Proving Chiropractic

Chiropractic patients claim that many of their ailments improve after receiving chiropractic care. These claims are not new, but have been echoed for over 100 years. In fact patients were making these claims in the 1900's.

"Chiropractors claim that by adjusting one vertebra, they can relieve stomach troubles and ulcers; by adjusting another, menstrual cramps; and by adjusting others conditions such as kidney diseases, constipation, heart disease, thyroid conditions, and lung disease may resolve – but how?"

Dr. Winsor decided to investigate this new science and art of healing- and he published his results in 1921 in the journal The Medical Times.

Dissections

Dr. Winsor was inspired by chiropractic and osteopathic literature to experiment. He planned to dissect human and animal (cat) cadavers to see if there was a relationship between any diseased internal organ and the vertebrae associated with the nerves that went to the organ. As he wrote:

"The object of these necropsies was to determine whether any connection existed between curvatures of the spine, and diseased organs; or whether the two were entirely independent of each other."

University Permission

The University of Pennsylvania gave Dr. Winsor permission to carry out his experiments. In a series of three studies he dissected a total of seventy-five human and twenty-two cat cadavers. The following are Dr. Winsor's results:

"221 structures other than the spine were found diseased. Of these, 212 were from the same sympathetic (nerve) segments as the vertebrae in curvature. Nine diseased organs belonged to different sympathetic segments from the vertebrae out of line. These figures cannot be expected to exactly coincide…for an organ may receive sympathetic filaments from several spinal segments and several organs may be supplied with sympathetic (nerve) filaments from the same spinal segments. In other words, there was nearly a 100% correlation between minor curvatures of the spine and diseases of the internal organs."

For example:

Heart Disease - All twenty cases of heart and pericardium conditions had the upper five thoracic vertebrae misaligned.

Lung Disease - All twenty-six cases of lung disease had spinal misalignments in the upper thoracic region (T1-T4).

Stomach Disease - All nine cases of stomach disease had degeneration of the mid thoracic (T5-T9) area.

Liver Disease - All thirteen cases of liver disease had degeneration in the mid - thoracic (T5-9).

Gallstones - All five cases of gallstone disease had spinal misalignment in the mid-thoracic region (T5-T9).

In Conclusion

The University of Pennsylvania gave Dr. Winsor permission to carry out his experiments. In a series of three studies he dissected a total of seventy-five human and twenty-two cat cadavers . The following are Dr. Winsor's results:

"221 structures other than the spine were found diseased. Of these, 212 were from

As early as 1921, the medical profession validated chiropractic".

Dr. Winsor's results are published in The Medical Times and are found in any medical library. Winsor was not alone in his findings. Similar studies by other researchers have confirmed Dr. Winsor's conclusion that degenerated and misaligned spines have a high correlation with disease processes.

Reference:

All quotes from: Winsor, H. Sympathetic segmental disturbances – II. The evidences of the association, in dissected cadavers, of visceral disease with vertebral deformities of the same sympathetic segments, The Medical Times , November 1921, pp./ 267-271.

"What this means to you...if you have a stiff back, chances are that the nerve going to an organ , your organ, will not be healthy because there is a breakdown in communication. Come get checked to see how your back and organs are doing."

-Dr Jeff