relief medications were suggested.

Jim thought the time for surgery was near when about 3 months ago, after a nine-hole round of golf, “I was at a grocery store with my wife and I was in such pain that I had to use the shopping cart to hold myself up. I could only walk a few steps without having to rest.”

He had never really considered Chiropractic as an option, until a golf friend told Jim about his own success.  The very next day, Jim attended a Health Seminar conducted by Dr. Jeffery Fowler at the Pierce Chiropractic Clinic in St. Petersburg, Florida. The x-rays confirmed that Jim’s top neck vertebra area had been out of alignment for a long time – maybe from birth or from some early-in-life traumatic event. The exam found his left leg to be about 3/8” shorter than the right with muscles in the left lower back in a state of constant contraction. This appeared to be the cause of the pain, not a worn out hip.

“About 3 seconds after receiving the Atlas Adjustment, I felt my back muscles relax, and with it, my hip. There was immediate relief. Wow, what a great feeling.” Dr. Jeff confirmed that after the adjustment that both legs were now the same length.

Of course, the adjustment alone only put the area on the path to healing. “I knew that I’d be responsible for a lot of my own healing, but I did everything Dr. Fowler recommended. This included follow-up visits; heat therapy and electrical stimulation at the office; and home exercises to improve hip motion.”

All of this has lead to a much-improved life for Jim, over 10 weeks of daily gains. This includes better posture, ease of walking, better stair climbing ability and, most recently, 18 holes of golf with no hip pain. “I’m not ready to run a Boston Marathon yet,” he said. “But I have been able to play tennis with my friends and enjoy much better mobility than I’ve had in years.”
Along with everything else, Jim is most amazed that the entire procedure and therapy was done with very little “pain to the pocketbook.” “I wish I’d have met Dr. Fowler and learned about an Atlas adjustment 10 years ago.”