July2010 Newsletter

Chiropractic and Autism

In the March 9, 2006 Journal of Vertebral Subluxation (JVSR) two groups of children with autism underwent chiropractic care. In this study 14 children diagnosed with autism were studied. The children in this study were diagnosed with autism at the Child Evaluation Center at the University of Louisville Medical School. The evaluation of any progress made was done by using the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) created by the researchers at the Autism Research Institute of San Diego, California. Each of the children in this study were scored according to the ATEC evaluation. Then, twice each week for the following 3 months, the children were checked and adjusted as indicated. Follow up ATEC evaluations were performed each month to monitor the progress. The results showed that improvement of ATEC scores occurred in 11 of the 14 children. Two of the children improved so much that they no longer met the criteria to be classified as autistic. Overall, the study noted that the most common clinical aspects of improvement were in communication, verbal skills, eye contact, mood, and physical sport skills.

L5

The 5^th lumbar vertebra is located at the very bottom of the spine sitting atop the pelvis. Responsible for nearly 90% of all low back disc bulges and herniations, it is the foundation of the spine and most prone to wear and tear. L5 primarily controls: the feet and toes, bowels and bladder. The most common problems resulting from L5 misalignments: leg and foot pain, leg cramps, weak arches and feet, sciatica and edema in lower legs.

Dr. RL Hartman 1995.

Best To Burn Fat

Historically there have been 3 schools of thought when it comes to working out to burn fat, doing aerobic cardio (like running), lifting low weight for high reps, and lifting high weight for low reps. While working out the cardio and the lifting low weights for high reps burns more while doing the exercise, but new research suggests lifting high weights for low reps is best. By lifting high weights for low reps your body continues to burn fat and calories for up to 2 hours after your workout, while cardio's burn only last for 10 to 20 minutes. Ultimately, all are good and using all three is idea, don't rule out lifting weight. Lifting high weight for low reps also help increase bone mass, muscle preservation with aging, and helps balance our hormone system. Finally, most people state not wanting to gain excessive muscle as a reason for not lifting heavy weight, but only if you eat excessive calories to support muscle gain will this happen. Muscle & Fitness, Aug. 2010. Jim Stoppani, PhD.

Non-Surgical Approach to Low Back Pain

A recent study measured the response of 50 patients with low back disc herniations and associated pain to Chiropractic care. Each patient had the symptoms for over 1 year and did nothing in conjunction. The chiropractic treatments were administered for 14 weeks and the patient then re-evaluated. 90% of the patients stated their response to care was "good" or "excellent." This article is encouraging because it suggests not all low back issues necessitate surgery, this article does however remind us that in treating low back pain, 14 weeks is the standard. Dynamic Chiropractic, June 2010. Murphy, DC, Hurwitz, DC, PhD, McGovern, DC.

This newsletter is a service of Zimmerman Chiropractic Clinic, any questions or actions taken in reference to the above information should be approved by a healthcare professional first. Zimmerman Chiropractic Clinic would love to work with you and your family in your pursuit of optimum health, please contact our Clinic for a Consultation.

A Brief History of Chiropractic

Dr. Daniel David Palmer - The Father of Chiropractic

The first chiropractic adjustment was performed in Davenport, Iowa in the year 1895 by a man named Daniel David Palmer. D.D. Palmer. During his lifetime, Palmer would be a school teacher, a farmer--developing a new variety of raspberry, which he called "Sweet Home"--a grocer and eventually practicing as a "Magnetic Healer"* in Davenport. Contrary to what its name suggests, magnetic healing had nothing to do with magnets. Rather it was a cross between massage and meridian therapies--which is based upon the concepts of acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

Palmer was interested in finding the true cause(s) of disease. He wanted to know why two people who lived in the same house, drank the same water, breathed the same air and often had the same parents, could have two dramatically different constitutions, one being healthy and free of disease and the other sickly. Palmer felt that there must be something other than environmental factors influencing an individuals health. His theory, was that this internal factor was the function of the nervous system.

On September 18, 1895, Harvey Lillard a janitor in the Ryan Block, where Palmer had his office, had been so deaf for 17 years that he could not hear the racket of a wagon on the street or the ticking of a watch. Palmer made inquiry as to the cause of his deafness and was informed that when he was exerting himself in a cramped, stooping position, he felt something give way in his back and immediately became deaf. An examination showed a vertebrae racked from its normal position. Palmer reasoned that if the that vertebra was replaced, the man's hearing should be restored. Palmer felt that Lillard's hearing loss was due to a blockage of the spinal nerves which control the inner ear. This nerve blockage, in Palmer's estimation, was caused by a irritation of the spinal nerves by a misaligned vertebrae. When Palmer corrected the misalignment by pushing the vertebrae back into place, the nerve pathways were reopened and thus Lillard's hearing was restored. Today we know that the mechanism involved with spinal misalignments (The Vertebral Subluxation Complex) is much more complicated than originally postulated by Palmer. However, Palmer's basic concept of nervous system interference adversely effecting health has held true over the last 100 years.

The term chiropractic was taken form the two Greek words: Cheir (Chiro), Meaning "Hand" Praxis (Practic), Meaning "Practice". Thus chiropractic means "Done by Hand"n 1898 Palmer took on his first chiropractic student. Among those four students in 1902 was D.D.'s twenty year old son Bartlett Joshua Palmer (know as B.J.). It is also interesting to note that five of D.D.'s first fifteen students were either M.D.s or D.O.s.

Dr. B. J. Palmer - The Developer of Chiropractic

Palmer’s son , B.J. would become the most significant figure in chiropractic's first fifty years. He took over the day to day running of the Palmer School and Infirmary of Chiropractic in 1902.

B.J. was a much more flamboyant spokesmen for chiropractic than his father. It was during his tenure at the Palmer School that chiropractic would grow and fight its first battles with the medical profession. In fact, during 1903 B.J. would be charged with practicing medicine without a license.

First Use of X-Rays

Besides writing the first chiropractic textbook and running the first chiropractic college, D. D. Palmer’s son B. J. pioneered in imaging technology. In 1910, he became one of the first health educators in the world to include the new, X-ray imaging technology or, as he called it, "spinography" into the Palmer curriculum. X-rays had been discovered in France in 1895, the same year chiropractic was born.

This newsletter is a service of Zimmerman Chiropractic Clinic, any questions or actions taken in reference to the above information should be approved by a healthcare professional first. Zimmerman Chiropractic Clinic would love to work with you and your family in your pursuit of optimum health, please contact our Clinic for a Consultation.