Chiropractic Case Studies: June 2016

Researching chiropractic case studies

Chiropractic clinical case histories have been a regular feature of our patient newsletter since its inception. There seems to be no limit to the health problems that respond to chiropractic care. How many people suffering, on drugs, facing a life of limitation could be helped by chiropractic care? Probably most of them.

Headaches in a six-year-old

A 6-year-old boy who had been suffering from chronic headaches for the past two years of his life was brought in for chiropractic care.

Medical doctors could not figure out what was causing his headaches. The child was prescribed pain killers (ibuprofen) which were ineffective.

A chiropractic analysis revealed he had subluxations in his upper neck (upper cervical spine) and he began a series of spinal adjustments. After 10 visits over a 2-month period his headaches completely resolved. (1)

From breech to normal birth presentation

A 31-year-old pregnant woman was diagnosed with a transverse breech presentation by her obstetrician when she was 30 weeks pregnant.

She received a special type of chiropractic adjustment known as the Webster Technique that relaxes the pelvis and permits the uterus to expand so the fetus could turn to a healthy presentation for delivery. After 7 visits over 3 weeks of chiropractic care, the patient’s midwife confirmed that the child was no longer in a breech position and had assumed a normal (vertex) presentation. The mother was then able to have a natural home birth. (2)

A five-year-old with sensory modulation disorder and constipation

A 5-year-old girl had a history of birth trauma, developmental delays, sensory processing challenges, sleep difficulties and other functional disorders.

Following chiropractic adjustments, she demonstrated more frequent bowel movements, more-restful sleep, improved mood and improved ability to concentrate and engage with her environment. (3)

Seizures and behavioral disturbances following head trauma

A 2-year-old boy suffering from seizures, behavioral disturbances and cognitive developmental delays following a head trauma was brought to a chiropractic office. Since the accident the boy had 1-3 seizures per week, but occasionally had as many as three seizures a day.

He was also combative, angry, uncooperative with his parents and language delayed. Fifteen months after the trauma the parents sought out chiropractic care for their child.

A chiropractic examination revealed that the boy had a subluxation of the C1 (atlas) vertebra.

He had seven chiropractic visits over 5½ months and was adjusted three times over the course of care. There was improvement and eventual cessation of his seizure activity following the chiropractic care in addition to improvement in his behavior and cognitive development. (4)

Do you know someone who is suffering?

If you know anyone who may be suffering from similar symptoms or problems, please share this article with them. You could help them avoid a life time of difficulty with gentle, non-invasive chiropractic care.

1.Olsen R, Alcantara J. Resolution of chronic cervicogenic headaches in a 6-year-old male following care directed at vertebral subluxations: a case report. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2014;4:81-86.

2.Drobbin D, La Rosa S. Resolution of transverse breech pregnancy following administration of chiropractic using the Webster Technique: a case study & selective review of literature. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2015;1:9-14.

3.Yoshimura R, Lathrop JM. Improvement in sensory modulation & functional disorders in a Female pediatric patient undergoing chiropractic care. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. May 5, 2015:108-118.

4.Komarek AJ, Tedder N, Tedder A. Cessation of seizures, behavioral disturbances and improvement in cognitive developmental delay following upper cervical chiropractic care in a 2-year-old: a case report. Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research. May 14, 2015:14-18.

Do Antibiotics Increase Allergies and Asthma?

Growth of Yeast in Digestive System May Be to Blame

University of Michigan researchers claim that antibiotics alter intestinal microflora and can lead to changes in the entire immune system. The findings were presented a few years ago at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, but we feel they are worth repeating.

Antibiotics play a big part

Mice were first given antibiotics, and then given yeast fungus to create a fungal colony in their digestive tracts. The lead researcher, Gary Huffnagle, described the lungs of the treated mice as “shredded,” making them unable to breathe.

Antibiotics increase the growth of the yeast Candida albicans in the gut, Noverr explains. It is a common side effect of antibiotic use and previous studies show that this change in the gut could increase allergies.

“Over the past four decades there has been an explosive increase in allergy and asthma in westernized countries, which correlates with widespread use of antibiotics …,” said researcher Mairi Noverr, with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in a news release.

How do you treat Candida in your Digestive System?

Besides an increase in allergies and asthma, an abundance of Candida can also cause the following symptoms:

Exhaustion
Cravings for sweets
Bad breath
White coat on tongue
Brain fog
Hormone imbalance
Joint pain
Loss of sex drive
Chronic sinus and allergy issues
Digestive problems (gas and bloating)
Weak immune system
UTI

For more information on how to treat Candida Overgrowth Syndrome (COS) check out this article.

The 3 T’s – Toxins, Thoughts and Trauma

Dr. Daniel David (DD) Palmer, the discoverer of chiropractic (1895), said that dis-ease (body malfunction) was caused by toxins, thoughts and trauma – the three T’s. Modern science is just catching up to his insights; he was far ahead of his time.

Understanding the 3 T’s

Understanding the three T’s will help you understand the causes of disease, how to prevent disease and, if you are suffering, how to address the cause. For this issue we’re going to discuss toxins.

Toxins

Toxins (poisons in the environment) have been linked to:

Cancer
Brain tumors
Heart disease
Parkinson’s
Multiple sclerosis
ALS
Autism
Rheumatoid arthritis
Depression
Immune system failure
Much more

Many of these diseases are linked to chronic or long-standing inflammation which is what toxins create. A toxic person is like a walking time bomb, waiting for disease to strike.

How do we become toxic?

Toxins come from our external environment (exogenous toxicity) and from our internal environment (endogenous toxicity).

External Environment

There are so many toxins in our external environment that we can’t list them all. They include air pollution, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, mercury and other heavy metals from dental fillings, chemical factories, waste dumps, toxic chemicals injected via vaccination, outgassing from carpets and various products, the chlorine and

fluoride and waste chemicals in our water – the list is long and depressing.

Toxins in Newborns

Toxins are so common that researchers have found more than 200 chemicals in newborn umbilical cord blood including the controversial plastics additive bisphenol A, or BPA, which mimics estrogen and has been shown to cause developmental problems and precancerous growth in animals. Is it any wonder why our children are so sick today? (Goodman S. Scientific American. Sept. 2, 2009.)

Internal Toxins

Toxins generated from inside our body include oral pathology such as

infected root canals, infected wisdom tooth sockets, infected tonsils, longstanding waste in the colon, intestinal parasites and many others. Toxins generated from inside the body can be just as dangerous as those from outside the body.

What do you do for toxicity?

How do you remove toxins? It is done through the process of detoxification.

Detoxification Procedures

Since ancient times, for thousands of years, people all over the world in many cultures have employed numerous detoxification procedures such as fasting, hot baths, sauna, clay, cleansing diets, sweat lodges, exercises, special diets, enemas, colonics, massage, bodywork, sunlight (heliotherapy) and many other procedures.

How do you start to detoxify?

There is much you can do to detoxify. Doctors of Chiropractic, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Chinese medicine and Ayurveda and other healthcare practitioners from different disciplines often specialize in or work with people who can address toxicity.

If you are worried about toxins in your system make an appointment with us today. We can help!

This is What You Were Born For

You are born to live a li

fe of vitality, strength, peace and happiness! It is your birthright, your natural state. That life should be long and full of joy, excitement, pleasure and fulfillment.

But it doesn’t always seem that way. Too many people are not living to their potential; too many people are living lives wracked with physical and mental disease and pain.

Remove Obstacles and Pain

In order to discover physical and mental health you need to remove anything interfering with your proper function.

The chiropractic profession has discovered a serious condition that interferes with your proper function. It is an

internal distortion of your spine and body structure – a subluxation. Subluxations are structural distortions that stress your nervous system – your brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves and related structures.

Subluxations are caused by any stress your body cannot handle: a difficult birth, a fall, an accident, emotional upset, chemical toxicity, overwork, or a combination of stresses (i.e. physical, chemical or emotional stress while you are tired, overworked, malnourished, etc.).

Chiropractic subluxation correction improves your health in many ways.

In over a hundred years of clinical experience, millions of patients have praised chiropractic for helping them with menstrual problems, a more comfortable pregnancy and labor/delivery, ear infections, high blood pressure, fevers, asthma, colic, eczema, headaches, migraines, back pain, arthritis, stress, sleeplessness, dyslexia, vision, learning disorders and so much more.

But it’s more than pain and sickness. Chiropractic is an excellent way to maximize sports performance, improve overall health and enhance balance, strength and fitness.

Subluxations are epidemic in our society; most people have them in their body and don’t know it. For that reason, everyone needs periodic chiropractic checkups to locate and correct (adjust) their subluxations.

Make an appointment to have your spine checked today!

Words of Wisdom for June 2016

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. – George Washington

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. – Abraham Lincoln

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. – Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! – P. J. O’Rourke

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you! – Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. – Mark Twain

Latest News from Charmaine: June 2016: Changes

Greetings all,

This has been a time of great changes just in the last couple of weeks. What with the children getting out of school…some of them graduating, others moving up a grade level and the deaths of several great icons with whom we all felt a personal connection– it has been a little unsettling.

Making changes to one’s daily overall health regime is generally uncomfortable until we settle into a routine; but in this day and age of such a sedentary lifestyle and very often, our daily job…it become vitally important that we get out and exercise…whether it is walking, running, cycling, yoga or Tai Chi or anything else. We need to keep our joints and spine supple so that we can be as healthy and pain free as possible for as long as possible.

How do you fit in your exercise? What is you favorite thing to do? Let us know in the comments. Who knows, maybe you will inspire someone else to get out there and start moving!

Asparagus Risotto

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yield: Serves 2-3 as a main course, or 4 as a side

Ingredients

About 4 cups vegetable stock
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine (or 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 3 Tbsp water)
1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed, tips cut off, tough skins of the spears peeled (if working with thick apparatus spears), and the spears cut into thin disks
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Directions

Heat the stock in a small saucepan until it comes to a low simmer.
In a separate 3 or 4 quart saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon butter on medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for a minute or two, until translucent. Add the arborio rice and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring until nicely coated.
Add the white wine. Slowly stir, allowing the rice to absorb the wine. Once the wine is almost completely absorbed, add 1/2 cup of hot stock to the rice. Continue to stir until the liquid is almost completely absorbed, adding more stock in 1/2 cup increments. Stir often to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 20-25 minutes. With the last ladle of stock, add the asparagus. Turn off the heat.

Note the stock amount given is approximate. You may need a little more or less. If you end up needing more stock and you find yourself without, just use water.

5.Gently stir in the Parmesan cheese and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately.

Researching Chiropractic: Case Studies

The health of a people is really the foundation upon which

all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend.

-Benjamin Disraeli

Case Studies

Probably most of them.

Abdominal Migraines

Difficulties in concentration, stomach pain and abdominal migraines. A 6-year-old girl was suffering from difficulties in concentration and learning since beginning school over a year prior. She also suffered from severe stomach pain for over two months that was diagnosed as”abdominal migraines”. She received weekly care over a period of six weeks.

Improvements were seen in concentration and learning along with a complete resolution of her “abdominal migraines”. The results documented in this case suggest comorbidity between difficulties in concentration, learning and abdominal migraines. (6)

Disc Protrusion

A 43-year- old man complaining of left-sided low back pain that radiated down to the left leg, down the lateral calf, to the foot and heel came in for chiropractic care. He rated the pain as 8 out of 10. He was unable to work or sleep through the night.

An MRI revealed a left lower spine (L4-L5) disc protrusion. To make things worse, a disc fragment was extruding out of the spine. MDs recommended an epidural block or low back surgery. The patient had received treatment via prescription drugs prior to the office visit. The patient had been prescribed Advil 200 mg, Percocet 5 mg-325 mg, Valium 5mg and Tramadol; none of which took away the pain.

Upon a friend’s recommendation, the patient decided to visit a chiropractor. The patient was cared for with spinal adjustments over the course of 15 visits over 5 weeks. By that time he was able to work 12-hour days feeling slightly stiff and was able to sleep through the night without pain. He was also able to sit and lay down without any pain. His slight remaining pain at the one-month point of care was rated as only a 2 out of 10, and his muscle strength and movement were greatly improved. (7)

6. Lucks C, Lucks L. Resolution of abdominal migraines & improvements in concentration & learning in a 6-year- old girl following Network Spinal Analysis care: a case study. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal &Family Health – Chiropractic. 2015;4:140-148.

7. Murphy J, Morrison T, Floyd R, Alcantara J. Improvement in a patient with disc protrusion andextruded fragment following subluxation based chiropractic care: a case study & selective review of theliterature. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. November 19, 2015:178-183.

Interesting Facts for May 2016

Some fun facts so you can be the life of your next party.

Did you know?

The smallest bones in the human body are found in your ear?
Money is the number one thing that couples argue about?
The longest street in the world is Yonge Street in Toronto, Canada measuring 1,896 km (1,178 miles)?
Honey is the only natural food which never spoils?
The average person falls asleep in 7 minutes?

Questions and Answers about Chiropractic: Round 2

Question #1: How old is chiropractic?

Answer: Chiropractic was discovered (or really rediscovered) in 1895 in Davenport, Iowa by Dr. D.D. Palmer. Dr. Palmer learned that the owner of the janitorial service in his office building had been deaf for many years after an accident. Dr. Palmer analyzed the man’s spine and located a displaced vertebra. He laid him down on a bench and gave him the world’;s first chiropractic adjustment.

The man’s hearing returned. Dr. Palmer thought he had discovered the cure for deafness but shortly thereafter Dr. Palmer had a patient suffering from heart trouble. He found a spinal distortion (subluxation) in the man’s spine, corrected it, and the heart trouble was relieved.

How could two conditions so different as deafness and heart trouble be helped by spinal adjustments? So began the birth of chiropractic. Dr. Palmer’s successes attracted people from far and wide and in time he opened the world’s first chiropractic school – The Palmer College of Chiropractic – which is in existence today.

Question # 2: What’s the #1 nutrition mistake?

Answer: Not eating nutrient dense foods. Some foods give you an abundance of life-sustaining nutrients – these are known as “nutrient dense” foods. Other so-called “foods” have no nutritional value or even negative nutritional value – they drain you of nutrients. These are processed “junk foods”manufactured with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and white flour.

Soda (pop), margarine, canola oil are toxic and artificial sweeteners such as NutraSweetT (aspartame), Splenda and Equal are linked to brain tumors, memory loss and vision damage.

GM or genetically-modified foods are to be avoided. Soy is especially unhealthy because it is often genetically modified, difficult to digest and affects the thyroid and hormones. Exceptions are fermented soy products such as soy sauce, natto, tempeh and miso.

Nutrient dense foods include healthy fats and oils (olive oil, coconut oil, butter, tallow, duck fat, lard), grass-fed beef and non-pasteurized raw milk and raw milk products. Bone and chicken broths are excellent sources of minerals and trace elements. Also make sure your food is certified organic. Organic foods have far less toxic pesticides, fungicides and herbicides than conventional foods.