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SHORT ANECDOTE

Hiccuping

Interestingly, more and more people are visiting chiropractors for 'medical' problems. However, medicine had nothing to offer, and both the wee lad and his mother were totally exhausted.

Have you heard the line, C3-4-5 keeps the diaphragm alive? If you, or your baby have a problem with hiccuping, then you should know about C3-4-5, it could change your life.

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Iatrogenic Illness

Opinion has it that low back pain in young women mostly starts during pregnancy, but in my experience it also often starts soon after the birth of the child. All the lifting ... and so it was for this short anecdote for Mrs S.

Her pain didn't improve with various other ministrations, and six months ago started radiating painfully down her leg.

She has responded very well, and after a month her low back and leg pain is almost gone.

But ... I adjusted a subluxation between her shoulder blades, where she had no pain, and she is now really suffering from MY ministrations! It's a little better, but she's not a happy lady.

That's what we call Iatrogenic Illness, or doctor-caused disease.

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Update: Mrs S is again a very happy lady. She has almost no pain in her midback, that pain which started after my overly-robust treatment, and only 5% remains of the pain she had in her low back. She has no leg pain. We are in the rehab phase of the care, which involves little treatment, but learning about prevention of a relapse, including a vigorous exercise program.

Bedwetting / Eneuresis

I have only had success with eneuresis when there has been a sacral fixation and, lo and behold, Karen has a sacral fixation. To date, there has been no change after one adjustment.

We'll keep you informed. Watch this space!

Update: Three dry nights, two nights only wet panties, and then woke up. As we say in Holland: vooruitgang! PROGRESS. Her first dry nights in months and months, and that after only two treatments. But will the progress hold?

Update 2: Yes! Two nights when she woke up and went to the toilet herself. The subluxation is gone, and I have discharged her for a month. We watch with bated breath!

Chronic Lower Back Pain (29-11-08)

Three years later (one month ago) he consulted me. Here are the x-rays of his back.

Interestingly, on examination, Gys's pain was coming from none of these sites, but from L5 which was severely fixated.

X-rays are extremely useful, but sometimes they can also be very misleading. His doctor really should have x-rayed him right in the beginning, but doctors are reluctant for some reason in Holland. Gys is extremely lucky that there are no 'long tract signs' as we call them - Spinal Cord pressure causing pain, weakness and parathesias in his legs. He should have been in a brace, and confined to home for 6 weeks, in my opinion.

I won't pretend it's been plain sailing. It hasn't, but after a month of treatment Gys declares that the pain is about 80% decreased, and his wife says he no longer walks like he has a carrot stuck up you know where!

We are now into the rehab phase of his treatment. Lots of exercises. He'll never have a great back, but he's no longer in severe pain, and he can walk again. Not unimportant for a formerly vigorous man of 64.

Update: Gys spent the whole of Sunday travelling on the train to a Christmas market in Maastricht, walking around the town and in nearby Valkenburg, through the caves. He did it! But wasn't in great shape this week again. Having been set free from pain, he want to do too much. I don't want to discourage him, but ... there are limits to what this back can achieve.

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Foot pain (26-11-08)

About 18 months ago my wife sprained her ankle quite badly. Because I was able to treat it promptly, it responded very quickly, so quickly in fact that I failed to do proper follow up. Now she is getting mid foot pain from a subluxation of the cuneiform bones.

Actually it created a good opportunity for me. Whilst I know that patients with this problem respond well to Chiropractic, I was interested to know how painful the treatment really is, and how quickly the condition improves. Just asked her - the treatment was really quite painful, but she has no pain at all - after just one treatment. It's not always like that! Update 30/11 - still no pain.

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Facet syndrome (22-11-08)

A little over two years ago his back started to trouble him, mainly whilst sitting initially. Gradually it worsened and, for the last three months, he found he couldn't manage the last nine holes. By the 8th, debilitating pain was spreading into his groin.

Two important orthopaedic tests were positive. One called Kemp's test was strongly positive for a Lumbar facet syndrome. Read more �

The second test was the Fabere test for Hip arthritis. Read more �

Spines can be the most unpredictable things. I was doubtful how much and how quickly I could help him. Surprisingly his concrete facet joint was quite easy to manipulate, and the arthritic hip is responding to a traction/ mobilisation technique using a Mulligan mobilisation belt. The arthritis is in its early stages, and we've caught it in time. Now he is exercising it every day. Within three weeks he was back on the golf course, walking the nine holes without much trouble.

It's not always that simple, but you can guess what he thinks of chiropratic. A golfer kept from his twice-weekly game is like a bear with a sore head!

Update: He played 18 holes last weekend for the first time in several years.

Torticollis (13-11-08)

On examination, two things were very evident. Extreme spasm of a muscle in the neck called the SCM, that turned her head relentlessly to the right unless she stopped the movement by placing her fingers against her cheekbone. The second was a severe fixation of the Atlas bone in her neck. Could they be associated? I wasn't sure, and umpteen neurologists have told her there is no known cause or cure.

The SCM is supplied by a nerve generally known as a "social climber". It has its nucleus in the upper neck, travels up through the foramen magnum into the skull, briefly pretends to be a Cranial Nerve, and then exits again via another foramen to supply the SCM and another muscle. For more about the spinal anatomy of this area, Click here.

Injury to this Spinal Accessory nerve is rare, usually only in what is called Iatrogenic Disease - surgeons sometimes cut the nerve whilst doing radical dissectomy of cancerous lymph nodes in the neck. Mrs Scheffers injury was of a different sort.

The long and the short of it is that I promised her nothing but she has reported that the condition is about 60% better. Much less pain and headache, and that spastic muscle that twists her neck is far more relaxed. Needless to say we are both well pleased but I don't expect we will cure her. But it makes an interesting short anecdote.

Pain in the upper leg (4-11-08)

For four months the pain defied diagnosis by a team of top doctors, and I have to admit I don't see that many cases of Meralgia Paresthetica myself. A nerve that supplies the skin on the side of the thigh is pinched in the groin.

It took about a three weeks after she first consulted me for the severe pain and tingling in her thigh to abate, but it lingered for some months. A hike in the Italian Dolomites caused a brief resurgence in the summer, but now she has no pain at all. Happily!

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Migraine (2-10-08)

His symptoms started three days previously with a bizarre blurriness in one eye, on questioning he thought in one quadrant, spreading to the other eye. Then pain started in his neck, followed by a severe headache. The pain rebated with a good night's sleep, but repeated itself the following day, only worse.

Frightened? A very rare condition in the neck, called a dissecting aneurism, is a chiropractic and medical nightmare. It progesses usually to stroke and frequently sudden death. Not the kind of short anecdote that a chiropractor wants to be writing about!

On the plus side, his blood pressure is exceptionally good, a non-smoker, and his weight is excellent. On the negative, he has a very stressed business life, has little time for exercise, and takes little leave. Was this an aneurism in progress?

Extremely rare though it is, about one in two million, a neck manipulation may cause a stroke. Does cause a stroke. Almost always it associated with a dissecting aneurism that is in progress, and has not been diagnosed. It's extremely difficult to diagnose.

Very frightening research found that patients having a stroke where five times more likely to have consulted a chiropractor in the last two weeks. It frankly worried us stiff - until further research revealed they were just as likely to have consulted a medical doctor. The researchers concluded that the treatment, whether a manipulation from the chiropractor, or the medical treatment were not the cause of the stroke - but both doctors simply missed recognising a stroke in progress. Was I witnessing a dissecting aneurism in progress?

Fortunately a careful neurological exam revealed absolutely no abnormalities except a very slight abnormality in rapidly rotating his left hand. Was it significant? Maybe. Orthopedic examination of his neck did reveal a marked fixation in the upper cervical spine.

I concluded this was not an aneurism, but for safety sake referred him to his doctor. The doctor concurred with my diagnosis: a migraine.

I treated Mr Jacobs very conservatively, and today he reported that the headache and eye symptoms have abated, but he still has pain in the neck. It's early days, let's see what transpires shall we? Once it is very clear that this not something ominous I will treatment his neck more aggressively.

Update 29-11-08. Mr Jacobs is doing fine. He has none of the serious symptoms experienced a month ago. I have now been adjusting him and the pain in his neck is much reduced. He still has for short periods (15 mins) what he describes as 'pressure' in his head, but no headaches, and no visual symptoms. He remains a worrying case, and I'm treating him very gently and conservatively.

Update 14.12.08. Mr Jacobs is doing great. Actually, we are now wondering if the blurriness in his eye was not caused by some new medication he had just started taking. Did you know that 50% of medicines have an "anti-cholinergic side-effect"?

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Middle aged woman, on the pill, smoker? You are at high risk from an aneurism. If you have these sorts of symptoms, get to the emergency rooms, not your chiropractor, immediately.

Below you can see the wall of an artery about to dissect and block the artery. The short anecdote that the neurologist will be writing is likely to be very short.