CURRENT RESEARCH
CURRENT RESEARCH
Research Background
Defining the basic ‘problem’ in chiropractic has been in dispute since the beginning of the profession. Measuring a ‘bone out of place’ has eluded the vast majority in Chiropractic. While the rest of the profession has essentially walked away from this difficult concept, upper cervical chiropractic has been quietly and accurately measuring and correcting upper cervical misalignments (subluxations) for more than sixty years.
The Upper Cervical Research Foundation (originally known as the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research Association (NUCCRA)) began with fundamental research from the offices of practicing chiropractors concerned with the detection and correction of the Atlas Subluxation Complex(ASC) and the Atlas Subluxation Complex Syndrome (ASCS). This research defined the clinical practice of upper cervical spinal care with a high degree of integrity. It concentrated on careful analysis of the head and cervical spine and rigorous corrective procedures.
Both of the above conditions, which are progressive and degenerative, are a detriment to human health and well being and pose a burden on our society and the health care providers treating the various symptoms and conditions associated with them. It is our hope to bring the awareness of the ASC and ASCS to the attention of the public by facilitating continued research.
Recently, we have restructured and refocused our efforts to bring the benefits of our years of objective evidence to the attention of scientists and engineers outside of the office of the clinician and beyond the scope of the efforts of researchers in the chiropractic profession. We are biomechanically based and depend on objective measurements utilizing pre-adjustment and post-adjustment X-rays along with an instrument called the Anatometer for the measurement of body posture and skeletal distortion. It is our long-term clinical experience that postural distortions compromise the functioning of the nervous system and eventually the overall physiology of the human body.
Using the corrective procedures developed by the UCRF, a hypertension study between the Department of Preventive Medicine at Rush University Hypertension Center and the Chiropractic Health Center, Chicago was published in the Journal of Human Hypertension. This pilot study conducted by Marshall Dickholtz Sr., D.C. and G. Bakris, M.D. is ground breaking research in the treatment of hypertension, a condition that affects over sixty-five million Americans.
The Upper Cervical Research Foundation is a Charitable 501C-3 non- profit organization and does not pay indirect cost to academic institutions for sponsored research.