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This is an abstract and commentary on research very important
to the chiropractic profession.
Journal
of Spinal Disord 2000 Aug;13(4):319-23
Adult
tethered cord syndrome.
Yamada S, Lonser RR
Division of Neurosurgery, Loma Linda University, School of
Medicine, California
92530, USA.
Although often overlooked, the diagnosis of adult "tethered
cord syndrome" (TCS)
is important because the manifestations of this syndrome are
readily reversible
by untethering. Too often, adult patients with TCS are
misdiagnosed as having "failed back syndrome" or other
unrelated spinal problems. As a result, many patients are
treated with modalities which fail to improve neurological
function. The aims of this review are to acquaint readers with the pathophysiology, symptomatology,
diagnosis, and treatment of adult TCS based on author's
experience in 70 cases. Adult TCS manifested by severe back
and leg pain, a subtle onset of motor/sensory changes and
musculoskeletal deformities is correlated to TCS
pathophysiology and imaging studies. Timely diagnosis of TCS
can lead to pain relief and restoration of neurologic function
and patient gratification.
The article on Adult Tethered Cord
Syndrome:
A more complete summary of the article:
First, they checked what happens with
nerve tissue in the cords of live animals and humans when
nerve impulses were active. The way they checked the activity
was determining that the nerve conduction was directly related
to specific oxidation pathways in the nerves (think of the
Krebs Cycle for oxidation and you have it).
They then determined that a certain
enzyme in the pathway absorbed a
certain frequency of light when involved in the catalyzation
pathway (when it is working) and then did not absorb that
frequency of light when it was not working; an on-off measure. The
rate of on-off is directly related to the rate of the process.
The rate of the process is directly related to the ability of
the nerve to function. When the nerve was functioning well there was a lot of
on-off; when the nerves were not functioning well there was
less on-off, and not functioning at all was no on-off.
Using light beams and sensors they
measured the activity of the nerves (the on-off) in cats and humans as the
cord was stretched and not stretched.
In the cats, the greater the traction
weights (2 to 5 grams) the less nerve activity as measured by
the oxidation rate.
After mild or moderate traction was
released, the oxidation rate (nerve activity) returned to the
baseline (normal) rate immediately.
After release of high traction weight the
recovery was incomplete but there.
The human studies were of three basic
groups in patients with tethered cord:
1. Patients with subtle
neurologic signs (note these are objective signs measuring
sense and motor ability) had mildly reduced oxidation states
before the cord was untethered and normal states after. Their
signs subsided within two weeks after untethering.
2. Patients with significant motor, sensory,
urinary dysfunction and/definite musculoskeletal deformities
had moderate to markedly reduced oxidation states before
untethering and normal states after untethering. They had
dramatic improvement of symptoms within three months of
untethering.
3. Patients with moderate to severe
neurologic deficits and musculoskeletal deformities had
oxidation levels that were markedly reduced before untethering
and moderately reduced after untethering. They showed mild but
significant improvements in motor and sensory function with
little or no change in bladder function after untethering.
(Imagine if the procedures completely untethered the cord alá
Breig or ABC™.)
(Just a note – using the method Breig
used of screwing a plastic ribbon suboccipitally, threading it
down to the thoracic spine, pulling it tight enough to create
a slight extension of the head and neck and tying it off in
the thoracic spine to stay that way, always reduced the
symptoms AND improved bladder control in much less than 3 months
as does ABC™.
Yamada used the procedure below which was not as effective.)
What is done here is a laminectomy at a
level to expose the conus medularis and filum terminalle. In
cases of confirmed inelasticity of the filum it is transected
to loosen the tension and things are sown up. The patient is
left prone until there is no CSF leakage.
There is
also a note the patterns of
neurological involvement are not dermatomal but variable. This
is because the patterns of involvement are related to which
particular nerves are involved. That varies from patient to
patient and even within the same patient depending upon
position and mechanical stress pattern or focus points at any
given moment.
The truth is that these findings are
exactly the findings Breig had in the late 1960s and 70s. The
surgical procedure is not as effective as Breig’s method for
slackening the cord but it is another method and does work
somewhat.
I can already hear the bitching about no
effectiveness studies showing Advanced BioStructural
Correction™ accomplishes the same thing but the clinical
trials by docs all around the country --- ask George Kukurin
if he doesn’t get these results as well as the other ABC™ docs
--- demonstrate findings that are the same type of findings
but better results than Dr. Yamada shows with the surgery.
Update -- Ron Schmidt DC from Tracy CA, got the ABC™
At-Home seminar on a Thursday, tried it on a few people early
the next week (right out of the box -- he did not even call to
ask any questions). One was an MS patient who could not stand
without a cane and holding onto something. Immediately, the MS
patient noticed she would stand and walk without holding on to
anything or using her cane. Further, she comment and then
demonstrated that she could move her left leg (previously
spastic) without using here hand -- which she had to do for
the last decade. You too can get results like that with
Advanced BioStructural
Correction™ less than a week after getting the
At-Home seminar.
This one study, and there are about 17
more similar, confirms Breig’s studies of 20 and 30 years ago.
By the way, this is the mechanism of
nerve involvement in chiropractic. As I have previously said:
DD Palmer was completely correct in his observations of what
can be done with chiropractic but he was incorrect as far as
the mechanism.
The stretch of the nerves is the
mechanism and explains all the difficulties people have had in
explaining chiropractic. The
only thing missing is full spine standing and sitting
mechanical analysis to fully explain the overall spinal
mechanics causing the spinal column to become flexed and
lengthened which tensions or tethers the cord and leads to all
these variations of symptoms.
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