Burcon Chiropractic Research Institute
Please Call Jane (616) 575-9990
With Burcon Chiropractic Research Institute in Grand Rapids, MI you are choosing to embark on a journey of healing that centers around the central nervous system and the axial skeleton. The first cervical vertebra is called atlas because it has a difficult job. The head, which weighs as much as a bowling ball, rests on top of atlas, which only weighs a few ounces. Atlas is also called the “yes” bone because your head rocks back and forth on its two articulations when you nod yes. When the skull slips partially off from one of these joints, pressure is applied to the brain stem, causing you to be “off your rocker!” We invite you to “get your head on straight” at Burcon Chiropractic.
MISSION STATEMENT: Burcon Chiropractic strives to provide the most specific, thorough and effective upper cervical specific chiropractic care in Western Michigan. We also offer CranioSacral therapy and medical massage. Our goal is to find and correct your problem in as few visits as possible. Whiplash is most commonly associated with rear-end car collisions in which the heads of those in the front car are suddenly snapped back and forth by the impact. It is more accurately called cervical acceleration/deceleration (CAD) trauma or syndrome, which describes the rapid movements that can injure the vertebrae of the neck and the muscles and ligaments that support them. Dr. Burcon has been researching and treating whiplash chiropractically in West Michigan for the past eighteen years, especially one sided neurological problems like Meniere's disease.
|
|
|
|
Atlas Adjustments Alleviate Ménière’s Disease
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Revised January 21, 2017
Introduction
To most people in the medical community, Ménière’s disease is a mysterious condition—I say mysterious because although it has been known for more than 150 years, doctors still don’t know what Ménière’s disease really is.
You see, unlike a typical disease where doctors can define it and test to see if you have it or not, Ménière’s disease is not a disease as such. Rather, it is a collection of symptoms. Thus, it should more correctly be called Ménière’s syndrome.
Since doctors can’t “find” Ménière’s disease—they can’t put their finger on it and say, “here’s your problem”—they diagnose Ménière’s disease by the process of elimination. In other words, they rule out everything else that “looks” somewhat like Ménière’s disease. After they have done this, they diagnose whatever remains as Ménière’s disease. Thus, Ménière’s disease is what doctors call an idiopathic disease from idiopathic causes.
“Idiopathic” is just a fancy medical term that means “unknown”. In short, doctors are saying they don’t know what Ménière’s disease is, don’t know what causes it, and consequently, don’t know how to effectively treat it. That’s a pretty bleak picture isn’t it? It’s even bleaker if you suffer from Ménière’s disease. Then you know just how horrible an experience these attacks can be.
If you don’t know what Ménière’s disease is like, here’s the 30-second “elevator” version. Ménière’s disease typically comes as a series of “attacks”. A classic Ménière’s attack includes a fluctuating hearing loss, vertigo (often accompanied by nausea and vomiting), tinnitus and a feeling of fullness in your affected ear. An attack can last from a few minutes to a few hours to a few days.
A drop attack is when you are literally thrown to the ground quite violently with a severe case of spinning vertigo. “I’ve blacked out from the force of hitting my. You cannot get your hands out in time and that’s the scariest part of it. I’ve hit my head many times and opened it up a few times.”
That’s the bad news.
Dr. Burcon’s Discovery
Now for some good news. Although medical doctors and medical science may not know much about Ménière’s disease, and apparently have mostly been “barking up the wrong tree” all these years, that’s not to say that no one knows anything about the basic causes of, and effective treatment for, Ménière’s disease.
Surprisingly, one of the most common factors that result in Ménière’s disease is quite simple to ascertain. Even better, the treatment can be fast, simple and painless. What’s amazing is that it has taken all these years for someone to figure this out. Furthermore, the solution was serendipitous. It did not come about through a lot of scientific research. Here’s the story.
In the year 1999, upper cervical chiropractor Dr. Michael Burcon (affectionately called “Dr. Mike” by his patients) made an intriguing finding. (Note: upper cervical chiropractors specialize in adjusting the top two vertebrae in your neck.) Three of his patients, who just happened to have Ménière’s disease, quickly recovered from their vertigo after receiving upper-cervical-specific chiropractic treatment. Imagine the unmitigated joy these three patients experienced when they realized that the vertigo that had plagued them for years had miraculously vanished. This is a far cry from how people with Ménière’s sometimes come to him. As Dr. Burcon ruefully admits, “I’ve had people crawl down my office floor to the wastebasket and throw up from the nausea of Ménière’s”.
One early patient explained,
I suffered from Ménière’s syndrome, or loss of balance, spinning and dizziness for forty-five years! I had all the things that went along with it: nausea, ringing in my ears, falling with the resulting broken bones and pain. It’s a force that could really throw me to the floor at times. I could not look up or down, or lie flat, without the spinning starting immediately. So, to avoid falling, I learned to walk around by walls, and to keep my head steady or level and to hang onto everything. Michigan University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Wesley Memorial Hospital in Chicago and many neurosurgeons in Michigan, Illinois and Florida could do nothing to help me—only medication, which would make me sleep.
Three months ago, Dr Michael Burcon gave me an [upper cervical chiropractic] treatment. I couldn’t believe it. I was no longer dizzy! The next day, I realized all the ringing in my ears and other noises in my head were gone! I am still free from the dizzy spinning today.” Mrs. G. H (1999).
This and similar success stories from other patients got Dr. Burcon thinking. He began carefully documenting any cases of people with Ménière’s disease that came to him. He soon realized that there was one thing in common that all the people with Ménière’s disease that came to him had—and that was evidence of neck trauma—specifically, whiplash. Once he understood the cause, his chiropractic training suggested the treatment needed to correct this horrible condition. To date he has successfully treated more than 725 consecutive cases of people with Ménière’s disease. That is not just an impressive success rate, it’s a phenomenal success story, and one you need to know about if you have Ménière’s disease and nothing else is working for you!
|
|
