By Alice Teisan
In October 1999 when I was still experiencing CFIDS symptoms, a friend recommended I see Dr. Marshall Dickholtz, Sr. He is a National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA) specialist. In Chiropractics, NUCCA is a specific form of chiropractic adjusting, focusing on an atlas vertebra relationship to the head and the rest of the cervical spine at the brain stem level. Having just completed a year of unsuccessful yet intensive Chiropractic treatment, I listened apprehensively, and prayed that my hopes wouldn’t be dashed again by yet another ineffective, all-consuming treatment option. After researching the treatment and discussing the findings with my internist, she then prescribed the treatment. I realized it met all my criteria - including being affordable, non-invasive, having a high success rate, and being respected within the western medical framework.
Prior to the appointment with Dr. Dickholtz, Sr., I completed an extensive health history profile. One of the first questions on the health history was, had I ever had a head injury? I thought, "Who hasn’t hit their head?" Then I remembered four memorable head injuries throughout my life. The most serious one took place a year prior to CFIDS and the most recent one occurred six months before seeing Dr. Dickholtz, Sr.
My initial appointment with Dr. Dickholtz, Sr. was extensive. After looking at the completed health history, he did six different kinds of tests to determine the problem. He asked me to sit in a chair, while he used a neurocalometer that measured the temperature difference of each side of my cervical spine (from the shoulders to the base of the skull). He also performed a supine leg check, which measured leg length differences in relationship to muscle spasms that occurs on each side of my body. Another test involved standing on an anatometer, which looked at a posture scan in relationship to my hip level and pelvic rotation position. There was a horizontal line chart that showed the level of the ears in the standing position relative to the talking of three X-rays, when seated, of the cervical spine and skull that were taken lastly.
After all the tests were performed, Dr. Dickholtz, Sr. examined and measured the X-rays and determined the proper adjustment needed to return my spine and head to a balanced position. Through the X-ray measurements, he was able to return the C1 (atlas) and the rest of the vertebrae to within a quarter degree of their proper positions.
Once the specific chiropractic adjustment was performed, it took my body time to acclimate before standing without feeling faint. When able, I walked the length of the exam room a couple times allowing my body to rebalance itself from the adjustment (correction). Before the four-hour appointment was completed, all six of the above tests were performed again and post X-rays taken to make sure that the adjustment was correct.
Dr. Dickholtz, Sr. describes the adjustment as equivalent to major surgery done on the body. Recovery time of a month is necessary before experiencing benefits. In my case my heart palpitations, tachycardia and irregular beats subsided immediately.
Follow-up visits include periodic checks to make sure the adjustment is holding.
Within a month of being adjusted I began to feel my neck, shoulder and back muscles loosen. Many aching, arthritic type pains, severe CFIDS-type headaches and the beet-red color in my face and neck subsided.
The ideal is to have the first adjustment be the only one needed, which many of his patients have experienced. My adjustment’s average holding time is three to four months.
The initial adjustment held four months before I hit my head, knocking my alignment out of place. Not totally believing the chiropractic treatment was helping I waited until my next scheduled appointment, two months later. At the time I didn’t realize that my NMOT symptoms along with exacerbated CFIDS symptoms begin almost immediately after my alignment was no longer holding.
Also during the two months that my adjustment was out from December 2000 to February 2001, after having worked three and a half years part time, I began to experience exacerbated CFIDS symptoms. The increased fatigue, inability to concentrate, increased tremors, and a heart rate over 140 when standing, along with fevers and the inability to perform simple daily tasks, resulted in my third total disability. However, within a week of having my neck readjusted, my heart rate dropped under 100 when standing. When my adjustment is holding, I experience great relief even though I am still disabled.
Dealing with CFIDS requires patience, persistence, stamina and a hope in Heaven to complete the journey well. How glad I am that I found a NUCCA Doctor, even though it has not provided the ultimate cure. It has provided restoration of new life to my body and a lessening of many CFIDS related symptoms, along with a continued hope for further healing. When my chiropractic adjustment is holding, the day-to-day pain and difficulties with CFIDS are much more manageable and less painful, allowing me to have a focus on something more enjoyable than my severe suffering.
For more information, contact the author, Alice Teisan, at alicemt2@juno.com. Dr. Marshall Dickholtz, Sr., can be contacted at dmarshallsr@worldnet.att.net.
Showing posts with label Marshall Dickholtz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marshall Dickholtz. Show all posts
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Upper Cervical Care Cuts Blood Pressure
The article below is a great example of the power of an Upper Cervical correction:
Study Finds Special 'Atlas Correction' Lowers Blood Pressure
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
March 16, 2007 -- An Upper Cervical Correction can significantly lower high blood pressure, a placebo-controlled study suggests.
"This procedure has the effect of not one, but two blood-pressure medications given in combination," study leader George Bakris, MD, tells WebMD. "And it seems to be adverse-event free. We saw no side effects and no problems," adds Bakris, director of the University of Chicago hypertension center.
Eight weeks after undergoing the procedure, 25 patients with early-stage high blood pressure had significantly lower blood pressure than 25 similar patients who underwent a sham upper cervical correction. Because patients can't feel the technique, they were unable to tell which group they were in.
X-rays showed that the procedure realigned the Atlas vertebra -- the doughnut-like bone at the very top of the spine -- with the spine in the treated patients, but not in the sham-treated patients. Compared to the sham-treated patients, those who got the real procedure saw an average 14 mm Hg greater drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure count), and an average 8 mm Hg greater drop in diastolic blood pressure None of the patients took blood pressure medicine during the eight-week study.
"When the statistician brought me the data, I actually didn't believe it. It was way too good to be true," Bakris says. "The statistician said, 'I don't even believe it.' But we checked for everything, and there it was." Bakris and colleagues report their findings in the advance online issue of the Journal of Human Hypertension.
Atlas Adjustment and Hypertension
The procedure calls for adjustment of the C-1 vertebra. It's called the Atlas vertebra because it holds up the head, just as the titan Atlas holds up the world in Greek mythology. Marshall Dickholtz Sr., DC, of the Chiropractic Health Center, in Chicago, is the 84-year-old Upper Cervical doctor who performed all the procedures in the study. He calls the Atlas vertebra "the fuse box to the body."
"At the base of the brain are two centers that control all the muscles of the body. If you pinch the base of the brain -- if the Atlas gets locked in a position as little as a half a millimeter out of line -- it doesn't cause any pain but it upsets these centers," Dickholtz tells WebMD.
The subtle correction is practiced by the very small subgroup of chiropractors certified in National Upper Cervical Chiropractic (NUCCA) techniques. The procedure employs precise measurements to determine a patient's Atlas vertebra alignment. If realignment is deemed necessary, the chiropractor uses his or her hands to gently manipulate the vertebra.
"We are not doctors. We are spinal engineers," Dickholtz says. "We use mathematics, geometry, and physics to learn how to slide everything back into place."
What does this have to do with high blood pressure?
Bakris notes that some researchers have suggested that injury to the Atlas vertebra can affect blood flow in the arteries at the base of the skull. Dickholtz thinks the misaligned Atlas triggers release of signals that make the arteries contract. Whether the procedure actually fixes such injuries is unknown, Bakris says.
Bakris began the study after a fellow doctor told him that something strange was happening in his family practice. The doctor had been sending some of his patients to a chiropractor. Some of these patients had high blood pressure.
Yet after seeing the chiropractor, the patients' blood pressure had normalized -- and a few of them were able to stop taking their blood pressure medications. So Bakris, then at Rush University, designed the pilot study with 50 patients. He's now organizing a much bigger clinical trial.
"Is it going to be for everybody with high blood pressure? No," Bakris says. "We clearly need to identify those who can benefit. It is pretty clear that some kind of head or neck trauma early in life is related to this. This is really a work in progress. It is certainly in the early stages of research."
Dickholtz has been teaching, practicing, and studying the NUCCA technique for 50 years. He says high blood pressure is far from the only thing an Atlas misalignment causes.
"On the other hand, if people have high blood pressure, there is a tremendous possibility they need an Atlas adjustment," he says.
http://www.webmd.com/hypertensionhigh- blood-pressure/news/20070316/chiropractic- cuts-blood-pressure?page=1
Editor’s Note: In 2006 WebMD was awarded best medical website by WebAward.org. The significance of just such a move for chiropractic cannot be fully seen in the present but if this publicity continues to grow, the world is going to need a lot of specific upper cervical chiropractors in the near future.
Published: May 2007
Study Finds Special 'Atlas Correction' Lowers Blood Pressure
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
March 16, 2007 -- An Upper Cervical Correction can significantly lower high blood pressure, a placebo-controlled study suggests.
"This procedure has the effect of not one, but two blood-pressure medications given in combination," study leader George Bakris, MD, tells WebMD. "And it seems to be adverse-event free. We saw no side effects and no problems," adds Bakris, director of the University of Chicago hypertension center.
Eight weeks after undergoing the procedure, 25 patients with early-stage high blood pressure had significantly lower blood pressure than 25 similar patients who underwent a sham upper cervical correction. Because patients can't feel the technique, they were unable to tell which group they were in.
X-rays showed that the procedure realigned the Atlas vertebra -- the doughnut-like bone at the very top of the spine -- with the spine in the treated patients, but not in the sham-treated patients. Compared to the sham-treated patients, those who got the real procedure saw an average 14 mm Hg greater drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure count), and an average 8 mm Hg greater drop in diastolic blood pressure None of the patients took blood pressure medicine during the eight-week study.
"When the statistician brought me the data, I actually didn't believe it. It was way too good to be true," Bakris says. "The statistician said, 'I don't even believe it.' But we checked for everything, and there it was." Bakris and colleagues report their findings in the advance online issue of the Journal of Human Hypertension.
Atlas Adjustment and Hypertension
The procedure calls for adjustment of the C-1 vertebra. It's called the Atlas vertebra because it holds up the head, just as the titan Atlas holds up the world in Greek mythology. Marshall Dickholtz Sr., DC, of the Chiropractic Health Center, in Chicago, is the 84-year-old Upper Cervical doctor who performed all the procedures in the study. He calls the Atlas vertebra "the fuse box to the body."
"At the base of the brain are two centers that control all the muscles of the body. If you pinch the base of the brain -- if the Atlas gets locked in a position as little as a half a millimeter out of line -- it doesn't cause any pain but it upsets these centers," Dickholtz tells WebMD.
The subtle correction is practiced by the very small subgroup of chiropractors certified in National Upper Cervical Chiropractic (NUCCA) techniques. The procedure employs precise measurements to determine a patient's Atlas vertebra alignment. If realignment is deemed necessary, the chiropractor uses his or her hands to gently manipulate the vertebra.
"We are not doctors. We are spinal engineers," Dickholtz says. "We use mathematics, geometry, and physics to learn how to slide everything back into place."
What does this have to do with high blood pressure?
Bakris notes that some researchers have suggested that injury to the Atlas vertebra can affect blood flow in the arteries at the base of the skull. Dickholtz thinks the misaligned Atlas triggers release of signals that make the arteries contract. Whether the procedure actually fixes such injuries is unknown, Bakris says.
Bakris began the study after a fellow doctor told him that something strange was happening in his family practice. The doctor had been sending some of his patients to a chiropractor. Some of these patients had high blood pressure.
Yet after seeing the chiropractor, the patients' blood pressure had normalized -- and a few of them were able to stop taking their blood pressure medications. So Bakris, then at Rush University, designed the pilot study with 50 patients. He's now organizing a much bigger clinical trial.
"Is it going to be for everybody with high blood pressure? No," Bakris says. "We clearly need to identify those who can benefit. It is pretty clear that some kind of head or neck trauma early in life is related to this. This is really a work in progress. It is certainly in the early stages of research."
Dickholtz has been teaching, practicing, and studying the NUCCA technique for 50 years. He says high blood pressure is far from the only thing an Atlas misalignment causes.
"On the other hand, if people have high blood pressure, there is a tremendous possibility they need an Atlas adjustment," he says.
http://www.webmd.com/hypertensionhigh- blood-pressure/news/20070316/chiropractic- cuts-blood-pressure?page=1
Editor’s Note: In 2006 WebMD was awarded best medical website by WebAward.org. The significance of just such a move for chiropractic cannot be fully seen in the present but if this publicity continues to grow, the world is going to need a lot of specific upper cervical chiropractors in the near future.
Published: May 2007
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