The
Effect of Combining Manual Therapy with Exercise on
the Respiratory Function of Normal Individuals:
A Randomized Control Trial
Objective: The objective of this study was
to explore the effect of combining manual therapy
with exercise on respiratory function in normal individuals.
Methods: The study design was a randomized
control trial. Forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced
expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) were
measured in
20 healthy, nonsmoking individuals before and after
3 interventions: exercise only, chiropractic manual
therapy only, and manual therapy followed by exercise.
The participants, 18 to 28 years of age, were randomly
allocated to a control and 3 intervention groups.
Each participant underwent 6 sessions of interventions
over
a 4-week period.
Results: The exercise only group showed a significant
decrease in FVC (P = .002, generalized linear model
[GLM]) and FEV1 readings (P = .0002, GLM). The manual
therapy only group showed a significant increase in
FVC (P = .000, GLM) and FEV1 (P = .001, GLM). The
group that received both manual therapy and exercise
showed increases in FVC and FEV1 immediately after
manual therapy followed by
an additional increase after exercise. The overall
increase in this group was not statistically significant.
Participants in the control group showed no change
in
FVC or FEV1.
Conclusions: Manual therapy appears to increase
the respiratory function of normal individuals. The
potential for this intervention administered before
exercise to permit additional tolerance within the
respiratory system that could allow an extended exercise
program than was previously possible is discussed.
Source: Engel RM, Vemulpad S. Journal of Manipulative
and Physiological Therapeutics. September 2007; Vol.
30, Iss. 7
A
study published in the November / December 2000 issue
of Today's
Chiropractic gives some insight into the use of
chiropractic in combating
asthma. Forty seven patients were observed for a two
year period. They
had been medically diagnosed with persistent asthma
ranging from mild
persistent in 11 cases, moderate persistent in 28
cases, to severe
persistent in 8 cases. The care rendered consisted
of specific chiropractic adjustments. The range of
visits was from 14 to 44, with the average
being 26 during the study period.
All 47 of the study patients showed "a marked
improvement ranging from 87
to 100 percent." Their symptoms improved as well
as a decrease in their
usage of acute asthma attack medication. Even more
impressive was the
fact that all of the patients in the study reported
maintaining their
improvement after a two-year follow up.
Childhood
Asthma and Chiropractic
It
is estimated that up to 15 million people suffer from
asthma. Of those,
14.8 million are children under the age of 18. In
1993 alone, there were
198,000 hospitalizations for asthma. In that same
sample year, 342
people under the age of 25 died due to this problem.
In money terms,
the direct cost of managing a patient with severe
asthma has been
estimated at more than $18,000 per year.
ASTHMA
DRUGS AND SIDE EFFECTS
"The traditional medical treatment for asthma
is anti-inflammatory and bronchodilator drugs. In
some cases, treatment included syrups such as
Preventils, which is usually prescribed on a "taken
as needed" basis.
The
combination of the drugs above promotes drowsiness
and may be habit forming. A patient denied of medication
feels they can not breathe properly
without it, thus becoming irritable. In some cases
they become so irritable
that they bring on an asthma attack."
Source: www.drmikekrantz.com/asthma.htm
From
the abstract Case review of a 6-year-old boy who has
had asthma
since 1991 and his condition since chiropractic intervention.
Child was
prescribed aerosol inhalers (Beclovert and Vertolin)
using them every day,
up to three times a day. Adjustments were delivered
to the cervical,
thoracic and lumbar areas. Significant progress. Could
run during soccer
games and almost never used his inhaler. Slept more
soundly. Hardly ever
had bouts with mucous clogged nasal passages. Nasal
inhalant use stopped.
Source:
Asthma and chiropractic. Garde R. Chiropractic Pediatrics.
Vol 1 No.3 Dec, 1994.
ASTHMA
SPRAYS DON'T WORK
ASTHMA SHOTS INEFFECTIVE
Allergy
shots used as treatment of asthma in children appears
to be
ineffective. Studies have proven there were no significant
benefits with
the shots given to children with moderate to severe
asthma.
Dr. N. Franklin Adkinson Jr., John Hopkins University
Nearly 40 million Americans -- 25% of the total population
-- suffer from
asthma and other allergy diseases
Source:
The New England Journal of Medicine in February of
1992
FROM:
Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research
(FCER)
October
24, 2002 Des Moines, Iowa— Patients afflicted with
asthma may
benefit from spinal manipulation in terms of symptoms,
immunological
capacity, and endocrine effects, an audience was told
on October 5 at
the 9th International Conference on Spinal Manipulation
in Toronto. The investigative team, headed by Ray
Hayek, Ph.D., has been conducting
a trial at 16 treatment centers in Australia involving
420 patients with an
average age of 46 in an effort to find out what effects
spinal manipulation
has on symptoms, depression and anxiety, general health
status,
and the levels of immunity as reflected by the concentrations
of both an
immunoglobulin (IgA) and an immunosuppressant (cortisol).
This investigation
draws from several references in the scientific literature
which suggest that
different forms of manual therapy (including massage)
improve the
symptomatology and lower cortisol levels in asthma
patients.
Dr.
Hayek reported that only the patient group which underwent
spinal
manipulation (by any of four commonly used manipulative
treatment
protocols) displayed significant improvement in asthma
symptoms and
depression and anxiety scores.
Simply experiencing structured interviews at the treatment
centers or being
monitored at home did not yield these improvements.
In addition, patients
actually undergoing spinal manipulation displayed
dramatic increases of IgA
and decreases of cortisol through the posttreatment
period, suggesting
that there were physiological consequences to their
manipulative treatments reflecting increased immunological
capacities which would be expected to
ward off subsequent asthmatic attacks.
These
biochemical changes not only suggest that the effects
of spinal
manipulation are more far-reaching than commonly believed,
but that they
may be more long-term as well. The gain in immunological
capacity achieved
with the simultaneous loss of the immunosuppressant
cortisol and the
increase of the immunoglobulin IgA following spinal
manipulation would be
expected to reduce the incidence and severity of pathogenic
invasion of the airways. There would be less of a
risk under these circumstances of
compounding the symptoms of asthma.
The
immunosuppressing mechanism of glucocorticoids is
believed to occur by
their reducing the permeability of capillaries, decreasing
the migration of white
blood cells in inflamed areas, suppressing the release
of interleukins, and
inhibiting the production of proteolytic enzymes by
stabilizing the lysosomal
membranes which release them.
This
followed contacts that the Director of Research at
FCER was able to
make with the Australian research community in 1995,
taking into
consideration the expertise of the investigative team
as well as the fact
that Australia's 2 million asthma sufferers have given
the Island Continent
the dubious distinction of being the asthma capital
of the world.
It has been carried out with the support of research
grants exceeding a
quarter of a million dollars from both the Foundation
for Chiropractic
Education and Research (FCER) and the National Chiropractic
Mutual
Insurance Company (NCMIC). This research, which may
be highly
influential on the future of the chiropractic profession,
is still in need of
funding. To contribute to this important project,
please call FCER at
800-637-6244,or donate via the Foundation's secure
website at: https://www.fcer.org:448/html/asthma_donate.asp
This
research represents one of approximately 50 projects
administered by
FCER since 1990 in the effort to document both the
theory and practice of
chiropractic to increase its effective integration
into healthcare systems
worldwide. The conference at which these results were
presented is an
international forum which FCER has sponsored at different
locations worldwide
for the past 14 years.
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