This is an excerpt from the May ‘07 issue of “The Chiropractic Report”, providing chiropractors with research from around the globe.  The Journal of Human Hypertension published a clinical trial performed at Rush University in Chicago; To summarize, 25 patients received upper cervical specific adjustments, to correct the poor alignment (subluxations) of the C1 vertebra (Atlas).  Both systolic and diastolic levels of pressure were significantly reduced in the treatment vs. control group.  This is the first proven non-surgical and non-medicated approach to alleviating high blood pressure, and paves the way for more research to be performed.

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Here is a summary:

Abstract:

Study Design. Prospective national survey.

Objective.
To estimate the risk of serious and relatively minor adverse events
following chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine by a sample
of U.K. chiropractors.

Summary of Background Data. The risk of a
serious adverse event following chiropractic manipulation of the
cervical spine is largely unknown. Estimates range from 1 in 200,000 to
1 in several million cervical spine manipulations.

Methods. We
studied treatment outcomes obtained from 19,722 patients. Manipulation
was defined as the application of a high-velocity/low-amplitude or
mechanically assisted thrust to the cervical spine. Serious adverse
events, defined as “referred to hospital A&E and/or severe
onset/worsening of symptoms immediately after treatment and/or resulted
in persistent or significant disability/incapacity,” and minor adverse
events reported by patients as a worsening of presenting symptoms or
onset of new symptoms, were recorded immediately, and up to 7 days,
after treatment.

Results. Data were obtained from 28,807
treatment consultations and 50,276 cervical spine manipulations. There
were no reports of serious adverse events. This translates to an
estimated risk of a serious adverse event of, at worse [almost equal
to]1 per 10,000 treatment consultations immediately after cervical
spine manipulation, [almost equal to]2 per 10,000 treatment
consultations up to 7 days after treatment and [almost equal to]6 per
100,000 cervical spine manipulations. Minor side effects with a
possible neurologic involvement were more common. The highest risk
immediately after treatment was fainting/dizziness/light-headedness in,
at worse [almost equal to]16 per 1000 treatment consultations. Up to 7
days after treatment, these risks were headache in, at worse [almost
equal to]4 per 100, numbness/tingling in upper limbs in, at worse
[almost equal to]15 per 1000 and fainting/dizziness/light-headedness
in, at worse [almost equal to]13 per 1000 treatment consultations.

Conclusion.
Although minor side effects following cervical spine manipulation were
relatively common, the risk of a serious adverse event, immediately or
up to 7 days after treatment, was low to very low.

(C) 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

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Children
are generally extremely active and their bodies absorb stress during movement.
A child may fall, be pushed or jolted, twist or turn, outside the normal range
of motion. These forceful activities can produce vertebral subluxations disturb
the normal nerve reflex pathways, causing what is termed traditionally in
chiropractic as “nerve interference”. Too little attention is paid to tramatic
incidents which fixate or decrease normal movement of spinal segments, causing
the typical hypomobile subluxation or creating excessive spinal joint play with
the resulting hypermobile subluxation. It is important here to note that some
authorities feel that this trauma need only be “MICRO” (minor, ie., slips and
falls, bad posture) trauma, as distinct from”MACRO” (major, ie., car accidents,
falls down the stairs, off beds and changing tables) trauma.

From a
presentation titled Children and Chiropractic: A Summary of Subluxation and Its
Ramifications by Hinwood and Hinwood.

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JMPT 2002 - Jul-Aug; 25(6)

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March 16, 2007 — A special chiropractic adjustment can significantly lower
high blood pressure, a placebo-controlled study
suggests.

“This procedure has the effect of not one, but two blood-pressure
medications given in combination,” study leader George Bakris, MD, tells
WebMD. “And it seems to be adverse-event free. We saw no side effects and
no problems,” adds Bakris, director of the University of Chicago hypertension center.

Eight weeks after undergoing the procedure, 25 patients with early-stage
high blood pressure had significantly lower blood pressure than 25 similar
patients who underwent a sham chiropractic adjustment. Because patients can’t
feel the technique, they were unable to tell which group they were in.

X-rays showed that the procedure realigned the Atlas vertebra — the
doughnut-like bone at the very top of the spine — with the spine in the
treated patients, but not in the sham-treated patients.

Compared to the sham-treated patients, those who got the real procedure saw
an average 14 mm Hg greater drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number in
a blood pressure count), and an average 8 mm Hg greater drop in diastolic blood
pressure (the bottom blood pressure number).

None of the patients took blood pressure medicine during the eight-week
study.

“When the statistician brought me the data, I actually didn’t believe
it. It was way too good to be true,” Bakris says. “The statistician
said, ‘I don’t even believe it.’ But we checked for everything, and there it
was.”

Bakris and colleagues report their findings in the advance online issue of
the Journal of Human Hypertension.

Atlas Adjustment and Hypertension

The procedure calls for adjustment of the C-1 vertebra. It’s called the
Atlas vertebra because it holds up the head, just as the titan Atlas holds up
the world in Greek mythology.

Marshall Dickholtz Sr., DC, of the Chiropractic Health Center, in Chicago,
is the 84-year-old chiropractor who performed all the procedures in the study.
He calls the Atlas vertebra “the fuse box to the body.”

“At the base of the brain are two centers that control all the muscles
of the body. If you pinch the base of the brain — if the Atlas gets locked in
a position as little as a half a millimeter out of line — it doesn’t cause any
pain but it upsets these centers,” Dickholtz tells WebMD.

The subtle adjustment is practiced by the very small subgroup of
chiropractors certified in National Upper Cervical Chiropractic (NUCCA)
techniques. The procedure employs precise measurements to determine a patient’s
Atlas vertebra alignment. If realignment is deemed necessary, the chiropractor
uses his or her hands to gently manipulate the vertebra.

“We are not doctors. We are spinal engineers,” Dickholtz says.
“We use mathematics, geometry, and physics to learn how to slide everything
back into place.”

What does this have to do with high blood pressure
pressure?

Bakris notes that some researchers have suggested that injury to the Atlas
vertebra can affect blood flow in the arteries at the base of the skull.
Dickholtz thinks the misaligned Atlas triggers release of signals that make the
arteries contract. Whether the procedure actually fixes such injuries is
unknown, Bakris says.

Bakris began the study after a fellow doctor told him that something strange
was happening in his family practice. The doctor had been sending some of his
patients to a chiropractor. Some of these patients had high blood pressure.

Yet after seeing the chiropractor, the patients’ blood pressure had
normalized — and a few of them were able to stop taking their blood pressure
medications.

So Bakris, then at Rush University, designed the pilot study with 50
patients. He’s now organizing a much bigger clinical trial.

“Is it going to be for everybody with high blood pressure? No,”
Bakris says. “We clearly need to identify those who can benefit. It is
pretty clear that some kind of head or neck trauma early in life is related to
this. This is really a work in progress. It is certainly in the early stages of
research.”

Dickholtz has been teaching, practicing, and studying the NUCCA technique
for 50 years. He says high blood pressure is far from the only thing an Atlas
misalignment causes.

“On the other hand, if people have high blood pressure, there is a
tremendous possibility they need an Atlas adjustment,” he says.

Technorati Tags: Blood Pressure

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THE EFFICACY OF CHIROPRACTIC SPINAL MANIPULATIVE THERAPY (SMT) IN THE TREATMENT OF MIGRAINE: A Pilot Study. PJ Tuchin Australas Chiropr Osteopathy, July 1, 1997; 6(2): 41-7.

Publication Type:

• Journal article

PMID: 17987148

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The most important point I’d like to make here is that headaches do not indicate a lack of painkillers (natural or medicinal) in your body. While many people regularly take medicinal pain killers for instant relief, over the long term, chronic use of medicinal pain killers can cause organ dysfunction and other serious side effects. Unfortunately, most people don’t think they have the time or knowledge to properly assess or fix a body dysfunction signal, such as a headache. Rather, they opt for the easiest and most immediate options (society has trained us well, no?) From there, it becomes that much easier to ignore additional symptoms that may accompany headaches, such as neck pain, dizziness, ringing in the ears, chronic fatigue, or simply a reduced range of motion. All of these symptoms are indicators of a mechanical problem—one that cannot be treated with medication.

So if you realize your headaches are happening more than 5-6 times per year, and are ready to accept the possibility that they’re not related to changes in the weather, or your spouse’s nagging, maybe it’s time to seek a better option. After all, you only have one body—and it deserves the best!

Until next time, yours in health,

Dr. Joshua Gelber

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