Archive for the 'chiropractic Treatments' Category

Jul 15 2010

Chiropractic Adjustments as Therapy for Parkinson’s Symptoms

Published by admin under chiropractic Treatments

Hello Dr Rodgers

I appreciate your work & I bought several of your programs which I follow: 5 Steps to RecoveryRoad to Recovery … After reading the Book from Dr J. COLEMAN, [Stop Parkin' and Start Livin'] I postponed starting chiropractic Treatment.

Recently I found a GENTLE chiropractor & not a “bone crusher” (tried once) & I was convinced  to try chiropractic adjustments 3 times / week for neck & back pain.For the last 3 weeks, I haven’t seen any improvement BUT EVERYBODY SAYS IT IS A SLOW RECOVERY COMPARING the same way we wear braces for the teeth.I know the Healing is from the INSIDE OUT as Dr John SARNO  explains in his book: the mind body prescription.(Healing the body healing the pain)

There is no specific program one size fits all but we want to benefit from those who tried these modalities.Of course I follow a diet from Dr COLEMAN & DR L. MISCHLEY, I take the supplements, I exercise, bodywork ( Bowen + CST) meditate, clear my heart with healthy beliefs etc…

My first question:

Is chiropractic beneficial or no in the long run?

Response:

I would not place chiropractic adjustments in the list of preferred therapies that people with the symptoms of Parkinson’s say has helped them the most. I suspect the problem lies in the fact that the muscular restrictions found with many symptoms of Parkinson’s create an inflexibility that makes adjustments painful for many people. In some cases, the body will respond by tensing up more which of course is the reverse of what the chiropractor intends. Chiropractors who use gentle touch are more likely to get better results.

Every one’s body is different. We cannot make a list of good and bad therapies for people with the symptoms of Parkinson’s because the conditions that create the neurological challenges are different for each person. Listen carefully to how your body responds to a therapy such as chiropractic adjustments. Your body will tell you loud and clear whether the therapy is helping or not.

The best approach I think is to use your own good intuitive insights and give it a try if you are called to explore the therapy as a possibilty. I should say however that my research shows there are other therapies that show up more often as beneficial in reducing symptoms.

2nd question:

Bowen is helpful but we are limited by no bodywork 4-5 days before & after.

As I understand this question – you are saying that your Bowen therapist recommends a time when the body can integrate the work. This is a common recommendation after work is done, though I am not familiar with the idea that you have to do nothing 4-5 days before the therapy is administered.

Again, I do not think any static rule needs to be followed here. Just listen to your body. If it tells you it needs the therapy, go for it.

Last question for now

GLUTATHIONE is a strong anti-oxidant & IV administration is not practical & the nasal spray is yet to come BUT I found a respected Canadian company selling IMMUNOCAL based on WHEY Protein (cow dairy product) supposed to increase significantly the Glutathion in the body.This product is registered in the US & Canadian medicine compondium as a booster of immunity. My problem is the dairy origin of IMMUNOCAL & we have to stay away from dairy products in PD.

Response:

How interesting! Your doctor can obtain the nasal Glutathione through a company in Seattle called Key Compounding Pharmacy. Listen to my radio program interview with Dr. Laurie Mischley on June 17th. She has been prescribing the Glutathione nasal spray for her patients for several years and has been getting great results overall.

I will follow-up on your tip. Sounds interesting! Perhaps I can interview a representative of the company and air the interview on my weekly radio show.

Thank for all your work & Bless you all

Abi

I assure you it is a pleasure for me to serve.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery

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Sep 16 2009

Parkinson’s and Chiropractic

Question:

Noel Batten from Australia makes impressive  claims with regard to Parkinson’s Disease and has an interesting website: http://info.noelbatten.com/testimonies_and_cases.html

Did you hear about him?

If his claims are right, then I would get an x ray for my wife and let a chiropractor re-align the vertebrae.

Response:

I have known about this particular website for several years but have received no feedback from anyone who has used his service. Noel Batten presents case studies  on his website of people with a wide variety of diagnoses including carpal tunnel, cancer, MS, autism and Parkinson’s Disease. He shows videos before and after his treatments which reveal improvements. Keep in mind he does not show his videos of people who did not experience improvements.

In my research, we find that any specific therapy or modality will help some, perhaps many, but not everyone. I will invite Noel Bratten to be a guest on my radio program so we can all learn more about his approach. I hope he accepts my invitation.

I examined the testimonials on his website and have a sense that his five day program involves a little in the
way of chiropractic adjustment and a lot in the way of physical exercise. The research is very clear with regard to physical exercise. If a  person engages an exercise program for five straight days they are vitually assured of seeing some improvements in their symptoms, particularly those related to mobility. The case studies he
has on the website show people who clearly have inflammation. My hunch is that the exercise and his treatments probably help relieve the inflammation.

I would point out that the video testimonials involve a taping just before the five day treatment program began (showing the person has difficulties of one type or another) and a taping immediately after the end of the treatment (at day four or day five of his treatment program). These results are typical of what we see when people exercise regularly or when they get body work in one form or another (e.g., cranio sacral work, energy healing, etc.).

Of course, you can also see similar improvements that are just as dramatic when medications are “on” or working as opposed to “off” or not working. We do not know how medications might have confounded what we are seeing in the videos.

If the person did not continue with their exercise program, I suspect a video of them a week after their treatment ended would reveal they had reverted back to their baseline (when they were shown as being significantly challenged from a mobility perspective). It would be wonderful news if a five day program resulted in permanent improvement, but we see no evidence of that on the website. Of course, temporary improvement can be a blessing to many people.

What we want to see from a research point of view is sustained improvement over months and years. Speaking intuitively, this is not likely to happen with a few chiropractic adjustments or with five continuous days of exercise. The underlying factors that put the spine out of alignment in the first place need to be identified and addressed.

I should also report that I always ask the persons I interview with Parkinson’s  what treatments or therapies have helped them.  Chiropractic adjustments are mentioned by a few people, but they certainly do not float to the top as being one of the therapies that helps people the most. Exercise does float to the top as a helpful therapy,
so to the extent that his program includes exercise, it may indeed be helping over the long term if his clients  continue with the exercise program.

If anyone has direct experience with his five day program, please let us all know.

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
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Jul 16 2008

What Therapies Do Not Help Relieve the Symptoms of Parkinson’s?

I had a fascinating interview
with Dr. John Coleman, ND,
this week. John was diagnosed
with Parkinson’s in 1995, but
after experimenting and trying
a wide variety of healing modalities
he is symptom free today.

I was curious about what
approaches and therapies John
tried – and he experimented with
many modalities – that did
not work for him. Here was
my question:

Robert Rodgers: “Which therapies
and approaches did not help relieve
your symptoms? 

John Coleman: “There were a lot.
In general, any form of body work
that was firm or hard. Deep
tissue massage, sports massage –
those sorts of massages – created
extra pain. Vigorous therapies
like chiropractic and other
manipulative therapies also
tended to increase my
symptoms and create pain.”

“Excessive intake of nutritional
supplements tended to have no
effect or make me nauseous or
simply be a waste of money. I
had to be very careful about
homeopathic remedies because
the normal approach in selecting
potencies and frequencies seemed
to aggravate me where a very
gentle, a very cautious approached
worked.”

“Many counseling modalities helped.
Psychiatry did not. I am sure there
are good psychiatrists out there,
but I saw four and none of them
helped me at all. Antidepressant
therapy did not work.”

“I choose not to take pharmaceuticals,
but other forms of herbal, vitamin
homeopathic remedies for depression,
but I realized I actually was not
depressed. I was certainly anxious,
but the antidepressant therapies were
just no good for me.

“I needed to be active and proactive
in my approach. In general, anything
that was too hard, too vigorous, too
enthusiastic didn’t work, and gentle,
cautious, loving therapies worked.”

John offers a powerful 12 Step
Parkinsons Recovery Program
that is designed for anyone with
Parkinson’s who is looking for 
ways to get relief from their
symptoms. 

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery

© 2008 Parkinsons Recovery

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