Mike's Story of Chronic Pain

This original story appeared in the Fall 2013 NUCCA News, the quarterly newsletter of the the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association. It was part of one of three very different stories about healing through upper cervical care. This true-life story comes from Dr. Cecilia Yu in Dallas, Texas, and was written by Dr. Zachary Ward.

Mike Tyler’s 16 Years of Chronic Pain

Without any true answer on why his body hurt so much , Mike Tyler had learned to make chronic, debilitating pain a lifestyle. He even continued playing golf. Though he was skeptical about NUCCA, Mike was game to try anything to get his pain down and his swing back. Would his visit to Dr. Cecilia Yu deliver the miracle he desired?

"When a friend told me about Dr. Yu and NUCCA, I was, of course, very skeptical. I thought I had tried everything and researched everything and had not heard of NUCCA. I thought there was no way NUCCA could help me."

So writes Mike Tyler in an article he wrote about his experience with Dr. Cecilia Yu, a NUCCA chiropractor in Dallas. Mike went through such an incredible transformation with his care, that he put the experience into words, which he shared with the NUCCA News.

Before finding help through NUCCA, Mike had lived with chronic pain for 16 years. "I was diagnosed with a lot of things. I had everything…every x-ray," said Mike. "There was nothing I did not try: chiropractors, massages, stretching, tens units, hanging upside down, acupuncture, ice, heat, medication and supplements. Some of these items would provide temporary relief but would never last any length of time. I went through every possible scenario to stop the pain and be able to play golf."

Back to playing golf without pain 

Mike is a lover of golf. "I have played competitive golf all of my life in the Dallas area," he told the NUCCA News. But Mike’s pain was so unbearable that he had to use a golf club to lift himself off the green anytime he bent over. "I couldn’t bend over to tee up a golf ball." And that was on his good days.

What were his bad days like? He wrote this: "My pain was quite severe. It was painful to sit, stand, walk, or even get in and out of a car. When you live in constant pain, you need to have a plan before each movement. My pain was from my head to my toes with hourly back spasms, cramps and daily headaches. Pain became the norm for me to the point where I could not even remember ever not being without pain. A good day was when I had steady consistent pain where I would know my limitations on those days. Bad days were when the level of pain would fluctuate along with migraines and muscle cramps."

"I went to Dr. Yu’s office with significant doubts," he told the NUCCA News. "She went through her process, and figured out how badly I was misaligned. She put my head in a cradle, and very gently touched my neck."

And then, like many NUCCA chiropractic patients, there was no immediate change. In fact, things seemed to get worse for a time.

"I went through several days of increased pain. Even an old broken finger hurt. It was that bad."

Then several nights after his first correction, Mike slept through the night for the first time in years and awoke to find that his pain had significantly diminished. It would quickly fade away and never return.

"Three days after the initial adjustment and I could bend over and touch my shoes. Because I was so flexible, had no pain, and was experiencing so much energy, I started painting my house…NUCCA truly works without any harmful drugs or procedures."

(Editor's note: Remember the objective of upper cervical care is to correct head neck misalignment that is interfering with proper brain to body communication. When this is corrected the body functions at a higher level and can often correct other problems more efficiently on its own. Please do not confuse upper cervical care as a treatment for any condition, disease or symptom.)

Upper Cervical Care and Hypertension: A Case Study

(Editor's Note: Today's post comes from the Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research.)

Resolution of Hypertension Following Chiropractic Care: A Case Study

On Jan. 2, 2014, the Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research published a case study documenting the improvement of hypertension with chiropractic care. This study adds to the body of literature showing chiropractic as a possible alternative to medications for people with hypertension.

The study authors begin by noting that 37 billion dollars are spent each year on the treatment of hypertension. They also report that, "According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hypertension is the most common cause of preventable death in developed countries. It is a major risk factor for cardiovascular conditions such as heart attacks and strokes which are the first and third leading causes of death in the US."

In this case, a 57-year-old man went to the chiropractor with a primary complaint of sciatic pain for a year and a half. He was also suffering from pain in both wrists for two years, and high blood pressure for the previous five years. The sciatic pain was sharp, and the wrist pain was affecting the man's daily activity. The case history revealed that his hypertension was being treated with Lisinopril and Simvastatin.

A chiropractic examination revealed postural abnormalities including a short left leg, right head tilt, left lower shoulder, and a weight distribution problem that showed his right side to measure 20 pounds more than the left. Palpation of the spine revealed problems and sensitivity in the upper neck area. X-rays of the neck were also taken and confirmed malposition of the upper neck vertebrae, confirming the finding of subluxation in the upper neck.

Specific chiropractic adjustments were initiated to correct the subluxations. After 8 weeks of chiropractic care, a re-examination was performed. This examination revealed that the man's sciatic pain had reduced by 90 percent, his wrist pain reduced by 70 percent, and his blood pressure had improved by 70 percent from his initial visit to the office.

After a few additional months, the study reports that the man's blood pressure had improved 100 percent, and was to the point that the patient decided to take himself off all his blood pressure medications. His blood pressure continues to remain between normal and pre-hypertensive levels without the use of medications.

The study authors wrote in their conclusion, "Since hypertension is a growing health concern for the public and billions are spent annually, the findings presented in this paper help support the role of chiropractic management beyond pain syndromes."

(Editor's note: Remember the objective of upper cervical care is to correct head neck misalignment that is interfering with proper brain to body communication. When this is corrected the body functions at a higher level and can often correct other problems more efficiently on its own. Please do not confuse upper cervical care as a treatment for any condition, disease or symptom.)

A New Vision for Upper Cervical Care

(Editor's Note:  This is a little old, two years, but still good material and very relevant.  If you are a patient under Upper Cervical care and only getting minimal results look into this type of care and if you are an Upper Cervical Chiropractor research this procedure to learn more about what is available and if interested please learn this work.)

 

By Dr. Russell Friedman (around 12/2011)

 

The objective of the Upper Cervical (UC) spinal correction has always been about directing force into the body in an effort to move a bone back to its place of origin. However, any downward force, or any force going into the body is, by its very nature, compressive to the body. Whether the force is P to A, A to P, or S to I, any inward force is restrictive to the human frame. The time is now right to go beyond our established boundaries.

 

On a full spine x-ray, the low pelvis creates an imbalance. This pelvic tilt takes us off orthogonal, and gravity’s downward pull slowly compresses us from skull to pelvis. This occurs over time and is apparent on the films we work with daily. The compressive effects of a spinal misalignment and gravity are visible as a spinal curvature in the frontal plane (scoliosis) and in the sagittal plane as the reversed curve (kyphosis). Even in the cervical view of the nasium film, the cervical spine is frequently bowing. Go look at it. And our goal to drive this toward center, with the atlas as our lever, only increases this bow. The UC mantra of ‘drive the plane line down’ and the "bone out of place" paradigm is a limiting view that should be re-evaluated.

 

Do you believe this is in our patients’ best interest? Should force be added to the already existing compression as we attempt to drive the body to a centered orthogonal position? Put aside the idea of "a bone out of place" for a moment and ask yourself if we should EVER put force into the body to further compress it.

 

ALL Upper Cervical procedures apply some type of inward force into the body in an attempt to create orthogonality. Whether by machine or hand, this is a valid statement. This concept isn't solely reserved for UC either; it is a primary concept in most, if not all, chiropractic. We, as UC Docs, believe that the ‘triceps pull’ delivers minimal depth and therefore is not compressive. This however, is misleading. ANY inward force is compressive, especially since the vast majority of our height factors are positive and above C/A…hence they drive the spine downward. The spine therefore, becomes more compressed!

 

My own personal journey of facilitating better corrections, as well as seeing the bigger chiropractic picture, has accelerated, shifted and evolved far beyond the ‘bone out of place’ model. The informational field has opened wide and that vision has taken a larger, more comprehensive path. Up to this point, everything that I have learned and taught has been in integrity. Until now I have not seen the larger 3D picture of how the pieces, from top to bottom, relate to the misalignment, breakdown and spiral leading to the re-corrected steady state. I too, continue to evolve. This means that we are not done and do not have all the answers. It's actually quite the contrary. Information will hopefully continue to evolve as the drive to improve will hopefully continue. That is where the fun is. Learning and open-mindedness is what separates our work from all other UC procedures.

 

I am hopeful that others will recognize this broader picture and realize that we must grow from our 1960’s model. The tensegrity model that the body is an up and open system is the progressive and current paradigm that will gain traction. Truth always rises to the top.