Tenino Chiropractic & Natural Wellness Center

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A blog by Dr. Brad Ellisor D.C.

Chiropractic May Improve the Body's Immune Response

Chiropractic treatment has long been shown to be effective for specific symptoms like back pain and neck pain. New research is beginning to investigate the more subtle ways that chiropractic can improve health. A recent study found that spinal manipulation may boost the functioning of the immune system, even in patients with no specific pain issue.

Researchers from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College investigated the effect of spinal manipulation on interleukin-2, a signaling protein that controls immune responses. They selected 74 test subjects with no current symptoms or recent history of manipulation. The patients were randomly assigned to three treatment groups to receive either a control venipuncture treatment or two types of spinal manipulation. All treatments were administered on a single day, and blood samples were collected before each treatment, 20 minutes after the treatment and two hours after treatment.

The blood samples were compared to see if there was any increase in the levels of certain antibodies: induced immunoglobin G (IgG) and immunoglobin M (IgM). These two antibodies generally appear in the bloodstream in response to an infection, and they are powerful tools of the immune system.

The researchers found that subjects treated with spinal manipulation with cavitation had significantly increased levels of IgG and IgM within 20 minutes after the session. After two hours, these patients had significantly elevated IgM levels compared to baseline and the control group. These findings suggest that spinal manipulation can have what they call a "priming" effect on the body's immune response, possibly resulting in faster responses to new infections. Although more study is needed to better explain this response, this research provides fascinating evidence that spinal manipulation may affect the functioning of the body's immune system and assist in maintaining overall health.

Teodorczyk-Injeyan JA, McGregor M, Ruegg R, Injeyan HS. Interleukin 2-regulated in vitro antibody production following a single spinal manipulative treatment in normal subjects. Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2010, 18:26
 


Chiropractic Can Reduce High Blood Pressure

The US Food and Drug Administration has a standard for determining the efficacy of new hypertension drugs: it requires “a blinded design with a placebo-subtracted reduction in diastolic BP of 5 mm Hg or more and be free of serious side effects to be approvable.”

With that guideline as their standard, a group of researchers from the University of Chicago set out to determine if chiropractic adjustment of the atlas could reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension. The authors summarize the relationship between the first cervical vertebra (C1) and hypertension:

“Unlike other vertebrae, which interlock one to the next, the Atlas relies solely upon soft-tissue (muscles and ligaments) to maintain alignment; therefore, the placement of C-1 is pain free and thus, remains undiagnosed and untreated, whereas health-related consequences are attributed to other aetiologies.”

“Minor misalignment of the Atlas vertebra can potentially injure, impair, compress and/or compromise brainstem neural pathways. The relationship between hypertension and presence of circulatory abnormalities in the area around the Atlas vertebra and posterior fossa of the brain has been known for more than 40 years.”

In this study, the researchers took 50 patients with Stage 1 hypertension who had either never been on hypertensive drugs or who had stopped taking hypertensive drugs for at least two weeks.

All of the patients were evaluated by a chiropractor for misalignment of C1 using radiographs and leg-length checks. Half of the patients received spinal manipulation of the C1; the other half received a sham treatment that was indistinguishable from a real treatment by the patient.

The diagnostic procedure was conducted at intake, after the treatment and at eight weeks.

The authors found that the patients who received the chiropractic treatment experienced a dramatic drop in average blood pressure compared to the control subjects:

 

Control

Treatment

 
				BP Baseline

145.3/91

147/92.5

BP End of Study

142.1/89.2

129.8/82.2

The drop in blood pressure was so impressive the authors state that it “is similar to that seen by giving two different antihypertensive agents simultaneously.”

Furthermore, 85% of the patients needed only one treatment to realize the improvement in blood pressure.

In addition, the study also documented the degree of pelvic misalignment and the position of the C7 vertebra; these measurements are used with this particular method of chiropractic to diagnose dysfunction of the C1 vertebra. Just as they found with the results for blood pressure, the degree of misalignment was reduced dramatically in the treatment group, but not the control group.

“As discussed in the Methods section of this paper, techniques are now available to screen for atlas misalignment. This type of screening should be the responsibility of the primary care physician and should be performed on patients who have a history of head and neck trauma even if it is deemed insignificant. Those patients who present with pain related to head and neck trauma should not be screened. At a time when the prevalence of hypertension is increasing and its control more difficult due to a variety of factors, linking the correction of C1 misalignment to the subsequent lowering of BP may represent an important advancement in the screening of such patients.”

Bakris G, Dickholtz M, Meyer PM, Kravitz G, et al. Atlas vertebra realignment and achievement of arterial pressure goal in hypertensive patients: a pilot study. Journal of Human Hypertension 2007;21:347-352.







Treating Chronic Back Pain With Chiropractic

Low back pain is a very common condition, and one that is very expensive for our health care system. Experts estimate that chronic back pain costs the US about $100 billion each year in direct and indirect costs. As the authors of a new study write:

“One factor explaining these enormous costs is the high rate of recurrence and chronic disability related to low-back disorders…It has been suggested that only 10% of LBP patients generate more than 80% of the total costs related to LBP.”

Because of the enormous costs of treating chronic back pain, prevention is an important goal. This current study set out to examine the role of chiropractic in treating chronic low back pain. The authors studied 30 patients who had back pain for at least six months. All patients were subjected to a one-month control period that consisted of no treatment. This was included so that the researchers could observe the natural course of the back pain symptoms.

After this baseline period, half of the patients (Group 1) received intensive chiropractic treatment consisting of 12 treatments in one month, then no treatments for nine months. The other half of the patients (Group 2) received the same intensive treatment, but also received maintenance chiropractic treatments every 3 weeks for nine months. At the end of the nine-month period, both groups were again examined.

After analyzing the results, the authors found the following:

  • Pain levels were reduced in both groups of patients. The intensive month of chiropractic adjustments reduced pain, even without follow-up care.
  • Disability levels, however, showed a different response. For the patients with no continuing treatment, the disability levels returned to their pretreatment levels on the Oswestry. The Group 2 patients – who received maintenance care – continued to see improvement in disability scores over the whole nine months.

 The following graph illustrates the differences between the two groups on disability levels:

Chronic pain and chiropractic

The authors conclude:

“This study appears to confirm previous reports showing that LBP and disability scores are reduced after spinal manipulation. It also shows the positive effects of preventive chiropractic treatment in maintaining functional capacities and reducing the number and intensity of pain episodes after an acute phase of treatment. Maintenance chiropractic care involving spinal manipulation combined with other treatment modalities (exercises, pain management program) should be investigated. Such combined interventions may have a critical influence on pain, disability, and return to work.”

Descarreaux M, Blouin JS, Drolet M, Papadimitriou S, Teasdale N. Efficacy of preventive spinal manipulation for chronic low-back pain and related disabilities: a preliminary study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2004;27:509-514.