Promising Results for Those with Meniere’s Disease

A challenging and, for some, discouraging aspect of dealing with Meniere’s disease is that there is no definitive cause or cure. The common way of treating the condition only provides partial relief and includes medications for dizziness and nausea, diuretics to help reduce fluid volume and pressure in the ear, dietary restrictions, injections, and in severe cases surgery.

However, there has been some recent breakthrough for many Meniere’s sufferers who have turned to upper cervical chiropractic care as a natural and successful means of finding lasting relief. The incredible thing about upper cervical chiropractic is that it does not simple deal with symptoms. The goal and focus of this particular niche of chiropractic care is to discover the underlying root and solve the problem there.

Hope for Meniere’s Disease Revealed in Two Upper Cervical Research Studies

Finding ways to treat and manage a health condition that is as debilitating as Meniere’s disease can be difficult. The route you choose to go is very important. For many of our patients who have come in for this condition, they share that they have exhausted all the care options they’ve heard of so far and that they are ready get real help. The good news is that there are answers, and the connection between Meniere’s disease and a specific misalignment in the upper cervical spine is becoming more and more apparent and well known as recent research continues to show similar evidence.

Research Study #1:

A study done in 2010 of 139 people who were medically diagnosed with Meniere’s disease were observed through a course of upper cervical chiropractic care:

• Thorough patient histories and examinations were completed for each of the 139 patients. Every patient had experienced some kind of head or neck injury before their Meniere’s disease symptoms had begun. There were many previously undiagnosed whiplash injuries that happened because of minor car accidents.
• During their examination, all 139 patients had a misalignment of the upper cervical spine, specifically the atlas vertebra (the uppermost bone in the neck). The examination included specific x-rays that were analyzed by upper cervical chiropractors.
• Every patient filled out a questionnaire before their first upper cervical chiropractic adjustment. The questionnaire included a rating of their symptoms on a scale of 0 (no symptoms) to 10 (worst imaginable symptoms). The average rating for vertigo before upper cervical care was an 8.5.
• From the findings of their chiropractic examination, patients were provided individualized upper cervical adjustments to restore proper atlas alignment and function.

• When six weeks of care had passed, the average vertigo rating of 8.5 dropped down to a 3.0. After one year had passed, the number was down to 2.3, and at a two-year follow-up, it was at 1.4.
• Surprisingly, many patients reported improvements in their Meniere’s disease symptoms before they even left the office following their first upper cervical adjustment.
• Other symptoms that got better were nausea and vomiting (lowered from 7.0 to 1.3 after two years)
• The majority of the group, 136 out of 139 (nearly 98% of patients) were able to have better quality of life with either greatly improved or no symptoms at all. They were able to return to daily tasks such as driving a car, keeping a job, having a normal social life, and maintaining a more positive relationship with their spouse and family.

Research Study #2

A 2016 study followed the outcomes of 300 Meniere’s disease patients over a six-year period while they received upper cervical specific chiropractic care. The results were just as promising and amazing as the first study mentioned above:

• Every patient showed evidence of an upper cervical misalignment in their examination.
• All 300 patients shared a history or evidence of whiplash injury, whether previously diagnosed at the time of injury or not.
• A dramatic improvement was experienced by 291 of the 300 patients. Many no longer had any symptoms after receiving upper cervical chiropractic care, and the patients who still had symptoms experienced a decrease in frequency or severity.

How Does Upper Cervical Chiropractic Help Meniere’s Disease Sufferers?

Based on the impressive results of the research above, it’s easy to see that upper cervical chiropractic care is capable of bringing great relief to those with Meniere’s disease. The two major common threads between these studies are as follows:

1. A previous head or neck injury. The injury in the patients’ history might have seemed minor at the time it happened (for example, a minor fender bender), causing them to conclude that it could not have compromised their spinal alignment. However, even what appears to be a minor injury can lead to a misalignment of the upper cervical spine.
2. Upper cervical subluxation. Every single person who had been diagnosed with Meniere’s disease also had a misalignment of their atlas vertebra – the uppermost one in the neck. The atlas is particularly susceptible to misaligning due to it being the most freely movable vertebra in the spine. This means that it lacks the interlocking features that give the other parts of the spine greater stability.

If you suffer from Meniere’s disease symptoms, including vertigo episodes, and you can remember any kind of previously sustained head or neck injury, we strongly recommend that you have your spine examined by an upper cervical chiropractor. If it is an atlas misalignment that is contributing to your Meniere’s symptoms, we will be able to tend to the problem at the root cause and provide you with lasting relief.

References:

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/menieres-disease

Burcon MT, Upper Cervical Specific Protocol and Results for 139 Patients with Medically Diagnosed Meniere’s Disease. J Vert Sublux Res 2010; Nov 14:1-10.

Burcon MT, Health outcomes following cervical specific protocol in 300 patients with Meniere’s followed over six years. J Upper Cervical Chiropr Res 2016; Jun 2:13-23.

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