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RESEARCH LIBRARY - DOCUMENT [91]

Category: Scientific Studies
Date 2-may-2005
Title Head trauma preceding Parkinson's disease. A case-control study
Author Bower, J.H.; Maraganore, D.M.; Peterson B.J.; McDonnell, S.K.; Ahlskog J.E.; Rocca, W.A.
Main Condition/ Disease  Parkinson's disease
Source Journal of Neurology - May 2003
Abstract This case-control study is of 196 subjects who developed Parkinson's disease from 1976 to 1995. The frequency of head trauma was signficantly higher in the control group. The results of the study suggest an association between head trauma and later development of PD that varies with severity.
Summary Various studies have suggested an association between head trauma and the onset of PD. In this study 196 subjects with PD and 196 others were studied to ascertain if there was a link between head trauma and the development of Parkinson's disease. Even though evidence in favor of or against the role of head trauma in PD remains contraversial the overall findings of this study suggest that head trauma is associated with an increased risk of PD. The association was restricted to the most severe cases. The authors further state that if they accept that the association between head trauma and PD is causal, it remains difficult to demonstrate how one isolated head trauma could lead to the later development of PD. It's a pity that the researchers to do not consult upper cervical chiropractors, as they to have found a link between head and neck trauma and the development of Parkinson's. Often it is only one single traumatic event which is evident in the patient's history. This resultant trauma they assert shifts the skull on the first cervical vertebra (atlas) as evdienced by radiographs and thermography. When this shift (misalignment) is corrected they find that the person's PD symptoms dissipate. Similarly, when Dr. Fernandez-Noda (see his papers this site) removes muscular compression of neurovascular structures in the neck, PD symptoms improve or resolve completely.
Upper cervical subluxations it would seem may be linked to the onset of PD.
More research is required, but the research should be focussed in the area of the upper cervical spine.
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