Daily Health Information

The Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research, March 12, 2012 edition published a case study showing chiropractic helping in a case of a patient with seizures, blood pressure irregularities, severe gait issues, a lazy eye, and severe fatigue. The authors of the study classified these problems as "neurovascular symptoms" in their discussions of this case.

This is the case of a 75-year-old woman who went to the chiropractor with complaints of unsteady and uncoordinated movement, which the authors termed "gait ataxia", and with laziness in the left eye (strabismus). The authors also report that the woman's energy levels were very low to where she would feel exhausted after only walking across a room. Her seizures would occur if she was exhausted, or if she bent over in a forward position. When having a seizure, the woman felt a hot sensation in her chest, lost the ability to speak, and developed a migraine headache.

A previous medical visit to the hospital did not yield any findings even after MRI and CAT scans were taken. She was then told to get physical therapy and was given anxiety medications. A return visit to her family doctor led to a referral to a neurologist, who also prescribed anxiety medication. The woman's history revealed multiple medical referrals and tests, none of which helped her problem, and in some instances actually made her condition worse.

A chiropractic examination and x-rays were performed and a determination of the presence of subluxation was made. Specific adjustments were begun to correct her subluxation. After just the first adjustment, the woman's posture was noticeably improved, and her neck range of motion increased. She also reported that her energy level had increased allowing her to do ironing for two hours, an activity she was unable to do prior to the adjustment.

As her care continued, the woman saw improvements in her walking, her balance, and her vision improved to where her one lazy eye began to track more normally. She also noted that she had not had a seizure since the beginning of her chiropractic care. Her health continued to improve to the point where she was nearly free of all her previous symptoms.

The headline above is from a January 7, 2012 article in the health section of the New York Times. This article, as well as a similar one from Medical Press on January 4, 2012, is based on research published on January 3, 2012 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The research studied 272 adults who were suffering with neck pain for 2- to 12-weeks duration. The subjects were divided into three groups, and received either chiropractic adjustments (called SMT or spinal manipulative therapy in the study), home exercise with advice (HEA), or prescription medication. The adjustments were delivered by one of five chiropractors while the medications were prescribed by medical physicians. The medications consisted mainly of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen, or both.

The care in each of the three groups lasted only 12 weeks in this study. The people in the study were asked to rate their pain initially and at various points thereafter up to 12 months later. The level of pain was recorded for each of the participants at the intervals of at 2, 4, 8, 12, 26, and 52 weeks. The results reported that chiropractic adjustments did better in helping neck pain patients and showed "a statistically significant advantage over medication after 8, 12, 26, and 52 weeks."

Even though the care rendered for each of these groups was only for 12 weeks, the long term follow-up showed that 53 percent of the people who had received chiropractic continued to report at least a 75 percent reduction in pain. The exercise group also had similar numbers. However, the group taking medication showed only a 38 percent reduction in pain overall.

Dr. Gert Bronfort, an author of the study and research professor at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Minnesota, noted his reasons for the study included a lack of information on choices for people with neck pain. "There was a void in the scientific literature in terms of what the most helpful treatments are," Bronfort said. He noted that the results showed chiropractic superior to medications. "Even a year later, there were differences between the spinal manipulation and medication groups," Bronfort said.

Not only did the group taking medications not fair as well in pain reduction, there was also a problem with usage as people kept taking them in an attempt to get help. "The people in the medication group kept on using a higher amount of medication more frequently throughout the follow-up period, up to a year later," said Dr. Bronfort. "If youre taking medication over a long time, then were running into more systemic side effects like gastrointestinal problems."

A case study published in the February 9, 2011, issue of the scientific periodical, the Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research documented the case of a woman who was suffering from cluster headaches and was helped with chiropractic. Cluster headaches are one of the most painful types of headaches and get their name because they occur in cyclical patterns or clusters.

The authors of the study noted that headaches are one of the most common complaints presented for medical treatment leading to 18 million doctor visits per year. They also report that according to the National Center for Health Statistics, headaches cause an estimated 5.5 million days of activity restrictions per year in the United States which leads to $61.2 billion per year in restricted activity costs and medical expenses.

In this case, a 47-year-old woman came to the chiropractor with a history of severe headaches over the past two years. The study notes that her headaches were right sided, behind her right eye, lasting fifteen to forty-five minutes and occurring five to eight times per day.

According to this case study, she was originally misdiagnosed with migraine headaches. Standard medical treatment for migraine headaches was initiated which consisted of Imitrix, Maxalt, and oxygen. She got only some minor relief from her headaches with these treatments but after six weeks of non-retractable pain, she was later diagnosed with cluster headaches.

The authors of the study reported that chiropractors see nearly 38 million patients per year with headache complaints. Out of desperation, the woman in this case went to a chiropractor to see if she could be helped. A chiropractic examination was performed and a determination was made that vertebral subluxations were present. A course of specific chiropractic adjustments was initiated.

After the woman's first chiropractic adjustment, and in consultation with her medical physician, her medication was reduced. Additionally, she reported that she was sleeping better and felt more relaxed. She reported that after the initiation of her chiropractic care, she experienced a significant decrease in the severity of her headache episodes.

Within five months of beginning chiropractic care, the woman was able to discontinue the use of all medication and her headaches had resolved completely. The study authors wrote, "Currently, she reports being headache and drug free, and reports an increase in the quality of her life. She received a job promotion and is now attending college."

A study published in the January 19, 2012, issue of the scientific journal the Archives of Vertebral Subluxation Research shows that specific chiropractic adjustment techniques cause positive changes in neck curvatures. The authors of the study begin by noting, "There has been an increasing amount of attention in the literature on the role of spinal structure and the affects on neurology, health, and physiology."

Researchers note that either a reduction, loss, or reversal of the normal cervical curvature, as seen on a side x-ray of the neck, is associated with problems, including ADHD, otitis media, respiratory problems, headaches, neck pains, sinus infections, scoliosis, and spinal degeneration. Additionally, researchers point out that the strength of a spine is dependent on having normal curvatures.

In this study, 51 chiropractic patients were included in a retrospective analysis. All participants had to have been under chiropractic care long enough to have a follow-up side neck x-ray taken. The average number of visits for patients in this study before follow-up post-x-rays were taken was 12, with the average time frame being just over ten weeks. The results showed that the average correction of cervical curve for all patients in this study was 56.76%. Seven of the patients in the study reached a maximum improvement by the end of the analysis, while five cases showed a maximum improvement after only one specific chiropractic adjustment.

The study authors noted that the results of this study were attained without any use of traction, exercises, therapy, or rehabilitation, thus ruling out other cofactors having an influence on the results. They also reported that, "One hundred percent (of patients) had some degree of positive change towards lordosis (normal forward neck curve) or a decrease in kyphosis (harmful reversal of neck curve)."

An October 27, 2011 article on NaturalNews.com contains the headline above and reports and explains the finding of a new study showing that flu shot vaccines are not as effective as they are being promoted by the pharmaceutical industry.

The original study on flu vaccine effectiveness was published in the October 26, 2011 issue of the prestigious scientific publication, The Lancet. The title of the Lancet article is "Efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines: a systematic review and meta-analysis". The Lancet study is heavily steeped in statistical jargon and difficult to understand. The authors do offer a small section they termed "Interpretation" which includes the opening statement, "Influenza vaccines can provide moderate protection against virologically confirmed influenza, but such protection is greatly reduced or absent in some seasons. Evidence for protection in adults aged 65 years or older is lacking."

The Natural News article author, Mike Adams, sifts through the technical jargon and brought forth the meat of the Lancet article by noting in his opening comments, "A new scientific study published in The Lancet reveals that influenza vaccines only prevent influenza in 1.5 out of every 100 adults who are injected with the flu vaccine."

Adams remarks that the claim that the flu vaccine is 60% effective is based on using a trick in the percentages. He notes that these types of calculations are used by the vaccine and pharmaceutical industry on a regular basis. In the article, he uses the actual numbers from the Lancet study to prove his point.

Adams pointed out that in the Lancet study a "control group" of adults consisting of 13,095 non-vaccinated adults were monitored to see if they caught influenza. Of this group, 357 of them caught influenza, which means only 2.7% of these adults caught the flu. The treatment group who received the flu shot were also monitored. Out of the treatment group 1.18% also got the flu even after being vaccinated. This should mean that the real difference between the 2 groups is the the difference between 2.7% and 1.18%, or a total real difference of 1.52%, which is not a very impressive number.

However, as Adams points out, if you look at the percentage difference between the numbers 2.7 and 1.18 that comes out to be 0.43%, thus if you subtract that from 100% and claim that the vaccine is 57% effective. This fuzzy sounding math is sometimes called the "relative risk reduction" as opposed to the more accurate "absolute risk reduction".

Adams clearly states the real numbers in a summation statement of the Natural News article by saying, "So when the media (or your doctor, or pharmacist, or CDC official) says these vaccines are "60% effective," what they really mean is that you would have to inject 100 adults to avoid the flu in just 1.5 of them. Or, put another way, flu vaccines do nothing in 98.5% of adults."

The above is the title of a study published on February 21, 2012 in the journal, "Chiropractic & Manual Therapies". The article reviews information and statistics about the usage and role of chiropractic care for the aging population.

The review starts off by noting that the demographics of the population in the US is aging. By the year 2030 it is expected that one in every five Americans will be age 65 or older. The authors of the study also report that 14% of patients who go to chiropractors are age 65 or more. These seniors mainly go to chiropractors for complaints of musculoskeletal aches and pains with back pain being the most common ailment that brings these seniors to a chiropractor.

The authors report that based on previous studies, 14.6% of seniors have gone to a chiropractor between the years of 1993 and 2007. On an annual basis, they report that between 4.1% 5.4% of seniors seek chiropractic services each year.

The study notes that chiropractors offer a variety of services to seniors with chiropractic adjustments, called SMT (spinal manipulative therapy) by the authors, being the most common service, and nutritional advice and exercise recommendations being common.

The authors report that chiropractic adjustments vary and there are many different techniques used by chiropractors in their offices. They also note that most techniques used for seniors have been modified for the age of the patients and their specific spinal conditions.

The authors also noted that other studies showed chiropractic helping elderly people with a range of other health issues including: COPD, constipation, depression (associated with back pain), Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, pneumonia, spinal stenosis, urinary incontinence, and osteoarthritic pain and dysfunction.

The study also reported that chiropractic care was safer than expected for older adults with two studies showing a small number of adverse events and none of them being serious. In their discussion the authors stressed the importance of chiropractic for seniors when they said, "As the population continues to age there will be a greater need for the chiropractic profession to meet the needs of the older adult."