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The Potential of Chiropractic in Treating SCI
Greetings!
In 1995, I retired from the Dallas VA Medical Center as a spinal cord injury nurse. However, from 1974 to 1981, I practiced as a chiropractor in northern New Jersey. Although I never treated anyone with spinal cord injury in that capacity, the following information may be of interest to SCI patients and their caregivers.
As originally conceived by its founder, D.D. Palmer, the primary task of a chiropractor is to manually realign malpositioned vertebrae, the net effect of which is to remove pressure on spinal nerve roots and, in some cases, the spinal cord itself. This allows the free and unhindered flow of nerve energy to and from the various tissues and organs served by those neural pathways. Such spinal manipulation, if performed correctly, was said to result in the recovery of the patient not only from numerous musculoskeletal problems, but also from related internal difficulties as well.
Sometime in 1969 or 1970, in my desire to help the suffering and the afflicted, I decided to become a chiropractor. Toward that end, I applied for admission to the course of study offered by the Columbia Institute of Chiropractic, a school now known as the New York Chiropractic College. I was accepted into the program and began attending classes in September of 1970.
At the time, a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) named Ernest G. Napolitano was president of the Institute. As was his custom, he addressed the incoming freshman class during an orientation session. He was a powerful and eloquent speaker, and had much to say about chiropractic as a profession and the Columia Institute of Chiropractic as an institution of higher learning.
One of the most interesting segments of Dr. Napolitan's presentation involved his personal testimony of what motivated him to study chiropractic.
It seems that, as a student in college, Dr. Napolitano was injured in a football accident. Shortly thereafter, he lost the use of his lower extremities and became a paraplegic. The medical community offered him no hope of recovery and, as a last resort, he enlisted the services of a chiropractor. After a number of chiropractic spinal manipulations (presumabley at the site of injury), Dr. Napolitano regained the use of his lower body and experienced a complete remission of symptoms.
Dr. Napolitano's testimony--and I do not doubt its veracity--raises the intriguing possibility that a certain number of people afflicted with spinal cord injury could, theoretically, be totally rehabilitated under chiropractic care--if the proper manipulations (again, presumably at the site of injury) were administered.
As a rule, when an SCI patient--whose primary concern is to get out of his or her wheelchair--sees a chiropractor, the standard (and surely the safest) procedure is to address spinal problems above and below the lesion and to leave the site of injury untouched. However, in the light of Dr. Napolitano's experience, perhaps it is time to rethink that approach and to do some relevant research.
I am not saying that every SCI patient would be a good candidate for chiropractic intervention at the site of injury. Perhaps, based on the nature and extent of the spinal cord injury, only a relative handful would benefit. In addition, if such chiropractic manipulation is not administered correctly and only in cases for which it is indicated, it may even do more harm than good. But it is still well worth investigating. For, unless I miss my guess, the rewards, in terms of restoring lost function and feeling in at least some SCI sufferers, could be immense.
For more information about chiropractic and its role in treating spinal cord injury, visit
http://www.healingtherapies.info/Chiropractic.htm
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at
dudley_delany@yahoo.com
For more information about me, visit
http://profiles.yahoo.com/dudley_delany
Hoping you find the information in this website both helpful and hopeful, I am,
Very sincerely,
Dudley Delany, R.N., M.A., D.C.
Send E-Mail to: dudley_delany@yahoo.com
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