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https://www.jvsr.com/abstracts/index.asp?id=205
Original Research
Eighty-One Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease Undergoing Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care to Correct Vertebral Subluxation: A Retrospective Analysis
Erin L. Elster, D.C. Bio
[August 2, 2004, pp 1-9]
Objective: The objective of this article is threefold: to examine the role of head and neck trauma as a contributing factor to the onset of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD); to explore the diagnosis and treatment of trauma-induced injury to the upper cervical spine through the use of protocol developed by the International Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (IUCCA); and to investigate the potential for improving and arresting MS and PD through the correction of traumainduced upper cervical injury. Data from 81 MS and PD patients who recalled prior trauma, presented with upper cervical injuries, and received care according to the above protocol are
reviewed.

Clinical Features: Each patient was examined and cared for in the author’s private practice in an uncontrolled, non-randomized environment over a five-year period. Of the 81 MS and PD patients, 78 recalled that they had experienced at least one head or neck trauma prior to the onset of the disease. In order of frequency, patients reported that they were involved in auto accidents (39 patients); sporting accidents, such as skiing, horseback riding, cycling, and football (29 patients); or falls on icy sidewalks or down stairs (16 patients). The duration between the traumatic event and disease onset varied from two months to 30 years.

Intervention and Outcome: Two diagnostic tests, paraspinal digital infrared imaging and laser-aligned radiography, were performed according to IUCCA protocol. These tests objectively identify trauma-induced upper cervical subluxations (misalignment of the upper cervical spine from the neural canal) and resulting neuropathophysiology. Upper cervical subluxations were found in all 81 cases. After administering treatment to correct their upper cervical injuries, 40 of 44 (91%) MS cases and 34 of 37 (92%) PD cases showed symptomatic improvement and no further disease progression during the care period.

Conclusion: A causal link between trauma-induced upper cervical injury and disease onset for both MS and PD appears to exist. Correcting the injury to the upper cervical spine through the use of IUCCA protocol may arrest and reverse the progression of both MS and PD. Further study in a controlled, experimental environment with a larger sample size is recommended.

nzer1, thanks for the post. pretty impressive results. although many will say this is a pretty small group. but, i'd like to have those odds if i were going to vegas and was hoping to win. let alone getting a chance at winning my life back.

this all just gets better and better.

no stone unturned. "makes you wonder why stuff like this never makes the news or the ms society's booklets." duuuuuuuuuh!!!! probably if there was a way of putting a good chiro. in a bottle, mass producing them, and make a hugh profit we would have heard about it years ago.

and it's all about the flow!! thank you ccsvi!!

Before I was dxed with MS, I was having symptoms of numbness in my left hand and just before the dx I had electric shock sensations running down my spinal column (L'Hermitte sign). I thought it was due to a pinched nerve in the neck. So maybe I was right and the two neuros who dxed MS were both wrong? Wouldn't that be a laugh!
hahahaha ...ouch!!!

Would this condition cause plaques in the brain? And would it cause a positive indication for MS in a spinal tap?

VERY interesting NZer1!!

I am seeing chiropractors for upper cervical chiropractic care at the moment - GREAT results structurally so far. Let's see what else happens down the road. They or their Assn - NUCCA - are starting trials in Jan to see what effect their treatment has on the blood flow to/from the brain. Will print off your post and take it to them - they will be interested.

Thank you NZer1!

david1949, i'd be willing to bet that many people diag. with ms are just having "multiple symptoms" are put in a clump and there is more money to be made or they just don't know what the hell you got so you got ms. so they get you on ms drugs or whatever. you ask them well what is ms-well we "think" this or that. you ask them what causes it? well, it could be a virus, or possibly the enviroment, looks like it might be a genetic thing, might be a bacteria, oh yeah it might be a vitamin d thingy, lets see now we'll think of some more things if you just give me your life and take these drugs that we can't guarantee they will help you but they do "seem to be helping some" but long term we really don't know if they will help because there have been quite a few that didn't live long enough because unfortunately their liver or their kidneys or their brain was destroyed from taking the drug. but look at the bright side--"very few people actually die from ms." still, no "for sure answer". how can they say you won't die from ms? they don't know what the blank it is or what causes it.

with all the research and money spent they still don't have a blanking clue.


but they can stand there with a straight face and tell you that it could not be a pinched nerve or tell me a trauma could not have caused my symptoms. or we run the western blot so it can't be lymes disease--which by the way unless they have improved the standard western blot it's about useless.

ccsvi is the closest thing so far that has merit. but, it too is not helping everyone. but do you think that it is too far fetched that a chiro. could help? as with any treatment you have to find one suited best to get the job done right. so the possibility that the right chiro. could get the pressure off nerves and straighten things up to get the blood flowing better
makes sence to me. will it work for everybody? probably not and it would depend on many things like age, how bad you are etc. but, not as far fetched as killing your immune system off and if that don't kill you maybe you'll be ok.

there is still a lot of work to be done with ccsvi. and thank goodness these dr.'s have put theirself out there and soon i hope they get will this all figured out.

so, let no stone go unturned if there's a way for you to try.

and, just what is ms and the cause????????????????????????????????????

Soooooo many of us agree with you blossom!!

Well said.

Nigel, thanks for posting this abstract!

There's nothing I can add to blossom's perfect posts which pull no punches and promise patients plus physicians practical points to ponder -- she covered everything as she always does in her smart, witty writing style.

Sometimes blossom puts tears in my eyes. Sometimes she has me pointing at her words on the monitor with me saying aloud, "She knows how I feel!" or "She said that perfectly!" or "She sure tells it like it is!" or "Thank goodness for blossom!"

(11+2, nJ)

HappyPoet wrote:Nigel, thanks for posting this abstract!

There's nothing I can add to blossom's perfect posts which pull no punches and promise patients plus physicians practical points to ponder -- she covered everything as she always does in her smart, witty writing style.

Sometimes blossom puts tears in my eyes. Sometimes she has me pointing at her words on the monitor with me saying aloud, "She knows how I feel!" or "She said that perfectly!" or "She sure tells it like it is!" or "Thank goodness for blossom!"

(11+2, nJ)

Wow!. Maybe we will need a forum for CCVBP soon.

Hi David,

The answer to your question is yes, lesions/plaques can be caused when arteries/veins/nerves become compressed/pinched because of misalignments due to reasons I think I understood yesterday but cannot articulate today, very sorry (brain fog). Ask your question on Dr. Flanagan's thread, CCSVI and CCVBP, and I'm sure you'll get an answer -- but the good doctor is away until later in the weekend.

frodo wrote:

HappyPoet wrote:Nigel, thanks for posting this abstract!

There's nothing I can add to blossom's perfect posts which pull no punches and promise patients plus physicians practical points to ponder -- she covered everything as she always does in her smart, witty writing style.

Sometimes blossom puts tears in my eyes. Sometimes she has me pointing at her words on the monitor with me saying aloud, "She knows how I feel!" or "She said that perfectly!" or "She sure tells it like it is!" or "Thank goodness for blossom!"

(11+2, nJ)

Wow!. Maybe we will need a forum for CCVBP soon.

Hiya Frodo,

Blossom's the best because she's beautiful and bright without being a belligerent, boastful braggart or boring bully.

Did you happen to catch my 11-word alliteration using the letter "p" in my post you quoted above or the 11-word alliteration using the letter "b" in my sentence above?

If you haven't already, join the discussion: CCSVI and CCVBP



EDIT: Frodo and Everyone, I am NOT talking about Frodo in my "b" alliteration, NOT at all.

According to the paper from the 81 MS and PD patients, 78 recalled that they had experienced at least one head or neck trauma prior to the onset of the disease. That is a very strong correlation. More if we consider that upper cervical subluxations were found in all these 78 cases.

However, these upper cervial sublaxations were also found among the three patients that did not recall to have ever experienced a kind of head or neck trauma.

I got my doubts when I further read that "The duration between the traumatic event and disease onset varied from two months to 30 years. " I mean, lots of people have sufered from car accidents, sporting accidents such as skiing, horseback riding, cycling, and football; or falls on icy sidewalks or down stairs. I dont have stats for the general population, But I guess that will be a high %.

So I wonder what is the prevalence of the upper cervical sublaxation among the 'healthy population'.

TMrox wrote:According to the paper from the 81 MS and PD patients, 78 recalled that they had experienced at least one head or neck trauma prior to the onset of the disease. That is a very strong correlation. More if we consider that upper cervical subluxations were found in all these 78 cases.

However, these upper cervial sublaxations were also found among the three patients that did not recall to have ever experienced a kind of head or neck trauma.

I got my doubts when I further read that "The duration between the traumatic event and disease onset varied from two months to 30 years. " I mean, lots of people have sufered from car accidents, sporting accidents such as skiing, horseback riding, cycling, and football; or falls on icy sidewalks or down stairs. I dont have stats for the general population, But I guess that will be a high %.

So I wonder what is the prevalence of the upper cervical sublaxation among the 'healthy population'.

Hi TM,

You ask an interesting question which reminds me of the question in relation to the prevalence of CCSVI in the 'healthy population' and the preliminary Buffalo study results. I wonder, though, just because a person doesn't remember a traumatic incident, doesn't mean one didn't happen. The person may have been too young when the incident happened; or disease, trauma, and medications and their side effects may be hindering memories. In a population of 81 patients with MS and PD, I don't think it's too unreasonable for a couple (2.0=81*2.5%) of them to be unable to remember such an incident, but it's a small size for drawing conclusions.(n=81).

Regarding your doubts, in my situation, my worst skiing accident happened ~40 years ago, and my tilted skull and twisted neck (two separate fractures) were only just now discovered and diagnosed by X-rays which I should have had done at the time I was diagnosed. After a lifetime of neuro symptoms and misdiagnoses, I was finally diagnosed RRMS in 2000 and CCSVI in 2010, but I now believe my MS-diagnosing ex-neuro, who moved out of state, was too quick to jump to the MS catch-all diagnosis, and I was too naive and in too rough shape to know better.

Must all upper cervical sublaxations cause neuro symptoms, either soon after or decades after the related accident happened? I wonder about this because not all MS lesions correlate with neuro symptoms, which are called silent lesions -- are there silent sublaxations?

Maybe the answer partially depends on the definition used for sublaxation in the study paramaters/protocol, e.g., "Included in this study will be all sublaxations > 5 on a scale of pain." (I have no idea, just guessing on this one.)

Medical dictionary definition of sublaxation: "in chiropractic, any mechanical impediment to nerve function; originally, a vertebral displacement believed to impair nerve function.

The original definition is what I thought sublaxation still meant which I guess shows my age. Interesting how the definition has broadened over time.

Interesting discussion all 'round.

~HP

happypoet, you are right that some trauma's could have happened when you wouldn't remember. i don't know if anyone else has heard people say to you or someone else maybe after you did something dumb or messed up --i've heard people say-what's your problem-did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby? they would be kidding----but there's always a little truth in humor. let alone all the tumbles growing up.

just wanted to add that I've been having this treatment for the past few months and I have seen improvements in cog fog, energy and hand numbness