Please visit the Upper Cervical Fusion website to see the agenda and to register.

Did these medications help with the pain? No.

But they reduced his awareness enough to make him feel like he was on a separate planet from the pain. Of course, he also wound up relating to the rest of his family, friends, and community as though he was on a separate planet.

Was there hope?

That’s the question his wife posed to me one day. I told her I didn’t know, but that if I could examine Ed, I’d have a better idea. After worrying about it for a week, this very stressed couple came in to my office.

Have you ever looked at a big project and found your legs grow weak under you? Climbing a very large mountain, or paddling some very high water?

When Ed tottered in, I felt that way. All 400+ pounds of Ed leaned uncomfortably in my office chair, a grand flying buttress of a cane keeping him up. My job was to find the underlying problem, and if it was in my scope of practice, to correct it.

It was obvious through the exam that the broken fibula had been displaced laterally (I’ve never seen that before), and that the screaming, hypersensitive nerve endings in that leg were the main issue for Ed. A more detailed look showed a twisted pelvis, back muscles in spasm and nerve pressure where the head and neck meet.

What’s the key to all these apparently unrelated facts? Can I wave my hands and make the nerve pain go away, the pelvis un-twist, and the muscle spasms vanish? Is that going to be one incantation or three?

Mikki’s Headaches

Mikki had a nasty headache. It started right after the car accident. It would not go away. Even though the car accident had finished three months before, the headache stuck around. It was one of those headaches that made you sick to your stomach. It was one of those headaches that threaten your career. MRI studies showed nothing amiss.

Was there hope?

Rebecca’s Son
Rebecca loved her son deeply. She loved her son enough to ignore the doctor’s advice to abort the child due to genetic problems. She loved her son enough that when he was born with hemi-megaloencephaly, a cleft palate, blind in one eye, and was told he would never walk without the help of surgery, she cuddled and fed and played with him, expecting the best.

At two years of age, he had spent two weeks of every month sick in the hospital.

Was there hope?

What do they have in common?

As diverse as these cases are, the underlying problem was the same. The neurologic tests, orthopedic tests, and chiropractic tests showed different aspects of the underlying problem – loss of brain-to-body communication.

Within the chiropractic profession, specifically NUCCA, this problem is called the Atlas Subluxation Complex. The atlas (C1) is the first bone in the neck, a small, two-ounce ring of bone which supports the head.

When NUCCA chiropractors use the phrase, “Atlas Subluxation Complex,” it means more than just the atlas. It tells us that we have to look at the relationship between the head and the atlas, the atlas and C2 (the axis), and all of that in relation to the neck below. It is a “complex” of structures that enable the body to work right when they are right, and interfere with the body when they are wrong.

Did anyone else know about this before?

If you didn’t flunk out of high school biology, you may recall some lessons in the nerve system. That’s the system that runs everything in the body. It controls and coordinates the growth and development of all the other systems in the body. It began doing that in the third week of the developing embryo. It’s in our nature.

So if the nerve system controls everything, doesn’t it make sense to monitor it and make sure it’s running without interference?

NUCCA and the Atlas Subluxation Complex

The NUCCA procedure (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association) was developed 60 years ago to accurately identify and correct the Atlas Subluxation Complex.

This light-handed procedure is responsible for hundreds of thousands of people regaining health. The goal in using the NUCCA procedure is to restore the body’s natural communication system which has broken down. When this broken link has been re-established, the body can begin healing itself.

Rebecca’s Son

Rebecca’s son stopped getting sick after his first, and only, head-neck correction. He also began walking shortly after that. Four years later, he is still holding his adjustment, his back is strong, his legs support him and he shows that he can see out of both eyes.

Mikki’s Headaches

Mikki’s headaches vanished within days of her first gentle head-neck correction. The only time they return is when she hurts herself and loses her adjustment.

Ed’s Leg Pain

Ed’s leg pain began diminishing within days. Interestingly enough, the lateral fibula went back in line immediately after the first head-neck correction and hasn’t slipped out since. Within four weeks he lost his dependence on his “flying buttress” cane and began sitting up straight, supporting his magnificent girth by his own strong back. At six weeks his dependence on drugs diminished to the point where he is feeling present again.

The importance of the nerve system

Does everyone who gets this type of correction get relief? In my opinion, yes, but results vary depending on many other factors in a person’s life and condition. Some people take longer to heal. Some people have deep chemical or emotional imbalances that require either more time or other types of concurrent care. Despite the variations in response times and variations in amounts of relief, one fact is clear from clinical experience; correction of the brain-to-body communication system is first in restoring natural healing processes.

When considering the question of hope, do you think that starting with the nerve system, where nature starts, is a good plan?

Provided by Dr. Philip Schalow in Rockford, Illinois.

You can think of it like this:

What if you asked me for directions to my house and I said, “Go down to the corner, turn right, then go a little while and turn left. Go ahead some more and my house should be on the right.”

What are the chances that you are going to make it to my house? Not very good.

What if instead I said, “Go out and get in my car. I have a GPS already set to direct you from my office to my house.”

Now what are the chances of getting to my house? Much higher.

The difference between each set of directions illustrates the difference between the NUCCA approach and general spinal manipulation. The goal of NUCCA, like a car GPS, is to rely on pinpoint accuracy to get you to your destination. General manipulation is okay with getting you into the neighborhood.

For many patients that means the precise approach may provide more predictable results in the correction of the spine. So even if you have tried general spinal manipulation, you may still benefit from the precise and gentle approach of NUCCA.

Because when the head is on straight, everything changes.

Provided by Dr. Bill Davis in Vista, California.

If you are interested in all aspects of the Atlas Subluxation Complex then we’ll see you at the next NUCCA conference in Atlanta!

NUCCA’s Practice Based Research Initiative is now active. This project is co-chaired by Drs. Reney and Scholten and much work has been put into creating a user friendly site for you and your patients so that you can easily participate in clinical research from wherever you are. Start by using this website to source your clinical intake forms and help strengthen our position on NUCCA care while improving an understanding of what happens in NUCCA practices.

This is just Phase 1 of the project and if the NUCCA membership participation is strong, we will be able to take this study into its next phases and likely answer many of the questions you may have had about patient responses to NUCCA. The stronger the number of participants, the stronger case we can make relative to securing future funding as well as increasing the quality of information we will have about the benefits our procedure brings to patient communities. Our world needs NUCCA and your organization needs you to take part in creating the evidence as to why we know that to be true.

Try the site by visiting www.NUCCAforms.com and choose ’test clinic’. If you use your real name, you will be sent the report that is generated when a patient visits the site and fills out the questionnaire. Please keep in mind that this is a patient oriented site. Each patient will have his/her own user name and password.

The Supine leg Check (SLC) Data Collection Pilot was successfully conducted at Life Chiropractic College West (LCCW) on May 22, 2010…

The pilot study data handling protocol proved to be sound assuring that the larger Leg Check study will have quality data for analysis. The ability to maintain data integrity ensuring the collection of high quality secure data establishes a standard for NUCCA research which is critical to results as well as review by important funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health. The data analysis is ongoing with a post study report to be submitted to the UCRF Board of Directors outlining the results and shortly thereafter, and a manuscript submission to an indexed peer reviewed publication to follow.

To help you better understand the pilot program, UCRF has published this handy flow-chart to see how the data collection has progressed.

What does it mean? The supine leg check pilot program helps future UCRF research to be as effective and accurate as possible when it comes to collecting quality data when it matters most: when our hard earned research dollars are being spent in actual research trials.

A supine leg let check pilot program is one way that UCRF is ensuring that research donations by NUCCA members and the public are spent wisely.

And the NUCCA course handbook is now online!

Read how your upper cervical education will be broadened at the NUCCA conference, whether you are a student, doctor of chiropractic, or upper cervical practitioner.

They are listed here for your convenience. For more information please see the contact information included.

• July 9th Life Chiropractic College West Seminar Hayward, CA An all school event entitled Seminar is being held at Life Chiropractic College West offering a range of chiropractic workshops. Call 510/780-4500 for information.

• July 9th, 10th – Taking Care of People San Mateo Foster City, CA Dr. Robert Brooks will be presenting his popular weekend seminar entitled Taking Care of People as part of the Life West Seminar event. For registration and details: healing@brooksspinalcare.com

• July 23rd, 24th Lyceum – A Gathering of Light Castro, CA Dr. Jack Stockwell and Dr. Robert Brooks will be presenting a program at the Castro Valley Masonic Center sponsored by the Delta Sigma Chi fraternity entitled “Lyceum – A Gathering of Light.” For tickets and details: www.dscnu.com

• September 23rd – 25th – Fusion San Jose, CA Fusion: An Overview of Five Upper Cervical Perspectives, a unique first time conference. Register at http://uppercervicalfusion.com

• October 13th -16th – NUCCA Fall Conference Atlanta, GA
  Join us for an innovative academic program, job fair, wine and cheese event and special guest speaker Paul Chek.

The NUCCA organization is deeply committed to supporting you and your practice.  As part of this commitment, a number of years ago an introduction to NUCCA patient education video was produced in partnership with NUCCA and C-1 Film Productions Corporation.  The video is available through the NUCCA store on DVD for use in your practice. Today however, with the increased utilization of the Internet, it is now more common to have video available on websites.  The Introduction To NUCCA video is currently posted on the NUCCA, UCRF and Gregory Foundation websites.

Use of NUCCA video requires payment of licensing fee.

It has come to our attention that many practitioners have loaded part or all of this video on to their practice websites as an introduction to the NUCCA procedure.  As an organization, we agree it is important to show this information as the video offers a basic understanding and introduction to the NUCCA work.

As with all intellectual property, NUCCA is responsible for managing and licensing the use of this information. As a result, in order to develop further programs and offset the cost of our previous programs, a licensing fee has been introduced for doctors who wish to add the Introduction to NUCCA video to their website.  After consideration and

legal review, a $250.00 one time licensing fee will be charged for the use of this video on any website either in whole or in part.  To pay the licensing fee, a separate item is now available on the NUCCA store portion of the NUCCA website at www.nucca.org/store in the Multimedia section.  If you are using or intend to use the video, we ask that you pay the fee and a certificate will be issued to you authorizing use on your website.  This does not give ownership, but merely enables you to utilize the intellectual property created by the NUCCA organization. This offer is available to active NUCCA members only. All proceeds will be directed to NUCCA to support education and public awareness.

If you have questions regarding the licensing fee or the video please, contact  C-1 Film Productions Corporation at info@c-1.com