Research published in the November-December issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics and reported on by Scoop Health from New Zealand on November 23, 2007, shows how chiropractic helps affect the brain and nerve system function.  An exciting release on the research by the New Zealand Chiropractors Association states, “Ground-breaking research has, for the first time, identified the actual changes that occur in the body, the nervous system and the brain during chiropractic spinal adjustments.”The study demonstrates that chiropractic care sends signals to the brain that change the way the brain controls muscles.  Award-winning Auckland researcher, Dr. Heidi Haavik-Taylor commented, “The process of a spinal adjustment is like rebooting a computer.  The signals that these adjustments send to the brain, via the nervous system reset muscle behavior patterns.”  She went on to explain how this can have a broad effect on a person’s health by saying, “By stimulating the nervous system we can improve the function of the whole body.  This is something that chiropractors and their patients have known for years; and now we have some scientific evidence to prove it.”According to the Scoop Health article, Dr. Haavik-Taylor has spent the last seven years researching the effects of chiropractic adjustments on the nervous system.  On this new research, Dr. Haavik-Taylor was able to measure how brain waves are altered before and after spinal adjustments.  She reported, “This is the first time that anyone has used EEGs to prove that there are definite changes to the way the brain processes information after chiropractic care.”Dr. James Burt, the president of the New Zealand Chiropractors Association, touted Dr. Haavik-Taylor’s breakthrough research by noting, “Heidi’ work is ground-breaking on an international level by proving that chiropractic adjustments do alter and benefit the nervous system.”  

            The above headline came from a January 4, 2008 TV and online article from the NorthWest Cable News seen in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana.  This TV and online story interviewed Dr. Marshall Dickholtz, the chiropractor who was involved in the original study linking high blood pressure with spinal misalignments (subluxations). 

            The original scientific study authored by George Bakris, MD, was conducted at the Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center and published in the March 2, 2007 issue of the Journal of Human Hypertension.

            The most recent NorthWest Cable News TV and online story interviewed the doctor who had rendered the specific adjustments that were used in the groundbreaking study.  Dr. Dickholtz has been in practice for over 50 years and focuses exclusively on the top bone in the neck called the atlas.  He commented, “Think about it.  If your neck is not balancing your head, it’s like blowing a fuse.  Your wonderful brain does not control your body as well.”

            In the original study at the University of Chicago doctors showed that chiropractic could lower blood pressure by 17 points.  Dr. Dickholtz explained how this works by saying, “When you have a pinched brain stem, it closes out your arteries.  If the arteries close down, the blood pressure has to be higher to go through those arteries.”

            The news story interviewed two patients of Dr. Dickholtz.  Because she received chiropractic care, one 80-year-old patient, Maribeth, is now off her blood pressure medication.  She commented, “At my age, to be on no medication is almost a miracle I think.”  A second patient, Denise, had an initial blood pressure of 144 over 98 before chiropractic care.  After care, she reported, “After one treatment, my blood pressure was 115 over 76.”

            In the news story, Dr. Dickholtz summed up the importance of this study and chiropractic care for those with high blood pressure by saying, “In our high blood pressure research, the average age was 53 and they had 40 years of damage in their spine that could have been taken care of years before and maybe never had high blood pressure.”