A study published in the November / December 2000 issue of Today's
Chiropractic gives some insight into the use of chiropractic in combating asthma. Forty seven patients were observed
for a two year period. They had been medically diagnosed with persistent asthma ranging from mild persistent in 11 cases,
moderate persistent in 28 cases, to severe persistent in 8 cases. The care rendered consisted of specific chiropractic adjustments.
The range of visits was from 14 to 44, with the average being 26 during the study period.
All 47 of the study patients
showed "a marked improvement ranging from 87 to 100 percent." Their symptoms improved as well as a decrease in their usage
of acute asthma attack medication. Even more impressive was the fact that all of the patients in the study reported maintaining
their improvement after a two-year follow up.
Childhood Asthma and Chiropractic
It is estimated that up to 15 million people suffer from asthma.
Of those, 14.8 million are children under the age of 18. In 1993 alone, there were 198,000 hospitalizations for asthma. In
that same sample year, 342 people under the age of 25 died due to this problem. In money terms, the direct cost of managing
a patient with severe asthma has been estimated at more than $18,000 per year.
ASTHMA DRUGS AND SIDE EFFECTS
"The traditional
medical treatment for asthma is anti-inflammatory and bronchodilator drugs. In some cases, treatment included syrups such
as Preventils, which is usually prescribed on a "taken as needed" basis. The combination of the drugs above promotes drowsiness and may be habit forming. A patient denied of medication feels
they can not breathe properly without it, thus becoming irritable. In some cases they become so irritable that they bring
on an asthma attack."
Source: www.drmikekrantz.com/asthma.htm
From the abstract Case review of a 6-year-old boy who has had
asthma since 1991 and his condition since chiropractic intervention. Child was prescribed aerosol inhalers (Beclovert and
Vertolin) using them every day, up to three times a day. Adjustments were delivered to the cervical, thoracic and lumbar areas.
Significant progress. Could run during soccer games and almost never used his inhaler. Slept more soundly. Hardly ever had
bouts with mucous clogged nasal passages. Nasal inhalant use stopped.
Source: Asthma and chiropractic. Garde R. Chiropractic Pediatrics.
Vol 1 No.3 Dec, 1994.
ASTHMA SPRAYS DON'T WORK
ASTHMA SHOTS INEFFECTIVE
Allergy shots used as treatment of asthma in children appears
to be
ineffective. Studies have proven there were no significant benefits with the shots given to children with moderate
to severe asthma.
Dr. N. Franklin Adkinson Jr., John Hopkins University
Nearly 40 million Americans -- 25% of the total population -- suffer from asthma and other allergy
diseases
Source: The New England Journal of Medicine in February of 1992
FROM: Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER)
October 24, 2002 Des Moines, Iowa— Patients afflicted with
asthma may benefit from spinal manipulation in terms of symptoms, immunological capacity, and endocrine effects, an audience
was told on October 5 at the 9th International Conference on Spinal Manipulation in Toronto. The investigative team, headed
by Ray Hayek, Ph.D., has been conducting a trial at 16 treatment centers in Australia involving 420 patients with an average
age of 46 in an effort to find out what effects spinal manipulation has on symptoms, depression and anxiety, general health
status, and the levels of immunity as reflected by the concentrations of both an
immunoglobulin (IgA) and an immunosuppressant
(cortisol). This investigation draws from several references in the scientific literature which suggest that different forms
of manual therapy (including massage) improve the symptomatology and lower cortisol levels in asthma patients.
Dr. Hayek reported that only the patient group which underwent
spinal
manipulation (by any of four commonly used manipulative treatment
protocols) displayed significant improvement
in asthma symptoms and
depression and anxiety scores. Simply experiencing structured interviews at the treatment centers
or being monitored at home did not yield these improvements. In addition, patients actually undergoing spinal manipulation
displayed dramatic increases of IgA and decreases of cortisol through the posttreatment period, suggesting that there were
physiological consequences to their manipulative treatments reflecting increased immunological capacities which would be expected
to ward off subsequent asthmatic attacks.
These biochemical changes not only suggest that the effects of
spinal
manipulation are more far-reaching than commonly believed, but that they may be more long-term as well. The gain
in immunological capacity achieved with the simultaneous loss of the immunosuppressant cortisol and the increase of the immunoglobulin
IgA following spinal manipulation would be expected to reduce the incidence and severity of pathogenic invasion of the airways.
There would be less of a risk under these circumstances of compounding the symptoms of asthma.
The immunosuppressing mechanism of glucocorticoids is believed
to occur by their reducing the permeability of capillaries, decreasing the migration of white blood cells in inflamed areas,
suppressing the release of interleukins, and inhibiting the production of proteolytic enzymes by stabilizing the lysosomal
membranes which release them.
This followed contacts that the Director of Research at FCER
was able to make with the Australian research community in 1995, taking into
consideration the expertise of the investigative
team as well as the fact that Australia's 2 million asthma sufferers have given the Island Continent the dubious distinction
of being the asthma capital of the world. It has been carried out with the support of research grants exceeding a quarter
of a million dollars from both the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER) and the National Chiropractic
Mutual Insurance Company (NCMIC). This research, which may be highly influential on the future of the chiropractic profession,
is still in need of funding. To contribute to this important project, please call FCER at 800-637-6244,or donate via the Foundation's
secure website at: https://www.fcer.org:448/html/asthma_donate.asp
This research represents one of approximately 50 projects administered
by FCER since 1990 in the effort to document both the theory and practice of chiropractic to increase its effective integration
into healthcare systems worldwide. The conference at which these results were presented is an international forum which FCER
has sponsored at different locations worldwide for the past 14 years.
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