Improvements in Sleep and Decreased Antibiotic Use in a Patient With Cystic Fibrosis

The Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research published the results of a case report in their journal on October 28, 2019, describing the quality of life improvements in a patient with cystic fibrosis under chiropractic care.

Cystic Fibrosis (CF), has been characterized as an autosomal recessive genetic disease occurring in approximately 1 in 3,000-4,000 live births. It is described as a disease of the exocrine pancreases associated with lung symptoms.

With antibiotic therapies and correcting the intestinal malabsorption associated with the disease and the identification of regulator genes, led to new management and approaches to the symptoms of CF. Today the survival of CF patients in the United States has increased to a median age of 40 years. Many individuals suffering with pulmonary symptoms or CF have gravitated toward the use of alternative therapies.

In this case, the patient was a 34-year-old female diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at age 24. She went to the chiropractor to seek increased overall wellness and possibly boost her immune system. The patient had a chronic, productive cough since age 12, which worsened as a collegiate athlete. The patient experienced upper respiratory and sinus infections once every 2-3 months which required prescription antibiotics. The antibiotics in turn would exacerbate her symptoms.

A chiropractic examination was performed which included postural analysis, digital palpation and radiographic imaging.  The physical examination revealed a forward anterior cervical shift with an elevated left shoulder. The patient had increased muscular tension in the upper thoracic spine at the levels of T5-T6, bilaterally. Spina bifida occulta was found at S1 on the lumbar x-rays.

Based on the examination findings, subluxations were found at the spinal levels of C1, C6, T5 and L5. The patient consented to a course of chiropractic care utilizing the Diversified Technique which is characterized as a high velocity low amplitude thrust. Pelvic adjustments were made with the patient in the prone position with the drop table using Thompson Technique or with a side posture adjustment.

The patient was seen for care once a week with re-evaluation scheduled at the 12th visit. The patient reported decreased use of antibiotics after 6 months of chiropractic care as well as improvement in her quality of life with improved breathing, sleeping, and decreased incidence of recurrent infections. Benefits with chiropractic care were correlated with changes/improvements in paraspinal thermography scans after 1 year of constant chiropractic care.

In conclusion, this case provides supporting documentation of the benefits of chiropractic care in an adult suffering with Cystic Fibrosis. 

The More Chiropractors, The Less Hypertension

A unique study was published in the July 30, 2018, issue of the Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research that showed that populations with a higher concentration of chiropractors in the community had fewer cases of hypertension. The study looked at populations within the U.S. and compared concentrations of chiropractors and medical practitioners in certain communities.

The author of this study started with a stated basic premise, "As concentrations of health care practitioners increases, access to their services is expected to also increase, with an expected decrease in adverse health outcomes (such as hypertension mortality rates)." This study was designed to see if there was a correlating increase in health, as it relates to blood pressure, with an increase in the number of chiropractors.

The author notes that blood pressure was selected as a means of measurement because there had been prior studies showing that chiropractic adjustments caused a decrease in blood pressure. Prior research had shown that there was a statistically significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressures in 18 patients with hypertension following chiropractic adjustments of the upper cervical spine. Several additional case studies seemed to confirm these findings as well.

The study points out that about two-thirds of chiropractors in the U.S. address correcting subluxations. Since subluxations create neurological changes which have been shown to affect blood pressure, it is reasonable to assume that more chiropractors in a given area would be correcting more subluxations in the community, resulting in a decrease in the diagnosis of hypertension in that population.

In this study, mortality rates for hypertension per 100,000 were obtained for each U.S. state and the District of Columbia, except for Alaska and Wyoming, which did not have that data. The number of chiropractors for each of those states was then obtained from the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards. In addition, the number of active medical doctors was obtained from the Statistical Abstract of the United States.

These numbers were then compared with the populations for each of those states to get the number of medical doctors and chiropractors per 10,000 people. The death rate for hypertension for each of those states and D.C. was compared to the practitioner numbers to see what the possible correlations could be.

After crunching all the numbers, it was shown that there was no statistical decrease in the number of hypertensive deaths with an increase in medical doctors in that state. However, the report notes that there was a statistically significant benefit and decrease in the number of hypertensive deaths associated with an increase in the ratio of chiropractors in that state’s population.

The study extrapolated these numbers to predict the benefits of having additional chiropractors in a given population, "Thus, for every average increase of one DC per 10,000 population nationally (within the range of these data, which was 1.0 to 5.2 DCs per 10,000 population), a corresponding average national decrease of approximately one death per 100,000 population is expected."