Multiple Sclerosis
"MS affects more than one million people around the world. This disease is unpredictable and varies in severity, from a mild illness in some patients to a permanent disability in others."
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, potentially debilitating disease that affects the brain, brain stem and spinal cord. MS affects more than one million people around the world. This disease is unpredictable and varies in severity, from a mild illness in some patients to a permanent disability in others. Symptoms typically begin between ages 20 and 40, with women being afflicted twice as often as men. The most common symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis include numbness and tingling in the arms and legs, difficulty walking, impaired balance, muscle weakness, visual disturbances and memory loss.
Your central nervous system contains millions of nerve fibers that carry electrical impulses from your brain and brain stem to almost every tissue, organ and cell within your body. The degenerative process of MS is called demyelination. This is the destruction of the fatty substance, or myelin, which coats and protects the nerve fibers. This fatty substance functions much like to the insulation that shields electrical wires. In patients with MS, the body mistakenly destroys the myelin sheath, which becomes inflamed and swollen and detaches from the nerve fibers; then, firm or hardened (sclerosed) patches of scar tissue form over the fibers. Eventually, this damage slows or even blocks the nerve signals from the brain, brain stem and spinal cord that control muscle coordination, strength, sensation and vision. This results in some of the permanent disabilities that may develop in patients with MS.
Multiple Sclerosis & Upper Cervical Care
Some of the newest and most relevant research on Upper Cervical care has demonstrated the link between MS and the upper cervical spine. A study published in 2005 revealed that 100% of the patients with multiple sclerosis had a history of upper cervical injuries, although the injuries could be months or years old.
Another recent case study by Dr. Erin Elster, an Upper Cervical chiropractor, showed that the correction of upper neck injuries may reverse the progression of multiple sclerosis. Elster’s report published in The Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research stated, “According to medical research, head and neck injuries have long been considered a cause of multiple sclerosis, but this is the first research to show that the correction of those injuries can have dramatic effects on reversing MS.” The same, promising results Dr. Elster had with MS patients are now being duplicated in Upper Cervical centers across the country.
Although Upper Cervical care is not considered a cure for MS, studies show that patients suffering from multiple sclerosis benefit greatly from Upper Cervical care.
