The medical version of Meniere’s disease that has been prominent for the the last century, has recently been challenged by a chiropractic researcher.  Michael Burcon, B.Ph., D.C.. Michael began researching Meniere’s disease (MD) sixteen years ago. His latest paper: “Cervical Specific Protocol and Results for 300 Meniere’s Patients Followed for a Minimum of Five Years,” was presented at the 7th international Symposium on Meniere's Disease, recently in Rome.  Additionally his work have been published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, The McCoy Press and the textbook, Upper Cervical Subluxation Complex, a Review of the Chiropractic and Medical Literature.

The Symptoms: For decades, the condition was thought to be caused by excessive fluid retention (hydrops) in the endolymphatic spaces of the inner ear, however the research is lacking.  There is no Meniere’s disease is not really a disease but more a collection of symptoms. People who suffer with Meniere’s experience: 1. Dizziness that can be constant, a clogging of the ear and along with a loss of hearing, tinnitus and brain fog. 

All Meniere's’ patients had one thing in common: abnormal joint motion of the upper neck vertebrae.

Dr. Michael Burcon: Dr. Burcon 15 years of research have discovered that all Meniere's’ patients had one thing in common: abnormal joint motion of the upper neck vertebrae AND prior whiplash neck trauma. The area of concern are the Atlas or Axis, the upper two neck vertebrae. Due to the amount of nerve innervation from the spinal cord, any misalignment in this area, can irritate and disrupt normal nerve transmission both in the spinal cord and in the spinal nerves. In the case of Meniere's Dx, the nerves wired to the Eustachian tube and related muscles are the most affected, causing a hypertonicity, inflammation and eventual dysfunction. Dr. Burcon worked with 169 patients with of Meniere’s using using Upper Cervical Chiropractic. With this type of correction, the Meniere’s disease abates.

Whiplash as a cause? Traumatic Injuries: Traumatic injury to the neck the joints of the upper neck such as minor car accidents, slip and fall injuries, sports injuries, etc., cause both hypertonic cervical muscles, and dysfunctional cervical motion.  Burcon has found that all believes that the correlation was not made before, because it takes an average of fifteen years from the time of the trauma until the onset of symptoms.

Upper Cervical Doctor: How does the Upper Cervical Doctor find and correct the underlying cause?

Atlas subluxation complex: The offending culprit is an atlas subluxation complex,  a condition of misalignment of the upper two vertebrae in the spine, which in many cases is resulting from a traumatic injury. These misaligned vertebrae produce interference to the central nervous system. 

Atlas Subluxation and Leg Length Analysis: One effect of an Atlas subluxation is it creates lateral pressure on the spinal cord that can compress the lateral nerve tracts that innervate the spinal cord at this level. Cord compression causes an irritation of the CorticoSpinal (connects brain to spine) tracts causing an unconscious hypertonicity of the back muscles. This creates an imbalance in spinal musculature and is a cause asymmetric posture. A patient affected as such will display a short leg, dropped hip and a head tilt to one side I will discuss this mechanism further in another article. In my practice I use leg length analysis on all patients and find about 40% of my patients with back pain, have a short leg related to an Atlas Subluxation.    

Using upper Cervical Chiropractic I have my patients with Meniere's and those with vertigo and positional dizzyness. Call for a examination to see if the Atlas Subluxation might be the cause of your problems.