Depression & Chiropractic Care

The January 31, 2010 issue of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research reported that a 49 year-old female with depression experienced considerable decrease in her symptoms and improved quality of life after undergoing a course of chiropractic care.

Before the woman began her chiropractic care program, she had a history of depression, asthma, high stress, mood and gastrointestinal changes. She described it as a general loss of lust for life. She had been prescribed the antidepressant Aropax by her medical doctor and had been taking it for the previous 14 months.

Previous to and at several points during her chiropractic care, she was given Self-rated health and wellness questionnaires that measured Overall Quality of Life as well as four domains of health: Physical state, Emotional/Mental state, Stress and Life Enjoyment. This questionnaire has been specifically developed to analyze a patient's wellness level.

Over the next 7 months of chiropractic care, she "exhibited a substantial increase in quality of life ratings alongside a considerable decrease in presenting symptomology." She told her doctor, "After 6 weeks I have been able to come off the anti-depressants already."

According to the author, all domains of the completed survey have showed notable increases in ratings between initial and follow-up: Combined Wellness, 35%; Physical State, 61%; Mental/Emotional State, 49%; Stress Evaluation, 19%; Life Enjoyment, 12%; Overall Quality of Life, 23%.

Commentary: According to the author, previous research has "described the profound effects chiropractic has had on patients well being in the self-reported retrospective study of 2818 people. After 3 years of chiropractic care patients found their quality of life was maintained and did not plateau." That is to say that under chiropractic care, wellness doesn't just improve and level off.  It just keeps getting better and better over time. Can you give a better reason for getting and staying under chiropractic wellness care?