SHORT ANECDOTEMORE STORIES FROM THE CHIROPRACTIC COALFACEShort anecdotes are as common as they are scientifically inadmissable yet, behind the stories often lie little gems of truth. For the record though, always do your homework before giving any short anecdote significant weight in making important decisions. They are NOT the same as gospel truth. Nor are they scientifically validated. Update: This page is now full so, if you've read all of these, new anecdotes can be found at
No Question...just compliments! Wow, I'm really enjoying your website. I just discovered it today because my orthopedic surgeon suggested I read up on FAIS. Who knew? Lol, I can't believe after so many years of discomfort and complaining to dr's and even chiropractors in the States, no one even thought of FAIS. I'm a twin and it seems probably that "my" FAIS is from 56yrs ago, my twin on my left side, both of us breech, me w/torticolis etc... Even though I was very athletic/active I never knew why/what was bothering me. I live in Israel now and my amazingly wonderful orthopod suggested FAIS and that I look it up online. That's how I came across your site and I just love it. Now..I just need to sit long enough to read everything. I will get to everything. Thank you so much for providing great information and with a great sense of humor. Love it!!!! Again thanks!!!! M. has walked on the toes of her right foot since a fall down the stairs when she was 25. That was 11 years ago. After only one Chiropractic treatment of her ankle joint pain she could with her heel on the ground ... ANKLE JOINT PAIN. In any event, Baby M's mother was three months pregnant when her husband suddenly had what we in the Netherlands call a Hartstilstand. Simply put, his heart stopped. The average smoker loses ten years of his or her life. Baby M's father lost rather more ... The first month of Baby M's "post-birth" life was relatively normal. Family and friends stepped into the breach, grandparents were absolute saints, only she didn't have a father to cuddle her. And then she started to cry. And cry, and cry. Baby M was unconsolable. At her first consulation, only three weeks ago, In particular, sitting in a Maxi-cosi (a car seat) made her absolutely miserable. She screamed. On examining Baby M it was immediately obvious that if I touched her neck she immediately was a very unhappy little lady. The sixth vertebra in the neck was severely fixated. Stress in utero? The long journey through the birth canal? A bump, droppped as a baby ... who knows. Baby M came today for only her third consultation. She sat the whole journey (half an hour) in the maxi-cosi without a murmur, and wakes only once during the night for her feed. Miracles we do at once ... Here are her X-rays: Notice the general loss of disc space, but severe reactive degenerative changes at L2-L3. Fortunately, I started treating her BEFORE seeing her X-rays. They could have misled me, because all her symptoms were coming from the L5-S1 joint, just above the sacrum, and in her sacro-iliac joint, and not at L2-L3.
Can the improvement be sustained? She is very faithful about the rehab exercises I have given her. I too watch with bated breath. It's almost too good to be true. Theoretically that shouldn't happen, as the vocal cords are supplied by a cranial nerve, and has little to do with the neck. But breathing is controled by the diaphragm and that is supplied by the lower neck nerves, most frequently affected in a whiplash. We are now in the rehab part of the treatment, the pain is nearly gone, and excitedly she told me yesterday that in a concert last weekend she again managed to reach E flat, no mean task I'm told. Neck pain In our short anecdote for this week Mr S consulted me for the first time five weeks ago with the above history. To make matters far worse, he could not lift his heel off the ground. This is a situation that even 5 years ago I would not have tackled. It is probably one of the most serious conditions faced by the chiropractor. Straight to the surgeon. Happily he reported yesterday that he is more than 50% beter, and I could raise his leg without pain for the first time. The MRI shows a large medial herniation of the disc. In my experience with a sciatica, if the pain in the leg goes away, the strength will return, but it will take several months. Read more about Medial disk herniation … What you may well ask has changed my attitude towards immediate surgery when the patient presents with a severe sciatica? Two things: And this report from probably the most prestigious medical spinal journal in the world:
It really is a syndrome, meaning a mixture of different features, that often don't quite fit, making it a bit mysterious. One had pain when moving her thigh, as in climbing stairs or getting out of the car, the other woman not. Both had severe pain in a muscle in the groin, one the Adductor Magnus, the other the Iliopsoas. Both had severe fixations in the sacro-iliac joint, but no pain. One had a fixation, also with no pain, at the third lumbar vertebra L3. The important feature to rule out here is weakness in the Quadriceps muscle and loss of the knee reflex. Then it's another ball game. An arthritic hip is rarely a consideration because of the sudden onset. An inguinal hernia is another less common cause. I've never seen one, but the literature warns us that it can be caused by a tumour or abcess in the psoas mucle. Rare. Frequently, it's what we call a "double crush syndrome", meaning that the nerve is irritated in two places. In the spine and as it passes through the groin. There are two different nerves that can be affected. Because of chiropractic's ability to manage joints in the spine, the sacroiliac joint and the hip joint, the muscles in buttock and groin and rehabilitate the syndrome, we are I believe the treatment of choice. Pills don't help. Both women had been on powerful medication for 2-3 weeks. They'll get better. Unfortunately the treatment of the groin is very painful. Briefly. Update: After only one of these painful treatments, one of the ladies said that the pain was 50% less. The other is being more recalcitrant: within a week the pain in the groin has stopped completely, as has the numbness in her thigh, and she can walk up the stairs, but movements of the hip remain very painful (when I rotate her thigh), as is the pain on the front of her leg. I have decided to order an X-ray of her pelvis.
Read more about Meralgia Paresthetica …UPPLER LEG PAIN.
- Isaac Newton
Being a Christian myself, and not adverse to raising my arms in praise from time to time, I hope you don't mind me having a bit of fun!
- Wayne Dyer For one month I have been treating a 30-year old man with a long history of nasty low back pain. There was little improvement, frankly he was getting worse not better. Instantly, there has been a dramatic improvement since giving him a 5mm heel lift. He says all the tension has gone out of his back, and the pain in his leg, which was getting worse not better, and almost completely gone. All within one week. Remember, this is only a short anecdote, not hard research. Update: he continues to improve, and gives most of the credit to the heel lift. Rightly or wrongly, neither of us are sure. 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. 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. Read more …IATROGENIC ILLNESS. 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. Another short anecdote from the coalface.
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! Update 3 of our Short Anecdote. The fixation in her sacrum has returned, and so has the bed wetting. She has a short leg, so we have added a heel lift to see if that helps. Frankly, the improvement is not as expected. Medicine has nothing further to offer, and neither has this chiropractor, I fear.
"Miracles we do at once. The impossible takes a little longer!" - My mother, Dr Unity Lewis, BA, DC, now deceased.
Three years later (one month ago) he consulted me. Here are the x-rays of his back.
See the fractures at T12, L1 and L2? And the severe subluxation of L4? Sorry, this is no short anecdote. Rather a long one! 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. Update: At his 6-weekly visit, Gys again says he has very few problems. He is doing his exercises faithfully, and recognises that slow meanders around the town are a NO-NO. He says he just gives his wife the credit card when she want him to go shopping with her. She's pleased, he has minimal pain, and I'm happy! March 2009. Gys is doing very well. Februari 2010. Gys is still doing great. It's not perfect, but in comparison with two years ago ... he has maintenance every six weeks. 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. 20/2/09 - still no pain. Februari 2010: I hear few complaints, but a maintenance treatment every few months is needed. Got to keep the boss happy! In Nederland vrouw is thuis baas! Got that? 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 … LUMBAR FACET SYNDROME. SHORT ANECDOTE
Read more … HIP ARTHRITIS. 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 15 December 2008: He played 18 holes last weekend for the first time in several years. February 2009: Mr Huygens comes in every two months now for his adjustment. He is doing fine, and we are gradually increasing the time between adjustments. He is very committed to the back exercises I have given him, of course. PS. These short anecdotes are all dinkum true! 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. ATLANTO AXIAL JOINT ANATOMY. 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. 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 this makes for a very satisfactory short anecdote! 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"? February 2010. He's had none of those frightening attacks again, but like most chronic problems, his neck needs maintenance. He comes for an adjustment of his neck and back every two months. Read more … ANTICHOLINERGIC SIDE EFFECTS. SHORT ANECDOTE 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.
SHORT ANECDOTE
Monthly newsletter - signed up yet?
|
