Is Chiropractic Scientific?

Forty-four-year old Isabella came to see me after a friend suggested I could help with her ongoing vertigo and insomnia. Three years earlier, after Isabella experienced hearing loss in one ear, her doctor found an acoustic neuroma – a tumor sitting on the main nerve that leads from the inner ear to the brain. Like most tumors of this sort, it was benign, however, even after it was removed Isabella continued to suffer from one-sided residual loss of balance. Medications prescribed for her symptoms only made them worse.

Isabella walked into my office resigned to the fact that she would simply have to deal with her condition. After just a few treatments, however, her balance began to improve. Feeling optimistic for the first time in a few years, Isabella revealed to me that since the time of her surgery she had also had one-sided pelvic pain. For this she had made the usual rounds: first to her gynecologist, who ruled out problems with her reproductive system; then to her internist, who in turn referred her to a gastroenterologist. After a negative colonoscopy, that specialist referred her to a neurologist for a possible nerve issue, but there were no abnormalities found there either. The next step was a visit to an orthopedist, who ordered x-rays and a MRI, all of which were negative for disease, fractures, disc rupture and ligamentous tears. Finally, the orthopedist referred her back to the gynecologist to rule out a hormonal imbalance, or peri-menopause. Isabella had literally come full circle and was no closer to an answer.

I, however, was not discouraged. Medical doctors are trained to look for disease and pathology; however, they do not consider functional problems, such as the structural mis-alignments treated by chiropractic. Sure enough, I noticed during my examination that Isabella’s tailbone was out of alignment and did a one side adjustment for her sacroiliac joint. The next time she returned to my office, she announced that after three years and five specialists, her pelvic pain was gone!

While Isabella’s results certainly seem miraculous, they are deeply rooted in evidence-based clinical results. Chiropractors treat approximately 30 million people annually. Indeed, the traditional medical community, which often dismissed chiropractic care as a “placebo effect,” is now recognizing the significance of alignment on overall health. A recent study has illustrated the effects of spinal adjustments using brain MRIs administered before and after spinal alignment. Post-alignment MRIs show increased circulation in the brain – namely, it “lights up.” This is supported by athletes, who often report a quick surge of energy after a spinal adjustment, which improves their performance. There are numerous studies that verify that Chiropractic works and is reproducible. Reproducibility is basic scientific criteria. Moreover, Harvard Medical School has noted the safety of chiropractic therapy and has recommended it for pain relief. Over 400 hospitals nationwide currently offer chiropractic services, demonstrating that the “unscientific myth” is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.