Off-Label Uses For Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care

by Dr. Adam Tanase

(Editor's note:  This post again comes from my good friend and colleague, Dr. Adam Tanase.  His perspective on this topic is interesting and I think will serve to help more people understand the potential uses of Chiropractic care more easily.) 

Medical physicians commonly use Botox, a medication intended to treat wrinkles, on patients with headaches. They also give Singular, an adult asthma/allergy drug, to children with atopic dermatitis. This practice is called "off-label prescribing" and it’s so common that the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality estimated 20% of all prescriptions are written for off-label use.

Since this now happens on a daily basis, it doesn’t really shock anyone. Plus, it’s perfectly legal. What you might be surprised to find out, however, is that (upper cervical) chiropractic care has off-label uses of its own.

If you have generalized back or neck pain, (upper cervical) chiropractic adjustments are very helpful. This type of pain relief could be considered an "on-label" reason for seeking the assistance of a chiropractor. But what about the patients who don’t have back or neck pain, and elect to receive care for relief from other conditions? Examples may include constipation, dizziness, or TMJ.

Believe it or not, (upper cervical) chiropractic offices across the world are filled with patients receiving these "off-label" benefits. That’s why you might hear chiropractors discussing how they’ve been able to help patients with psoriasis or IBS. To outsiders, this can seem like complete quackery. And while I would consider it irresponsible for chiropractors to advertise a "cure" for these conditions, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a hoax. Some people with non-musculoskeletal conditions really do respond well to (upper cervical) chiropractic care.

In fact, just yesterday, two of my patients expressed how they can immediately feel their sinuses open up after getting an upper cervical adjustment. Now, both of them originally came to see me for "on-label" reasons – neck pain and upper back stiffness. I didn’t attempt to diagnose either of them with any sort of sinus issue, nor did I ever tell them that the adjustments would help sinus congestion. Moreover, neither one mentioned sinus irritation being a concern when we first met. But now, they each come back as needed for an "off-label" benefit (improved sinus function), as well as typical relief from back/neck pain.

Why does this happen? The answer is fairly simple: Our bodies function better with a strong and balanced spine that moves properly.

I invite you to consult with a reputable chiropractor in your area so that you too may experience the "off-label" benefits of (upper cervical) chiropractic care.

Upper Cervical Care Helps Complications After Brain Surgery

Many people who go to chiropractors have had surgery of some kind. Often, they are concerned as to whether they can get chiropractic after surgery. This case study, documented in the Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research, on June 14, 2013, may help answer this question.

In this case, a 17-year-old girl came to the chiropractor with health concerns that included an astrocytoma that was surgically removed from her cerebellum four years earlier. According to the American Brain Tumor Association, "Astrocytomas are tumors that arise from astrocytes—star-shaped cells that make up the 'glue-like' or supportive tissue of the brain." The authors of the study explain that the cerebellum is part of the central nervous system (CNS) and has no direct ability to cause muscle contraction, but if harmed or removed, body movements become uncoordinated and abnormal.

In addition to the brain tumor removal, the young girl also reported a history of scoliosis, headaches, tremors, fatigue, loss of balance, and dizziness. After her brain surgery, the girl experienced a significant decline in her postural control, her speech began to slow and was slurred, and her balance became difficult to maintain. Her balance got so bad that she was no longer trusted to drive. She also had fatigue and headaches that were debilitating and caused her to vomit. Her history noted that, prior to these symptoms, she was an avid dancer and soccer player, and was not taking any medication.

A chiropractic examination was performed which included palpation, thermography, and x-rays. From this examination, it was determined that the young woman had subluxations in the upper neck creating nerve system interference. A series of specific corrective chiropractic adjustments was initiated for the correction of the subluxations.

The patient stated that she began noticing changes by her second visit. By the 24th visit, the patient reported that her balance had improved from a 6 out of 10 to a 9 out of 10 since starting chiropractic care. She also stated that her speech had improved over 90% since beginning care, and that she feels it is smoother and less choppy.

In their conclusion the authors wrote, "This case report outlines subluxation-based chiropractic care of a 17-year-old female who was experiencing a loss of balance, difficulty with speech and postural problems following the removal of an astrocytoma from her cerebellum. This is one case demonstrating an improvement in balance, speech and posture while under chiropractic care."

 

(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.)

Are We Finally Understanding Upper Cervical?

from Upper Cervical Miami

by Dr. Molina and Salera

Enjoy these videos about upper cervical care and what it can do for you and the ones you love.

Upper cervical care featured on The Doctors.

Upper cervical care is safe and effective for even babies.  Featured on the Ricki Lake Show.

Video on Discovery Health about drag racer Tony Schumacher's devastating accident and how upper cervical care helped him back into the driver's seat.

And finally from Good Morning America...upper cervical care and blood pressure.

What Has Responded To Upper Cervical Care?

For more specific stories from patients around the world click here.

(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.)

Holding Your Upper Cervical Correction

Being In Adjustment

by Michael Thomas, DC

People often ask me, “When should I come back?” This is a fair question and an important one. Some people only return to the office when life has become too difficult again. “Doc, that pain has returned and I can’t play golf”. “I’ve been feeling it for four or five months but just in the past couple of days I find that I can’t get comfortable in bed at night”. “I thought it would go away but it just keeps returning and it seems to be getting worse!” “This is a different pain than last time and I didn’t think it was related.” “I didn’t think you could help so I went to five other doctors, got cortisone shots, did weeks of physical therapy, had two MRI’s and now the surgeon wants to operate.”

These and many more are common comments from patients when they return to my office in acute pain or problem. The vast majority of the time, an upper cervical correction will once again, return them to health and happiness. “I didn’t realize you could help this!” “I didn’t know it was related to my neck!” “My other doctor told me you couldn’t help this.” “This is voodoo!”.

I hear these and many other comments like these every day. This is why educating patients is almost as important as the actual upper cervical correction. If you don’t know when I can be of help, you won’t come in to get the correction you need to return you to health or to maintain your health. This educational problem is a deep one. In our society, people are generally not taught anything about what we do or even how our bodies really work and therefore don’t realize the results you receive from an upper cervical correction are even possible. We have always grown our patient population one person at a time. Once you have received a correction and realized, felt, and lived the restoration that occurs, then you begin to get the bigger picture. This picture is actually bigger than the symptom expression in any one person -they know what it has done for them in the past but many have no idea of the possibilities.

Let’s briefly explore (this is a whole book in itself!) the areas and issues that can be affected by an upper cervical correction.

Through ongoing research, we now understand that misalignment in the top of the neck changes blood flow through the head in a dramatic fashion. It also changes flow of the cerebral spinal fluid, which lubricates the brain and spinal cord and removes toxins. Many people have headaches and brain fog that seem directly related. Dizziness and equilibrium problems are frequently helped by upper cervical care. The cranial nerves also seem to be affected by misalignment and many people have found improvement in vision, hearing, TMJ and other facial problems. Many people remark they can’t take a deep breath when they are out of alignment. Many people have noticed that their blood pressure returns to normal when they get back in alignment. People report that their esophageal reflux improves when they are in alignment . Many people report that their digestion becomes disordered when they are out of alignment and returns to normal once they’ve been back to the office. One of my patients starts burping as soon as they are back in alignment and this is a sign their gut is working again. We celebrate! I have several patients whose nose starts running and clearing their sinuses right on the correction table! (I have tissues!)

Many people have found that they begin to feel depressed when they are out of alignment and that this will lift almost immediately when they get an upper cervical correction. More than one person has told me they could finally get pregnant after getting an upper cervical correction -after trying for years without success. Seizures have often been greatly reduced or stopped all together.

This is just a sampling of the thousands of people who have come through the office over the years. We haven’t even gotten to pain yet. General Chiropractic care has been painted as “maybe good for low back pains at times” but results in an upper cervical care office would tend to expand it’s usefulness. In the last week I found patients telling me that their horrific trigeminal neuralgia pain was gone. One person related that she had been sitting on doughnuts for years but that she had come in for shoulder pains. After one correction her shoulder was 90% better but her tailbone pain was gone! So was the pain in her knee and ankle. Several people were scheduled for surgery. Most of them cancelled it after receiving relief. They had been told there was no other choice, but we are a choice they don’t know about.

A proper upper cervical correction restores your body to an optimal relationship with gravity. It restores the ability of your body to function as a whole and not have to scramble to keep up with hips going one way, shoulders another, and head yet another. Fighting gravity is a battle we always lose. Gravity is relentless. The correction restores equipoise, that ability of the body to balance easily right on the gravity line, a vertical axis that goes through our middle. It is much the same as a gyroscope. When a gyroscope has enough energy, it spins cleanly and easily. As it loses energy it begins to wobble more and more in an attempt to remain upright. The extra effort decreases its energy further and it increases its wobble until it falls over. The correction restores all the ‘pieces’ (head, neck, trunk, hips) back into alignment decreasing the energy needed just to keep us upright. This energy can then be used where it is needed in the rest of our body maintaining and restoring our well-being. We can think better. We have greater agility and ease in moving about.

My experiences have shown me that upper cervical care is primary health care for human beings. It is a hidden jewel that you have already found and has likely already made a change in your life. Like any precious gift, the more you know about it, the better it can serve you. I hope this piece has expanded your knowledge of upper cervical care. Now let’s spread the word!

(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.)

Can Upper Cervical Care Help Patients With Dizziness?

Can Neck Problems Cause Dizziness?

by Dr. Bill Davis

Vertigo, dizziness, disequilibrium and many other of these types of conditions can be directly related to old head and neck injuries that have never been properly addressed and the underlying damage to the upper neck has led to dysfunction in the ears, the balancing system of the body or both.

When the head or neck is injured the upper neck (Atlas & Axis) frequently become twisted and misaligned leading to a slight displacement of the head…sometimes by as little as 3/4 of a degree.  Once the heavy head (10-14 lbs) is tilting to the side the brain has to compensate for that change through the righting reflex to keep the eyes and ears level with the horizon at all times.

The entire structure of the body will twist and tilt in order to compensate for those upper neck misalignments and head tilt.  Eventually leading to pressure building up into the nerve system.  The area that is first impacted by these problems is the brain stem area, which is just basically a part of the brain that extends down into the spine and connects the the spinal cord.

The brain stem area is a key to the balance of our bodies.  This upper neck area has more pressure sensors the anywhere else in the body that feed information into the brain stem and the brain.  Also the brain stem send messages via the cranial nerves to the ears for balance as well.  Blood flow is also effected when the brain stem function is altered.

When someone is suffering from vertigo, dizziness, or disequilibrium, the brain stem is frequently involved.  Upper neck misalignments alter the brain stem function and lead to these types of problems.  When these old injuries are dealt with by the correction of the head position by a precise upper cervical corrective procedure such as NUCCA, the healing process can begin.

Holding the corrections is the key to healing, not having your spine adjusted 1000′s of times!

Now here is an example…Terry is in property management and is also an avid Bicyclist, riding up to 100 miles per week.  When he began to develop vertigo it was about 2 years after he had taken a pretty significant fall from his bike and had a motorcycle accident that seemed to make the dizziness and vertigo attacks much worse.  To the point that he was concerned even about going up on a ladder at one of his rentals.  Here is his story…

I have been suffering from vertigo (dizziness) for 6-7 years, getting more constant as the years progressed.  I tried everything…Every doctor that I could think of, EENT, general doc, vertigo specialist and finally my last hope, a NUCCA (upper cervical) doctor.  Dr. Davis helped me almost instantly.  I have not been dizzy for 8 weeks!  Thanks Breath of Life for giving me my health back!!!

Now not all dizziness, vertigo and disequilibrium is related to head and neck traumas.  But if you have a history of those types of accidents then an evaluation with a qualifiedupper cervical specialist is very important.  If the underlying cause can be identified, what a difference it can make for your life!

(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 dizziness or any other condition, disease or symptom.)

Gene And Ginger's Upper Cervical Care Experience

“The MD’s don’t seem to know what’s wrong with me…”

By Dr. Brandon Harshe

Gene had a pain in his side for 10 years, degeneration in his spine, shoulder pain, and vertigo. Ginger had sciatic pain for 15 years, had been taking hormones for the previous 30 years, and had frequent hot flashes. Then they came in to see me and get under Upper Cervical Care. Read on to find out what happened in their own words.

“My husband Gene and I started going to Dr. Harshe about 2 months ago. Gene had been to the typical chiropractor several times throughout his life, but I never had been to one and was very skeptical about going. A friend had asked me to consider going to an Upper Cervical (Doctor) a year prior, but I just graciously said I don’t really have confidence in them.

She called after my husband had gotten sick and said I really wish you would go to Dr. Harshe in Carrollton. Her Upper Cervical (Doctor) recommended him, so I told her I would tell Gene. He said sure, let’s give it a try, the MD’s don’t seem to know what’s wrong with me.

We called for an appointment and I let my husband see him the first visit and then the second visit I agreed to see him. After hearing Dr. Harshe explain the adjustment he does, it made perfect sense to us. God created our bodies to heal themselves and we felt God could work through Dr. Harshe to help our bodies function as they were created.

Gene had a pain in his side that had hurt for 10 years and a pain in his hip that gave him lots of trouble. After his first adjustment, these pains were gone and he has been free of that pain since. Gene was also having some dizziness and the MD’s had told him that he had severe vertigo and that the casing around his spinal cord was calcifying and would probably close in time and recommended we see a surgical doctor for the spinal cord. He was having what seemed to be a pinched nerve.

With patience, the dizziness is gone and the pain in his shoulder has subsided. We did not see any other doctor for his health issues except for Dr. Harshe.

I have had trouble with a sciatic nerve for more than 15 years. After my first adjustment, my hip pain was gone and has not returned. I have taken hormones for more than thirty years and am now free of taking hormones and have no hot flashes.

We are looking forward to our bodies feeling better and better as we reach the point of being able to stay in adjustment for longer periods of time. I am looking forward to be able to get off my blood pressure meds in the very near future. We are thankful for Dr. Harshe and his practice of common sense chiropractic and for God working through him to help our bodies function as they were created to function.

We encourage you to schedule a visit with Dr. Harshe and gain a wealth of knowledge about how your body is created to function and have your first adjustment for a healthier, drug free YOU!!!!!!”

Gene and Ginger K.
Fort Worth, TX

(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 The Patient With Brachioradial Pruritis

(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 Brachioradial Pruritis, vertigo, neck pain or any other condition, disease or symptom.)

Upper Cervical Care Helps Patient with Brachioradial Pruritis, Vertigo & Neck Pain - A Case Study

The Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health, April 26, 2011 issue, published a case study documenting upper cervical care helping a woman with Brachioradial Pruritis, neck stiffness, and vertigo. Brachioradial Pruritis (BRP) is a nerve condition of the upper extremities characterized by intense itching, burning, and tingling sensations that often prevent the suffering individual from sleeping.

In this case, a 37-year-old woman described her condition as an intermittent bilateral itching with burning sensations to her arms for the past 9 months. She noted that she was getting progressively worse, and was now at the point that she was unable to sleep for more than 4 hours a night due to the intense itching. By the time the woman presented for care, her condition had gotten so bad that her lack of sleep affected her ability to care for her young children as well as work as a registered nurse. Additionally, her arms were itching so intensely that she would scratch them until they would bleed.

In addition to the severe BRP symptoms, the woman suffered from neck stiffness and vertigo (dizziness). The study reports that she was taking non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) several times per week for the neck discomfort. In the previous 6 months, she had also experienced 3 or 4 episodes of vertigo so severe that it caused nausea and vomiting. In her history, it was noted that 8 years earlier she fell down stairs injuring her head and neck, causing immediate numbness in both arms.

An upper cervical examination showed positive findings in postural abnormalities, thermal scans, spinal x-rays, leg lengths and ranges of motion. It was determined that this patient had nerve interference due to head neck misalignment. Care was inithttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifiated using specific corrections designed to reduce the misalignment and improve neurological integrity.

The results noted that after the woman's first correction, her dizziness had stopped. After the second, her symptom of itching diminished significantly that night. After her third, the woman stated that she was able to sleep for more than 6 hours without the discomfort of itchiness. After being under upper cervical care for 2 ½ months, she reported that all of the BRP symptoms had resolved. Three months into care, the study reported that the woman had a normal neck range of motion, no muscle spasms, and a 70 percent reduction in neck stiffness.

In their conclusion, the authors wrote, "Dramatic improvement in the symptoms associated with the condition is noted following the introduction of upper cervical care, concomitant with a reduction in vertebral subluxation."

Can Upper Cervical Care Stop The Endless River?

Adapted from: The Endless River
Author Unknown

From its inception, our "health" care system has been an allopathic philosophy. Allopathy can be described as the practice of treating diseases and/or conditions. The bottom line is, you don't seek care if nothing is wrong. And if you do go when nothing is wrong, the purpose is to find something that is wrong so it may be treated. This is the limitation of allopathy--it does not serve people until they are in crisis.

Consider this analogy. If you had spent your whole life in a rescue squad pulling thousands of drowning people out of a river, would you not eventually wonder why they were in the river to begin with? Our system has spent centuries attempting to save the lives of millions who are sick and dying, but has never gone to the head of the river to discover how the people were falling in. This is why treating conditions, while necessary at times, is not the only answer. Treating anything is reactive. Pathologists have proven that symptoms are the last stage of the disease process. By the time you are getting stomach pains, neck pain, dizziness or any symptom, your body has existed at a sub-par level for some time already.

Upper Cervical Care exists as one of the only non-allopathic licensed health care professions in the world today. We don't go to the Upper Cervical Doctor when we have a bad back, sore throat or broken toe nail. We go to the Upper Cervical Doctor for one reason, to keep the nervous system un-interfered with because a properly functioning body keeps us out of the river and delivers an exceptional experience of life and health. If you really feel that your body is important to your existence, you will find that Upper Cervical Care is a refreshing and necessary addition to your health regimen. Upper Cervical Care is a life-supporting measure that is proactive and can be utilized for as long as life itself exists.

So what do you think? Can Upper Cervical Care, by helping the body function at its best, stop, or at least decrease, the number of individuals falling into the endless river of a health crisis? I think it is safe to say that it would be a drastic improvement to a system that is, itself, in a health crisis.