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If you wish to contact the person(s) who have made these videos, please do so.  But, please understand that I personally may not agree with every part of their video or statements.  

Is Chiropractic a Treatment for this disease?

With all the diseases and conditions mentioned in this website, the reader might assume that chiropractic is a treatment for diseases.  That is not the case.  The goal of chiropractic care is the correction or reduction of the vertebral subluxation complex (VSC), a serious spinal distortion that irritates and interferes with nervous system and overall body function. 

The effects of the vertebral subluxation complex are extremely individual.  Correcting (adjusting) an upper cervical (upper neck) subluxation could stop headaches in one patient, a speech disorder in another, blindness, asthma, low back pain, sinus trouble, constipation or any of hundreds of body malfunctions in others. 

Most revealing is that a VSC might produce little or no observable symptoms.  However, that does not minimize the potential harm as an “asymptomatic subluxation” can be a dangerous thing and needs correction.

Correcting the subluxation complex permits the body to work more efficiently.  All people, those expressing symptoms or not, need subluxation correction to maximize their ability to heal and to optimize their life expression; it may make all the difference in the world.

A note about terminology: For purposes of simplification, we will consider the osteopathic “lesion” and the chiropractic “vertebral subluxation complex” as synonymous.  Some people avoid the term chiropractic adjustment and instead prefer to use the term “manipulation,” “spinal manipulative therapy” (SMT), “chiropractic treatment” or some other term in explaining their work.  You’ll see these terms used in the papers cited. We feel the terms “chiropractic adjustment” and “chiropractic care” better represent the procedures used since the specific chiropractic approach is not a general manipulation nor is it a treatment for specific diseases (though some have proposed that it may be referred to as a treatment for subluxations).

A major limitation of chiropractic research is lack of inter-technique study. Are different adjusting techniques more effective?  Less effective?  More traumatic?  Less traumatic?  And for which patients? Would the spine have held its adjustment better with another technique?  How important is doctor proficiency? A person should remember not all doctors are equal be they chiropractors or medical doctors.  Research along those lines, though badly needed, is scant. Too much chiropractic research today operates within the medical paradigm (diagnosis and treatment of diseases).

 

Acute effect of NUCCA upper cervical adjustment on patients with diabetes type 11,  Webster SK, Dickholtz, M, Woodfied, C and Bakris GL. Chiropractic Research Journal, Vol. Vll, No. 2, Fall 2000.

Six patients with type 2 diabetes underwent chiropractic examination (upper cervical x-rays) plus baseline measurements of blood pressure, pulse, electrocardiogram and plasma glucose levels were obtained.  Heart rate variability was checked to determine relative activity of sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. Patients were assessed 1, 2 and 3 hours following the adjustment. After the adjustments: the reduction of upper cervical subluxations by NUCCA adjustment resulted in a stabilization of plasma glucose levels during the three hour fasting period.

Chiropractic and holistic management of type 2 diabetes. Kfoury PW, Digest of Chiropractic Economics 37(4):37-40, 1995.

Chiropractic care for a diabetic patient was able to bring both glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin levels to near normal.

Case study – Diabetes.  Cohen E. Chiropractic Pediatrics Vol. 1 No. 2 August 1994.

This is the case of a patient who was diagnosed with Juvenile Onset Diabetes at age 5 and began chiropractic care at age 20.  She was on 100 units of insulin a day and had other insulin related health problems including diabetic neuropathy for which she was getting laser treatments 2-3 times a week.  Her peripheral vascular symptoms were severe and the possibility of amputation of her lower limbs was being considered. Within two weeks of beginning chiropractic care (adjustment of C2) all peripheral vascular components ceased.  Within four weeks the opthalmologist doing the laser treatments told her they were no longer necessary. During her first two months of chiropractic her insulin intake dropped to 65 units a day and after one year of care it dropped to 30-32 units a day.  This patient was saved from blindness, amputation and confinement to a wheelchair. In the paper, the author laments that the child was not brought in for care after birth as her forceps delivery appeared to have damaged her spine leading to her health problems later in life.

Diabetes mellitus: two case reports.  Nelson WA. Chiropractic Technique, 1989;1:37-40.  Case #1 is of a juvenile diabetic diagnosed at age 4. She was now 38 and required 18 units of insulin per day.  Her primary complaints were nervousness and prolonged menstrual cycle. 

After three visits a week for three months the patient reported normal menses and reduced nervousness.  Her insulin had been reduced to 15 units per day.   Case #2 was a 61-year-old man with a primary complaint of coldness in the lower extremities of about 4 years duration, due to circulatory problems related to diabetes mellitus.   He had two adjustments per week for 5 months.  Warmth was restored from the mid-calf to the ankles.  An additional 5 months of care restored normal warmth to the soles of the feet.

Diagnosis and manipulative treatment in diabetic polyneuropathy and its relation to intertarsal joint dysfunction.  Murphy DR. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1994; 17:29-37. 

An 80-year-old man with a history of diabetes mellitus complained of low back pain, burning pain in the lower extremities and poor balance began chiropractic care with visits of 3 times per week: (modified pelvic SOT blocking for the sacroiliac joints, manual adjustments for the fixated tarsal joints, and manual soft tissue work for the plantar trigger points.  After the first visit, the patient reported a “rush of warmth” over his feet while driving home.  The return of warmth was permanent.  Improvement continued over the four months of chiropractic care.

Effects of chiropractic spinal adjustments and interferential therapy in the restoration of peripheral circulatory impairment in the lower extremities of diabetics. Dickinson, RL Chiropractic: The Journal of Chiropractic Research, Study and Clinical Investigation. April 1988;1(1):18-24

31 diabetics with progressive peripheral circulatory impairment in the lower extremities and “numbness, coldness, and discomfort from the knees down…general weakness…toenail deformity, thin shiny skin and…circulatory insufficiency and skin color changes in the distal extremities” started chiropractic care. All patients reported some subjective improvement, ranging from a 50% to 100% decrease in total complaints and an increase in vitality and mental outlook.