Parkinson's Patient Responds to Chiropractor's Care

November 9, 2000 -- According to a recent case study, a 60-year-old patient with symptoms of Parkinson's disease that included difficulty walking, slurred speech, memory loss and body tremors had less severe symptoms after three months of chiropractic care.

The study, in the October 23, 2000 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapy, is encouraging but not unprecedented. "Right now, the medical literature is keying in on head and neck trauma as a cause of Parkinson's," says Dr. Erin Elster, the study's author. Elster says many neurological disorders, such as Tourette's syndrome, migraines and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), have been linked to injuries of the neck. She says these injuries can cause damage to the nerves in the spine and interfere with normal nerve impulses.

In her private clinic in Boulder, Col., Elster has had encouraging results in caring for many patients with Parkinson's disease. The graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic is a specialist in adjusting the bones of the upper neck, a technique called upper cervical chiropractic. She says that this technique, in particular, can help with conditions that aren't generally associated with chiropractic, such as insomnia, allergies and Parkinson's disease.

"These are all things that are also responding to this procedure," says Elster. "The care here is not specific to Parkinson's. It's specific to the upper neck injury, getting that corrected so that it no longer interferes with neurological functioning."

Elster uses x-rays and digital infrared imaging to find misalignments in the bones of the upper neck. She then corrects the misalignments with adjustments to vertebrae in the neck. These misalignments, she says, can be a result of injuries to the head or neck that don't completely heal.

While a case study is not a scientific investigation, and this result does not necessarily mean that upper cervical adjustments can help all patients with Parkinson's, Elster says that her results could lead to more research into head and neck trauma as a cause of the disease.
 
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