spine

Leave a comment Posted on July 2, 2014February 17, 2017 Multiple Sclerosis, Patient Talk

People with Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease – did you have upper cervical trauma before diagnosis? Please take our poll!

Upper Cervical Trauma and MS and PD Patients

Just before setting down to work this morning I was looking through a number of facebook groups to get some inspiration. One of the ones I read is called “Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most disabling neurological condition”. If you are not yet a member can I suggestion you join here.

Anyhow this morning one of the members posted the following “This is very interesting – says 78 of 81 people recalled upper cervical trauma before the onset of MS and Parkinsons Disease that were receiving chiropractic care.. I know I also had this happen to me prior to onset as well.. What about you?”

You can read up a bit more on the research written by Dr Erin L Elster DC in an article called “Eighty-One Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease Undergoing Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care to Correct Vertebral Subluxation: A
Retrospective Analysis”. You can read the article on Dr Lister’s site.

So our question is pretty much the same a Ms Cilders – what about you?

As a point of information the Upper Cervical Spine is defined by the eChiropractic site as “two bones, the Atlas, (C1) and the Axis, (C2) at the top of the neck. Much of your nervous system passes through this vital area. This area is also the most movable area of your spine. Because of this, subluxations in this crucial area are very common.Since this area is in such close proximity to the brain, subluxations here can result in an alteration to a large variety of body functions. Much of the body’s nervous system messages flow past this point. This means that very large areas of the body are supplied by the nerves that pass through or near here.” There is more information on their site.

To facilitate this we have set up a short poll and it would be great if you could take part. If you would like to share more please use the comments box below.

Many thanks in advance.

1 Comment Posted on February 13, 2014January 31, 2017 Multiple Sclerosis, Patient Talk

People with Multiple Sclerosis How many lesions do you have on your brain and spine? Take our poll!

Multiple sclerosis lesions

While doing some research for another blog post on multiple sclerosis I tried to find out how many lesions were typical.

Interesting such information did not seem to be available so i think it is worth rectifying this situation.

We have decided to run a poll among our readers with MS to try to find out how many lesions on your brain and spines have so far been discovered.

If you have anything more you would like to share about your lesions which you think will be of use to other people with multiple sclerosis please use the comments box below,

Many thanks in advance.

2 Comments Posted on February 4, 2014February 4, 2014 Patient Talk

Scoliosis – what are the signs and symptoms of Scoliosis and how can it be treated?

Scoliosis

Some years ago I look a five week course in the Alexander technique to help me relax. The Alexander Technique “teaches people how to stop using unnecessary levels of muscular and mental tension during their everyday activities”. It is often used by people with back problems. Indeed there was a lady in the group who suffered from scoliosis and she hoped that the technique would be of assistance.

This was the first but not the last time that I have come across Scoliosis in my professional and personal life.

Scoliosis is simply an abnormal curvature of the spine. It should be noted that the effects and severity can be very different from person to person.

How common is it? Until recently it was thought that Scoliosis was a condition which developed in childhood. While 0.30% of children are born with Scoliosis it now seems that it may develop in older people but only to a very minor degree.

The causes of Scoliosis really vary but in around 80% of cases they are simply unknown. However people with Marfan syndrome, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Neurofibromatosis are all at higher risk.

Typical signs of Scoliosis are:-

1) Visible curvature of the spine. The lady at the group I was in did not have this.

2) A tendency to lean to one particular side

3) Clothes not hanging correctly

4) There are some cases of bowel and bladder problems.

Back pain seems to be common with adults with Scoliosis. You can read more about back pain at a previous blog https://patienttalk.org/?p=389.

A lot of children, with mild symptoms, simply grow out of Scoliosis. In some more severe occurrences a back brace can be used to help straighten the spine. Unfortunately this can cause body image issues especially for adolescents. It should be noted that surgery for children with Scoliosis is very rare.

With adults who have back pain various pain killers are often employed.

As well as raising awareness of Scoliosis one of the objectives of this blog post is to provide our readers with a space they can use to share their experiences.

It would be great if you could use the comments box below to tell us a bit about how Scoliosis has impacted you and your family. It would be great if you could consider the following questions:-

a) What were your signs of Scoliosis? At what age was the diagnosis of Scoliosis made?

b) Did you need treatments? How effective were these treatments?

c) Has Scoliosis had any long term effects on your lifestyle?

d) Is there one piece of advice you would give to somebody whose child has been diagnosed with Scoliosis?

There questions are really only suggestions. Anything would want to share about Scoliosis would be of great interest to our readers.

Thanks very much in advance.