Brain Function/Emotional Health  continued

 

Breakthrough for dyslexia and learning disabilities. Ferreri, CA and Wainwright, RB (1984) Exposition Press of Florida, Inc.

1) Changes in brain stem evoked response as a result of chiropractic treatment. Shambaugh P, Pearlman RC, Hauck K.

• In Proceedings of the 1991 International Conference on Spinal Manipulation, FCER; 227-229. In this paper, it is suggested that chiropractic adjustments, at least in patients with acute musculoskeletal problems, may enhance brain function. The research modality used was brain stem evoked response or BSER - a measure of how well brain waves travel (in this case following a sound through a headphone). Four patients with acute musculoskeletal complaints and seven patients with no acute problems were adjusted with diversified technique and cranial adjusting. The four acute patients showed a shorter BSER latency period, indicating that the neural messages were going through their brain stems and auditory nerves more quickly or with less delay. This study supports the hypothesis that brain stem function can be improved by chiropractic adjustments in patients with acute musculoskeletal complaints.

2) Upper cervical adjustments may improve mental function. Thomas MD, Wood J. Journal of Manual Medicine, 1992, 6:215-216.

• From the abstract: This report describes abrupt improvement in mental and motor deficits in a 14-year-old girl after the initiation of specific upper cervical chiropractic care. Cessation of this care for several months was associated with a return to the patient’s previous condition. Repeat manipulation was followed by recovery of the patient to the level of her previous improvement. The child exhibited staring spells, never made eye contact, left arm and hand was used and remained flaccid as she walked. She had the verbal ability of a 3-year-old, spoke rarely, using single words. She was medically diagnosed with psychomotor seizures and a degenerative neurological disorder. After chiropractic adjustments began, she began to make eye contact. Within two weeks she was forming sentences, standing straighter, using her left arm and hand normally and began to engage in family conversation and activities.

3) The chiropractic management of anxiety: a case report. Sullivan EC. ACA J of Chiropractic, 1992 (SEP); 29:29-34.

• A 42-year-old female patient suffered from anxiety attacks and agoraphobia since an auto accident. Other symptoms included nightmares, insomnia, tachycardia, dizziness, memory loss, difficulty in concentrating, and urinary bladder urgency. She also reported that a well-controlled peptic ulcer had exacerbated after the accident. Chiropractic analysis revealed major vertebral subluxation complex at C5-6, T5-6, and L5-S1 levels. After two months of chiropractic care and counseling patient reported a sharp reduction in anxiety, an end to agoraphobia attacks, bladder urgency, insomnia and dizziness and reduced low back pain. After an additional four months patient reported complete relief from anxiety and ulcer symptoms.

4) [Anorexia Nervosa] The side-effects of the chiropractic adjustment. Arno Burnier, D.C. Chiropractic Pediatrics Vol. 1 No. 4 May 1995.

• Case history of A.S. female, 23 years old taken from the records of Dr. Arno Burnier.
• Physical problem: anorexia.
• Chiropractic result: Complete resolution following the first adjustment. Follow-up two years later. Problem never returned.
• Presenting Vertebral Subluxation: Occiput/C1 with atlas ASLP, C5/C6 P1.
• Original adjustment: Meningeal contact on occiput ridge medially close to the EOP for seconds, double notch contact on the sacrum for 20 seconds, axis spinous contact for 20 seconds. Structural manual adjustment of Atlas in extension and rotation, C5/C6 in extension in supine position.

Additional Publications:

1) Cerebral dysfunction: A theory to explain some effects of chiropractic manipulation. Terrett AGJ. Chiropractic Technique; 1993; 5:168-173.

• From the abstract: “This paper presents a theory...to explain a possible mode of action of spinal manipulation in some patients with...visual disorders, dizziness, depression, anxiety, memory problems, attention span problems, difficulty with concentration, irritability, tired-ness, and clumsiness.” Terrett builds on the findings of Gorman and others to advance the theory that diminished blood flow to the brain causes some areas to “hibernate” that is, remain alive, but not function, resulting in diminished mental capacity. “I’m sure that this is exactly what happens to many people every day, and that this is why they suffer problems such as tiredness, headache, depression, irritability, difficulty concentrating, visual difficulty, etc.etc.” (Letter to the editor, Chiropractic Technique, Vol.6 No.3, Aug. 1994).
• Dr. Koren comments: Dr. Frank Gorman hypothesized that the reason why patients visual acuity and other conditions improved after spinal care was due to removed blockage of the vertebral arteries. Dr. Alan G.J. Terrett’s paper on brain hibernation

2) Cerebral dysfunction: A theory to explain some effects of chiropractic manipulation. Terrett AGJ. Chiropractic Technique; 1993; 5:168-173)

• Discusses vertebral artery blockage as one possible mechanism of action. However, he has written that there may be more to the decrease in cerebral blood flow due to cervical spine subluxation than blockage of the cerebral arteries. In answering criticism that blockage of the cerebral arteries could not induce “brain hibernation” Dr. Terrett agreed that the cerebral arteries may not be the mechanism of the reduced cerebral blood flow due to cervical subluxation and that there may be, and most likely were other mechanisms involved: The cortex is not the whole deal anyway, the brainstem is not without important (blood supply from the vertebral arteries), and without it, the cortex is isolated… In this paper, I did not address the possibility of diaschisis. It is not practical or sensible to separate the brain into sections relating to blood supply apart from the consider-56 action of major segmental catastrophes, such as stroke.
• Letter to the editor. Terrett AGJ. Chiropractic Technique Vol/6. No.3, August 1994. Sato and Budgell’s paper further indicates that the vertebral arteries may not be the mechanism of cerebral function compromise, which appears to occur due to vertebral subluxations. This fascinating field will no doubt uncover other mechanisms of spinal/brain relationship and I hope research in this field continues. However, let us not forget that the mechanism of function is of secondary importance. As with all Empirical healing arts (of which chiropractic is one) the most important thing is whether or not the patient gets better, not how well the mechanism is understood.

3) Study on cervical visual disturbance and its manipulative treatment. Zhang C, Wang Y, Lu W, et al. J Trad Chinese Medicine, 1984;4:205-210.

• From the abstract: “Determination of blood flow by x-ray in 18 of our cases shows that blood flow of the cerebral hemispheres greatly improves after manipulative treatment. The same is true in similar animal tests.”
• From the paper: “At the 1978 year end 3120 cases of cervical syndrome of which 30 were associated with hypopsia and blindness were summed up with satisfactory results found after manipulative treatment. Vision was restored to no less than 1.0 in 4 cases with blindness.”

4) Impaired Arterial Blood Flow to the Brain as a result of a cervical subluxation: a clinical report. Risley, WB. Journal American Chiropractic Assoc June 1995. pp. 61-63.

• From the abstract: The author has witnessed impairment of the velocity of arterial blood flow of the occipital artery, unilaterally or bilaterally, as a direct result of a cervical subluxation in over 15,000 patients. This impairment is documented by Doppler examination and is the virtual 100 percent concomitant of a cervical subluxation. Clinical correction of the subluxation, especially at the C-1,C-2 level, restores the blood velocity through the occipital artery, virtually 100 percent of the time. Failure to correct the subluxation commonly fails to relieve the impaired blood velocity in this artery. It is thus an effective monitor of the efficacy of the administered adjustment.

5) Course of attention and memory after common whiplash: a two-years prospective study with age, education and gender pair-matched patients. Di Stefano G and Radanov BP Acta Neurol Scand 1995; 91: 346-352).

• From the abstract: “Attentional functional and memory of common whiplash patients were evaluated during the first two years after experiencing injury....All (117) patients had a similar socioeconomic background, all being injured in automobile accidents and fully covered by insurance plans. Two years following initial trauma, 21 patients remained symptomatic.” When compared with matched controls, the 21 symptomatic patients had no memory impairment but did have attention functional (difficulty of follow-up of tasks with divided attention).
• Comment: Some studies have documented attention deficits in symptomatic whiplash patients as well as memory loss. This paper reviews the value of the studies done by others in this field and found them to have designs that were “insufficient.” The chiropractic interest in this subject is more than that of the neuromusculoskeletal condition of whiplash, but of the brain function that is affected by presumed subluxations of the cervical spine. This work should be read in concert with Gorman’s and Zhang’s papers (above).

6) Mild head injury in preschool children: evidence that it can be associated with a persisting cognitive defect. Wrightson P. McGinnV, Gronwall D. J Neurol Neurosurg Psy-chiatry 1995; 59:375-380.

• A mild head injury is defined by a hospital emergency department, as a head injury not severe enough to need admission for observation. 78 children were compared with 86 controls that had a minor injury in other areas. Children with mild head injury, at six months and one year were found to have scored less on a visual puzzle test and were more likely to have another mild head injury. At 6.5 years, they still scored less than controls.

7) Panic attacks and the chiropractic adjustment: a case report. Potthoff S. Penwell B, Wolf J. ACA J of Chiropractic, 1993 (December) 30:26-28.

• A 52-year-old female diagnosed with chronic panic attacks. She had been prescribed a variety of antidepressants and tranquilizers over the years, as well as undergoing counseling and relaxation training - all to no benefit. Chiropractic examination revealed areas of upper and mid cervical, upper and mid thoracic and right sacroiliac fixations. The patient’s blood pressure would read 182/102 mm Hg and her pulse rate 120 beats per minute during an attack. Her blood pressure would drop to 140/80 and her pulse to 76 beats per minute four minutes after the adjustment. She had been free of panic attacks for more than two months which is the best she had been in years in spite of the fact that her M.D. cut her Xanax dosage in half after she began chiropractic care.

9) Spinal patterns as predictors of personality profiles: a pilot study. Koren T. and Rosenwinkel E. International J of Psychosomatics. 1992;39 Nos. 1-4:10-17.

• Forty patients were analyzed by full spine (14”x36”) radiographs in both sitting (A to P and lateral) and standing (A to P and lateral) positions. Their radiographs were analyzed for distance from center of gravity, pelvic drop, occipital, atlas (C-1), T1, T12 and Sacral angles plus the degree and level of thoracic kyphosis. Each patient took a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) test. The authors then analyzed the data from the radiographs and MMPI for any correlations between psychological expression and spinal indicators.
• Among the findings: atlas angle (the measure of the number of degrees the atlas deviated from the horizontal plane) correlated to three MMPI scales: hypochondriasis, hysteria and paranoia in both standing and sitting films; the degree of the thoracic curve correlated with the hypomania scale (depression and low energy) only in the standing films and the pelvic drop correlated with “need for nurturing” in the sitting films. These findings seemed to agree with Dr. Lowell Ward’s Spinal Column Stressology observations. The chief author (Dr. Koren) wishes to expand this pilot study as more research in this area is badly needed.

10) Chiropractic treatment of mental illness: a review of theory and practice. Goff P.J. Research Forum/Autumn, 1987.

• From the abstract: Between 1920 and 1960, several residential programs for mental health treatment by chiropractors were in existence. This interest has been largely forgotten in the following years. The size of two Davenport institutions were remarkable, especially considering the varying economic climate during those years and that all payment was by individuals or their families. State-operated facilities were concurrently available at little or no cost. The length of existence of the chiropractic sanitaria, 40 years, is also remarkable, as is their demise at roughly the same time (c.1960). W.H. Quigley, D.C., claimed successful treatment of 60% of the admitted population, while the state hospitals of that time reported a success rate of 30%.

11) Chiropractic Success in a Reform School Report of State Supervisor of Chiropractors of Kentucky In Connection With Kentucky Houses of Reform, Greendale, Kentucky, Marshall L.T., Lexington, Kentucky (December 1, 1931).

• This little known report documents chiropractic success in a Kentucky Reform School. boys were placed under chiropractic care. The Report is largely made up of cases histories of all the 244 boys many of whom undoubtedly suffered from various emotional and learning disorders. The success of chiropractic care is admirable.
• From the summary:

Number of boys given chiropractic adjustments...244.

Number of cases dismissed completely recovered or greatly benefited, 155

Of the 244 cases 89 are still under treatment

Number of cases promoted in school grades 54

Number of cases paroled 144.

Number of boys at Greendale (Kentucky Houses of Reform) at beginning of chiropractic program (September 3, 1930) approximately 540.

Number of boys at Greendale Dec. 1st, 1931 approximately 335

State officials were so impressed that they wrote enthusiastic letters of endorsement. From B.W. Hubbard, Superintendent, Commonwealth of Kentucky. Kentucky Houses of Reform:

• “I have been able to notice a marked improvement in the mental and physical condition of the boys and in school work and conduct; also, there has been a larger number of paroles during that period than any previous period during the past four years.” ( p.3)
• “We have been able to accomplish results far beyond their fondest hopes and expectations in the rehabilitation of these boys. The teachers have voluntarily and without solicitation signed a petition asking for an all-time or full-time chiropractor in that institution.” (P.1)
• From the teachers: “As the records will show the boys who underwent treatment improved from the first adjustment and in many instances showed improvement beyond belief. Not only did they improve in health, but also in their school work as pupils, showing better results in the shops and other industrial training and above all there has been a marked improvement in their moral life.” (p.7). Despite these endorsements, chiropractic services were not continued at the institution. (copy of this report can be obtained from the Palmer College reference library).

12) General muscular relaxation after chiropractic adjustment. Goff, McConnell, and Paone J of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigations, 1991; Vol. 7, No.1

13) Chiropractic approach to premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Whittier MA Journal of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigation, 1992;8:26-29.

• Eleven women with histories of PMS had improvement of all measured symptoms including “variation in sexual drive/habits,” “social impairment” and depression

References from Koren Publications’ brochure: Mental Health and Chiropractic

• Schwartz, H.S., Preliminary analysis 350 mental patients’ records treated by Chiropractors, Journal of National Chiropractic Association (Nov. 1949), pp. 12-15.
• Mental Health and Chiropractic, A Multidisciplinary Approach, Sessions Publishers, 48 Nassau Drive, New Hyde Park, New York, N.Y. 11040. 1973.
• Dunn, E.E. Osteopathic Concepts in Psychiatry, Journal of the American Osteopathic Association 49: 354-357, (1950) Schizophrenics displayed subluxation of C-1 37.6%, C-2 66%, C-3 41.2%. T-4 54%, T-5 74.6%, T-6 67.6%.
• Quigley, W.H. “Physiological psychology of chiropractic in mental disorder”. Ch. 10 in Mental Health and Chiropractic. 70% of schizophrenics and 33% of brain syndrome patients were successfully treated by chiropractic and released out of 72 cases studied