THE EFFECT OF UPPER CERVICAL CORRECTIONS ON PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME
Charles Woodfield, D.C., Marshall Dickholtz, Sr., D.C.
The study involved the recruitment of 20 subjects obtained and screened by a General Practitioner. They were included into the study if they had no prior history of depression and fulfilled the requirements of the Center for Disease Control definition of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
The MD determined that the patients fit the above criteria and that an upper cervical doctor referral was required through postural analysis and leg checks. Once the initial screen is completed, the MD referred the subjects to the local hospital. The purpose of this testing was to measure pre and post adjustment effects of the correction on several biological markers that may be abnormal in CFS patients.
The subject was then referred to a Psychiatrist for an evaluation to determine that the cause of CFS is not of psychiatric origin. At this point, the patient was turned over to the upper cervical doctor for care and monitoring.
Upon arrival at the upper cervical doctor's office, each new CFS patient was given a packet of forms to complete. After completing a demographics form the next form was a chronic fatigue symptom sheet that was used to verify and assure consistency of the responses on the MD's symptom form. The third form was the SF-36, used to measure the health outcome. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was also completed. The doctor worked up the subject for a correction according the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA) standards of quality care. This includes thermographic, Anatometer and posture analysis as well as pre and post adjustment x-rays. The doctor then followed the patient's progress for 6 months. The subjects were checked and adjusted if required and the SF-36 and PSQI was administered once a month. After the subject's held their correction for 3 months, they were referred back to the local hospital to repeat the special testing. This was to determine changes brought about by the upper cervical correction. At the end of six months, the patients will be released from the study with the option to continue care. Data analysis of the SF-36 and PSQI using the paired t-test method was completed at the end of 6 months. Some long-term data has been collected from subjects continuing care. Of the twenty SPEC scans, seven proved to be abnormal, showing signs of CFS. Two scans showed depression as the etiology of CFS. These two scans converted to ‘normal' as did five of the CFS scans. There has been significant improvement in the SF-36 and PSQI scores. There are however, some individual failures that did occur. From this study the benefit of CFS subjects of receiving upper cervical care is demonstrated.
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