Chiropractic Helps Heal

“CHIROPRACTIC GAVE ME MY LIFE BACK!”

Vol. 3 Issue 56

CASE STUDY:

“In March of 1997 I was a passenger in a Suburban that was T-Boned on my side by a car doing 92 miles per hour. The jaws of life were used to pry me from the car. Ihad suffered a full 4th degree anterior clavical separation, a cracked rib and a concussion which put me in and out of the hospital with vertigo and other complications. “I had to move to Washington D.C. shortly after the accident. I barely remember the four-day drive, other than crying a lot, not being able to put my own hair in a pony-tail and my husband having to bathe me.

“I was unable to work during the first month in our new apartment. I decided to take myself off of the steroids I was prescribed, which were making my body swell, and the pain killers, because they made me feel completely absent from life. But still I sat alone in our apartment. Icouldn’t drive. I couldn’t walk far or take deep breaths because of the cracked rib. It felt like my brain was dying. Iknew I had to get moving and the insurance money was running out. What kind of job would I apply for in the shape I was in? I needed help.

“Then I met Dr. Nancy MacKenzie, D.C. I had gone with a friend who said she had helped her with some lifelong digestive problems. As I watched my friend get her adjustment, I thought, “How can she help me when I can’t even bear to be touched where I hurt? And what does chiropractic have to do with digestive problems, anyway?

“I learned a lot from Dr. MacKenzie that year. I learned about referral pain and how her trigger point and muscle work could help the rest of my body. She taught me how my everyday life could be physical therapy; ironing, going up and down the stairs, walking to a nearby grocery store… Soon, I could climb three flights of stairs carrying laundry baskets, and I was excited just to be able to hang clothes again.

“Dr. MacKenzie continued to work on me and guide my recovery. I needed someone to tell me that all the writhing, sweating and ‘doing’ would slowly pay off. It did.

“I was finally working again and ultimately offered a job to manage theAlternative Healing Clinic Ihad been going to for my chiropractic care. My life was changed.

“Because of the chiropractic treatment Ireceived, I did not have the surgery on my shoulder, which amazed the original doctors I had seen. I have full rotation of my arm! I continue to work in chiropractic after yet another move, with Dr. Burke Mays. I am his Public Relations CA (PRCA). My headaches are now only periodic. Dr. Mays has cleared away a lot of the adhesions around my rib cage.

“Just last month I woke up and realized I was pain-free! I was so amazed. Chiropractic gave me my life back! Iride horses and have picked up golf again. I exercise regularly and lift weights.

“As a PRCA, I love telling others that chiropractic can change their lives. It’s safe, and it works!— the understatement of my lifetime.”

— Sara Jane Hampton

SOURCE: Sara Jane Hampton, Burke Mays, D.C., Watertown Family Chiropractic, Watertown, MN, April 1999.

Treating Fibromyalgia with Chiropractic Care

Fibromyalgia is a disease that is characterized by long-term, whole-body pain and tender points in joints, muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues that have been linked to fatigue, morning stiffness, depression, anxiety, headaches, sleep problems and numbness in hands and feet.

Chiropractic helps greatly in treating Fibromyalgia

CHIROPRACTIC EFFECTIVE IN TREATING FIBROMYALGIA

Vol. 4 Issue 76

A study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found spinal manipulation is effective in treating Fibromyalgia.

The objective of the study was to determine whether a regimen of 30 Chiropractic treatments could effectively reduce the intensity of pain, sleep disturbance and fatigue associated with Fibromyalgia.

Before and after questionnaires were used to assess the results of the study. Participants were assessed at the beginning, after 15 and 30 treatments and again, one month after the conclusion of the treatments.

Fifteen women who had suffered from Fibromyalgia for a period extending three months, participated in the study and received 30 treatments.

In order to be considered “responders” to the treatments, a minimum of 50% improvement in pain intensity was needed. After 15 and 30 treatments, 60% of the women (9 participants) were classified as responders and reported a significant reduction of pain intensity and an improvement in quality of sleep and fatigue level.

After 30 treatments, pain intensity had been reduced by 77.2%; sleep quality improved by 63.5% and fatigue decreased by 74.8%. These outcomes were maintained after one month without treatment.

The study suggests that Chiropractic can play a valuable role in the management of Fibromyalgia symptoms.

SOURCE: Dynamic Chiropractic, May 29, 2000, Vol. 18, No. 12, p. 22.