This is a thank you from me on behalf of chiropractors around the world to the residents of Capitol Hill for your enthusiastic participation in the most important chiropractic research project to date. You have helped make this a banner year for chiropractic worldwide, and I would like to thank you, more sincerely than words can convey. And I think the fit between chiropractic and Capitol Hill’s funky vibe is a smooth natural.

Chiropractic came late to the research field to validate its claims. One claim is that chiropractors identify nerve interference and remove that interference, and this interference negatively affects human aging, wellness, recuperation from illness and psychology. Many of our health institutions have a bias for pharmaceutical solutions and have shown little interest in funding drugless methods, such as chiropractic.

However, two years ago, arrangements were finally made by chiropractors, medical doctors and PhDs to launch a very large project to identify general positive effects from chiropractic care when it was used as a wellness strategy rather than simply for pain relief. My office, Capitol Hill Chiropractic Center, was one of the research sites. It was my honor to enroll Hill residents as volunteers both for care and as controls.

In this first phase of research, the potential benefits of chiropractic care would be quantified from the research volunteers’ responses to detailed questionnaires covering topics related to energy level, physical capability, overall wellbeing, mental/emotional health and stress coping.

The results of the first year of the project were recently presented and published in The Chiropractic Journal and show some interesting preliminary information on improvements in overall quality of life. A group of 523 individuals underwent weekly chiropractic care for the first time and were compared with 264 controls that received no chiropractic care.

After three months, the volunteers receiving care reported 20 percent average improvement in “Overall Vitality and Wellness,” 10 percent improvement in “Life Enjoyment,” 15 percent improvement in “Physical State,” 21 percent improvement in “Mental/Emotional State” and 34 percent improvement in “Stress Indicators.” (See Figure 1 below).

The explanation for these promising early results in mental and stress factors might be better understood when we consider findings in functional MRI studies of the brain in people under chiropractic care.

These studies use magnetic resonance imaging to follow blood-flow patterns through the brain to see how the brain is utilizing its resources when faced with certain challenges. These studies can show changes in how the brain responds before and after chiropractic care.

In a brain MRI study by Kent and Lipton just a few years ago, it was found that chiropractic care had a considerable positive impact on helping the brain calm itself down and streamline its internal activities. In the images below (see Figure 2), we can see a major shift to a calmer, more stress-free brain between the column of images on the left versus the column of images on the right, which are looking at three different brain levels in the same individual before and after chiropractic care.

In conclusion, as a chiropractor, I can tell you, the residents of Capitol Hill, that we are quite pleased with the results of the emerging studies. And we have you in large part to thank. Thank you for your openness to new concepts and your desire to pitch in!

The office of Dr. Walls-Kaufman is located at 411 East Capitol St. SE. For more information about chiropractic care, call 202-544-6035 or visit www.capitolhillchiropractic.com.