CASE STUDY: MS Patient Helped by Chiropractic

A case study highlighted in the May 2001 issue of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research reports that a patient with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) responded very favorably to a long-term chiropractic corrective care program.

Multiple Sclerosis occurs when the nerves in the central nervous system lose their insulating covering (called myelin sheaths) from either traumatic damage such as a fall or an auto-immune reaction where the body's own immune system attacks itself.

The patient in this study was a 46 year-old woman who was diagnosed with MS at the age of 44. The diagnosis was confirmed by the use of MRI which showed the characteristic MS lesions in the white matter of the spinal cord. She also reported that approximately 10 years before her MS symptoms appeared, she had experienced a fall that would likely have contributed to the onset of her MS as well as spinal subluxations.

Her neurologist prescribed drug therapy but since the patient was concerned about the long-term effects of the drugs, she decided to pursue a course of chiropractic corrective care first.

After the first week of chiropractic care the patient reported improved bladder control and a decrease in numbness, tingling and pain in her left leg and right hand. After one month of care, her leg strength returned and the only place she experienced numbness was in her left hand.

After four months of chiropractic care the patient reported a complete absence of MS symptoms. Five months after her first MRI, another one revealed no new lesions and a reduction of the original lesions.

During the next 12 months of follow-up chiropractic care, the patient reported that no MS symptoms reoccurred and her MRIs continued to show no new lesions as well as improvement in the original ones. Two years after the first chiropractic adjustment, the patient remained asymptomatic, her neurologist considered her case stable and suggested that she only be reexamined once a year with MRI.

The researcher reports that during the course of the patient's chiropractic corrective care program, "no other intervention was reported that could have provided an alternative explanation for the dramatic improvement of the patient's condition."