Five Intriguing Articles

Scientific research and literature has directly and indirectly supported chiropractors for years. Here is just a taste of the research that has been published. All of these articles, with the exception of the first one, come from highly scrutinized peer reviewed journals. Enjoy.

Written by Walter Rhodes DC.
Chronicles chiropractic’s impact on the flu epidemic of 1917 & 1918.
In Davenport Iowa one out of every 18 patients treated by medical doctors died from the flu.
At the same time, doctors of chiropractic in Davenport saw 1,635 cases of the flu with only ONE death.
In Oklahoma, there is a clear record showing that chiropractors were called in 233 cases where MD’s had cared for the patients and finally gave them up as a lost cause.
Oklahoma patients given up by medical doctors as a “lost cause."
The chiropractors saved all of these “lost” cases except 25.
Important article because it highlights the fact that chiropractic benefits more than just neck pain and back pain.

Sympathetic Segmental Disturbances

Written by Henry Winsor MD.
Published in Medical Times
Analyzed 50 cadavers to determine whether any connection existed between minor curvatures of the spine and diseased organs.
In this article, the researchers looked at 50 cadavers that passed away from some type of disease or “natural causes.” In 49 out of the 50 cadavers, they found spinal misalignments directly correlating to what that person died from. IE a person who died from colon cancer had a misalignment in the lower lumbar spine, a person who died from pneumonia had a spinal misalignment in the upper thoracic spine.
Is this amazing research new? NO, it was published in 1921.
Important because it clearly shows that the health of the body is directly related to the health of the spine.

A hypothesis of chronic low back pain

Written by the premier biomechanics expert in the world, Manohar Panjabi Phd.
Published in the European Spine Journal, 2005.
He concluded that “sub-failure injuries” lead to an altered nervous system which leads to joint and muscle imbalance which leads to inflammation which leads to chronic low back pain.
Dr Panjabi has just validated what chiropractors have been saying since 1895.

An article concerning the lack of relationship between vehicle damage and occupant injury

Written by MC Robbins in 1997.
Published in the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Occupant injury is much more dependant on speed of deceleration than on vehicle damage.
Crumple zones are there to protect those inside the car. Injuries can occur at low speeds when the car does not give at all.

NSAID’s vs. Acupuncture vs. Chiropractic

Written by Reinhold Muller, PhD, and Lynton Giles DC PhD.
Published in Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2005.
Patients had chronic back pain for an average of 5 years.
After nine weeks, NSAID’s resolved chronic back pain in 5% of patients, acupuncture 9%, and chiropractic 27%.