Dr. Stephen W. Forbess
Chiropractor & Nutritionist
Chiropractor, Nutritionist, Author, Educator
Dr. Stephen W. Forbess
Dr. Forbess has successfully worked with many conditions. Here are some of the conditions that have responded to chiropractic, and also some of services we provide!
Pain in the Neck, Back, & Headaches
Shoulder, Hands, Feet, Arms, Legs. Feet
DISCLAIMER - It would be unethical to guarantee success with any individual. However, many people benefit from chiropractic care. The statements below and case studies of patients Dr. Forbess has written about DO NOT consitute a guarantee of success. Each person is unique. The following is given for informational purposes only.
Neck & Back Pain, and Headaches top
Chiropractic was discovered initiallly to help deafness and other illnesses. A natural additional effect was that it helped many backaches, neck pains, and headaches. In addition to chiropractric adjustments, we also use therapies such as massage, ultrasound, hydrotherapy, traction and other therapies to help neck and back pain. In order to obtain long term improvement, and to help prevent future episodes, we look for the source of the symptoms. We encourage you to make changes, whether in posture, ergonomic changes, exercise, or other lifestyle changes.
Shoulders, Arms, Hands, Legs, & Feet Pain top
As time went on, correcting joint misalignements in other joints also helped many ailments in these joints. Additionally, other therapies have been found helpful. We use cutting edge therapies that help to improve joint pain.
Children - Pediatric Chiropractic top
Children have spines too! Many common pediatric conditions such as frequent ear infections and colic have responded to chiropractic care. Chiropractic care is safe for infants and children. We use appropriate pediatric chiropractic techniques.
Among my own four children, three have had ear infections and one had colic. All responded favorably with minutes to hours of treatment, without medication. Many children respond more quickly than adults, as the problems have not usually been present very long. Outside of my family, the youngest person seen in my office so far is 4 days old.
Recently I had a 7 year old patient that had been diagnosed with “growing pains” since 2 years old. The patient had been on pain medication due to related pain. When evaluated, we found a chiropractic problem, and within a matter of weeks of care, growing pains were improved and resolved.
Older Adults top
Older individuals benefit from chiropractic. The oldest patient seen in our office have been in their 90’s. Gentle chiropractic treatment is utlilized.
Scoliosis - Children & Adults top
Every study since the 1950’s has found 10-15% of children have scoliosis. Scoliosis is a condition that can worsen during growing years especially. I’ve seen it triple in size during the teen years when left untreated. Left untreated, it is associated with a variety of back, neck, arm and leg pains and conditions with age. It is reported that the person with scoliosis has a average 7 year shorter lifespan. Scoliosis does not kill, but the nerve pressure created by the abnormal curves impact the function, maintenance and repair of the body organs, joints, and tissues. If organs fail prematurely, this shortens your life. People with long standing scoliosis usually develop shoulder, wrist, knee, hip or foot conditions at a much more frequent rate than the rest of the population. Females with scoliosis often have more difficulty in childbirth.
Medical & Chiropractic Goals for Scoliosis are different!
Medically, there are three options:
Option 1: Wait and see if the curve worsens to
around 25 degrees. If not, they do nothing.
Option 2: Bracing for curves over 25
degrees. Braces are considered to be a success if the curves don’t worsen. Braces
don’t usually reduce or improve curves.
Option 3: Surgery to reduce curves. For example,
a 60 degree curve may be reduced to a 30 degree curve, using permanent stainless
steel rods placed in the spine. According to research, post-surgical curve worsens
over time, in spite of the rods, by 2 degrees during the first year, then about 1
degree every year thereafter.
Chiropractic
My first goal is to reduce the curve. Out of all the cases I’ve accepted
for scoliosis in over 30 years of practice, I’ve only had 1 case where no improvement
was seen. With a compliant person, I usually see at least 30% or more improvement.
It is not unusual to see 75% or more improvement. Some see over 90% improvement.
Many years ago I only saw children and teens, but newer techniques have allowed for
older persons to be successfully treated. My oldest patient with scoliosis was from
a 77 year old female. She went from over a 20 degree scoliosis to about 7 degrees!
NOTE:
A recent study of people age 65 and older, found 60% of seniors had scoliosis. Minor
curves and injuries during your life can create these curves, so get a spinal check
occasionally!
Weight Loss top
Being overweight or obese will cause or aggravate many conditions
in the body. It pressures the heart, and impacts every organ and tissue. This can
give you a lower quality lifes, and will shorten your life. Although there are legitimate
illness that cause you to be overweight, most people can be helped by using a program
to get rid of the overweight condition.
A good safe program has a weight loss phase, plus recommends making longer term changes in eating and lifestyle to maintain that change. This includes exercise. Making no changes in diet and lifestyle, will ensure that the weight will come back!
Programs need to be safe. Safe programs should have adequate calories, protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. This avoids many health conditions associated with very low calorie programs. Any program with less than 1000 calories would be unsafe. I have seen these types of programs and noted 2 main things with those that go on them. Much higher rates of gall bladder, and other conditions, PLUS a much higher rate of gaining the weight back,and then some!
Here is a link to some of the programs I prefer.
www.GoodNutrition.com/WeightLoss.html
Organ Illnesses & Conditions top
Organ function is controlled and regulates by the brain, through nerves that come from the spine. When these vertebrae have a chiropractic misalignment, and there is nerve pressure. This nerve pressure will cause dysfnction, so the organs and tissues affect will not function as well as it should. I will give you a small representation with several examples of my own patients* who have been helped. These examples are not any guarantee of success with any other person, but are given to give you information about some real people helped by chiropractic:
Case 1: Blindness: Jane has had 3-4 episodes weekly (for several years) of blindness lasting minutes to hours. She is a nurse and was under the care of an opthalmologist (eye doctor). Over the last few years she has had the condition, she has had multiple brain scans, and been to a variety of specialists to no avail. She came to my office out of desperation. An examination and xrays found a chiropractic misalignment at C2, near the top of the neck. A program of chiropractic treatment over about 2 months was begun. Although 1 episode of blindness occurred during the first week of care, the patient had no more episodes of blindness. Some 10 years later, the patient returned for a weight loss lecture in my office, and reported she never had the condition return in all that time.
Case 2: Bladder Control: Jim came to my office after hearing that we had helped a loss of bladder function with others. His condition was the worst I had ever seen. He lost total bladder function, and was utlizing catheters throughout the day to allow him to urinate. Medical neurological tests had confirmed that the bladder muscle was not functional. After an examination and xrays, chiropractic misalignments were found at T12 (mid-lower back) and in the lower lumbar region (low back). T12 affects kidney function, and several low back vertebrae affect bladder function. I explained that improving these misalignments may have a positive impact on the bladder control, however I also told him I was somewhat dubious of the bladder muscles ability to function again due to anticipated atrophy over the last 2 years of non function. He elected to try chiropractic. I also told him it might takes some time before he would have any positive results. During the first 6 weeks of care, he began to be able to urinate several drops, which had never happened during the previous 2 years, no matter how much he tried. He went back to his urologist (MD) for a regular checkup, and told him. The MD responded that that was probably only his abdominal muscles, and he would never regain use of the bladder. Jim came back somewhat dejected, however, he did realize that he had really tried before with no results, but now, with chiropractic, he was having some success. During the next several months of chiropractic care, he began to urinate more and more. At one point he went for another bladder function test, and now they found that his bladder was fully functional! OVer a year has past since that time, and he is still able to urinate normally, without catheters.
Case 3: Bowel Function: John had a long history (many years) of constipation. Ocassionally he had low back pain, but it usually went away. “No biggie” However, his lower back pain returned again with severe pain, and came in for chiropractic care. He had a bowel movement (BM) every 2-3 days (normal is 1-3 times daily). His feeling was that a BM every 2-3 days was “normal”for him. Chiropractic misalignments were found at multiple places in the lower back. Misalignments in this area can cause pain, but the nerve roots in the area control the colon, bladder, private areas and legs. Due to the severity of the problem he required 4-5 months of care. During the 6-7th week, he began finding he had to stop on the way home to have a BM, after each chiropractic visit. Eventually he became regular, with a BM 1-2 times daily, without adding extra fiber or any medication into his diet. Following this course of care, although he was seen occasionally for different problems, he never again had constipation.
Case 4: Heart Function: Henry was a fire fighter with a history of atrial fibrillation. At the time his MDdid not recommend a pacemaker, but occasionally Henry would have an episode. He came in for treatment for some back pain. On evaluation however, in addition to trouble found in his lower back, a chiropractic misalignment was found at T1/T2, just below the neck, in the upper back. I suggested treatment in the area and he agreed. I also suggested he come in during atrial fibrillation episodes, on his way to the hospital, if possible, to check it during an episode. We found 2 things during the time he lived here. First, with treatment he had much less frequent episodes, and secondly, if he came in for treatment during an episode, the fibrillation would stop and the heart functioned normally.
Case 5: High Blood Pressure: I’ve seen a number of patients for high blood pressure
(BP), and most with the chiropractic misalignment at C1 have been helped. Here is
a more extreme case, similar to a few of the patients I’ve seen with this.
Janet
called on the telephone complaining of symptoms that could be extremely severe high
blood pressure. Her daughter brought her in, as she could not driver herself, due
to the condition. I had seen the patient before, and her normal BP in my office was
low normal, 90/60. Her BP that day was 180/120, double her normal. I also found
a chiropractic misalignment at C1 (Atlas vertebrae), at the top of the neck. If we
were not able to lower her blood pressure immediately, I would be sending her to
the ER. I explained this to Janet, and she agreed to try. I performed a special
C1 adjustment, and then took her blood pressure. It dropped 30 points right away!
We continue to treat her until the neck stabilized. Other than 2 flareups of the
bloodpressure over the next few weeks while she was receiving chiropractic care,
she never had that condition again. Since that time she moved to a different state,
and more recently she came in to say hello, as she was back to visit her family.
I asked her if she ever had another episode, and she had not.
NOTE: I learned of this from my uncle, also a chiropractor. He always took blood pressure readings before and after his treatment, and he noticed an average drop of people with high blood pressure of 20 points. Interestingly, a research study was performed by a cardiologist and a chiropractor in 2007 found a similar drop in abnormal bood pressure of those with the C1 misalignment.
I could go on and on, but needless to say, chiropractic vertebral misalignments are
not normal, and can cause other conditions in the body, if left untreated.
The Winsor Autopsies
Dr. Henry Winsor, a Pennsylvania MD said, "Chiropractors claim that by adjusting
one vertebra, they can relieve stomach troubles and ulcers; by adjusting another,
menstrual cramps; and by adjusting others conditions such as kidney diseases, constipation,
heart disease, thyroid conditions, and lung disease may resolve–but how?"
So, he wanted
to see if any connection existed, so he performed special autopsies, in cooperation
with Pennsylvania University, and said, "The object of these necropsies (dissections)
was to determine whether any connection existed between minor curvatures of the spine,
on the one hand, and diseased organs on the other; or whether the two were entirely
independent of each other." He proceeded to conduct 3 separate studies using 75
human, and 22 cat cadavers.
What he found was, "Two hundred twenty-one structures
other than the spine were found diseased. Of these, 212 were observed to belong to
the same sympathetic (nerve) segments as the vertebrae in curvature. Nine diseased
organs belonged to different sympathetic segments from the vertebrae out of line."
Anatomy books confirm that the diseased organs nerves come from (or correspond to) the misaligned vertebrae Dr. Winsor found.
The breakdown of autopsies found the following:
Stomach Diseases - All nine cases
of spinal misalignment in the mid-thoracic area (T5-T9) had stomach disease.
Lung
Disease - All 26 cases of lung disease had spinal misalignments in the upper thoracic
spine.
Liver Disease - All 13 cases of liver disease had misalignments in the mid
thoracic (T5-T9)
Gallstones - All five cases with gallstone disease had spinal misalignments
in the mid thoracic.
Pancreas - All three cases with pancreas disease had spinal misalignments
in the mid thoracics.
Spleen - All 11 cases with spleen diseases had spinal misalignments
in the mid thoracics.
Kidney - All 17 cases with kidney disease were out of alignment
in the lower thoracics.
Prostate and Bladder Disease - All eight cases with kidney,
prostate and bladder disease had the lumbar (L2-L3) vertebrae misaligned
Uterus -
The two cases with the uterine conditions had the second lumbar misaligned.
Heart
Disease - All 20 cases with heart and pericardium conditions had the upper five thoracic
vertebrae (T1-T5) misaligned.
Although Dr. Winsor published his findings long ago, in 1920, no authority has ever refuted his findings. As adverse to chiropractic old-time MD’s are, it surprising that they did not, unless it was true.
*Some information for the Winsor autopsies was taken from publications by Dr. Ted Koren.
*All quotes from: Winsor, H. Sympathetic segmental disturbances -- II. The evidences of the association, in dissected cadavers, of visceral disease with vertebral deformities of the same sympathetic segments, The Medical Times, November 1921, pp./ 267-271
* Names in this section are not the names of the actual people, however all other information is true. Examples represented are no guarantee of success in any case, but do represent actual patients conditions that have been seen.
High Cholesterol top
Many have cholesterol problems. Whether genetic or not, this may represent an area that can be improved. We look at the whole cholesterol and triglycerides numbers. I’ve seen many who thought theirs was genetically based fall naturally much closer to or in normal ranges. Medication is not always the good answer, although it may be necessary short-term. We help to look for long term, non-pharmaceutical ways to help you improve your numbers. Many find they can reduce their cholesterol numbers within 2-3 months or less.
We use diet, supplement, and lifestyle changes to help your body to heal itself. Then, let the blood work confirm your results, and approach your medical doctor for help in safely lowering or eliminating your medication.
Diabetes (type 2) & Hypoglycemia top
These condition can be helped, with intervention. Using natural methods we can help you to improve and lower medications, through seeing improved blood work.
In other words, as your condition improves, so should your blood work. Then you can approach your MD to lower or eliminate medications.
Dr. Forbess has authored his first book on the topic, check it out here.
http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Reverse-Type-Diabetes-Hypoglycemia/dp/0692572724
Sciatica top
Using chiropractic therapies in the office, sciatica is a common condition we have good success with most. We use advanced techniques through specialized chiropractic adjustment, flexion/distraction (decompression), and other therapies as needed.
Our focus is helping to reduce pressure on the nerves and allowing the body to heal itself, preferably without drugs and surgery.
Cold Laser Therapy top
Cold Laser therapy helps a wide array of problems and condition. It is helphfulespecially in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and a variety of painful conditions. The laser light therapy has been found to be antibacterial and antiviral, so it may help with certain skin conditions.
It is non-invasive with no known side effects. We can use it over any part of the body, but avoid the eyes and pregnant belly.
Fibromyalgia top
Many people with Fibromyalgia feel like there is no hope for improvement. Many with this condition have found health and hope in our office. Dr. Forbess offers compassionate chiropractic care, nutrition help, and wellness recommendations.
Bio Energetic Testing top
This utilizes readings from meridian points primarily on the hands and feet of the individual involved, that help us to determine the energetics of the organs. Based on the readings, appropriate nutrition can be found that will balance these organs, allowing us to be more specific about what will or will not help the body.
The testing is painless, and very informative. This type of testing achieves so much. The link below will take you to more information (page is under construction).
Auto Accidents top
Accident related injuries are some of the worst injuries anyone wil suffer. The mass of the vehicles involved can give you injuries that could last the rest of your life.
Science says that scar tissue inside the muscles and other tissues form during the first 21 days, so it’s important to be seen shortly following a collision.
Chiropractic has a good name with those injured, as we are uniquely able to help you without drugs. And we encourage your body to heal itself through treatment we provide.
On a different note for those of you living in Florida, you are given only 14 calendar days after the collision to be seen, and have insurance coverage. Some want to give symptoms time, “maybe it will go away with time”. However, with a potential loss of coverage, come in to at least document the pain, so you will have coverage if you need it. In other words, come in for an examination, and we’ll notify your insurance. Then you can wait to see if it goes away. If it does, great! If it doesn’t go away, you will still be covered. Be safe!
Nutrition counseling top
Nutrition-minded people often need help, and are looking for natural methods to help their bodies to heal. Dr. Forbess has a four year degree in nutrition, plus he has earned 3 post-graduate diplomates in the field. He also earned a Certified Clinical Nutritionist certificate from the IAACN, a reputable international organization. He began nutrition counseling over 30 years. His methodology utilizes many tools, such as bodily fluid (blood/urine/sputum)testing, hair analysis, bio-energetic testing (see above), and in-office examination. He only uses tools necessary to come up with a workable plan of action. Although he has worked, and helped many with a variety of conditions, below are a list of some of the most common helped:
Diabetes (type 2)
Hypoglycemia
High Cholesterol
High Blood Pressure
Overweight and
Obesity
Sports (Performance nutrition)
Prostate issues
Female related conditions
Menopause
Colds
& Flu’s
Achieving Optimal Health
Dental conditions
Improving Eyesight
.... To list a few top
Posture
Good posture is key to ultimate stabilization of your back condition. We
offer a multi-step approach. First, we look at abnormal spinal curvature. From
the front of the body, the spine should be ramrod straight. If not, look back at
our approach to scoliosis. From the side there are normal curves. The neck curves
forward, the middle back curves back, and the lower back curves again to the front.
If no scoliosis is present, the most obvious cause of poor posture is a loss or
reversal of the normal neck curve (cervical kyphosis). Secondly, and usually related
is too much middleback curve
(hyperkyphosis).
These can both be helped, and reduced or corrected with three in office therapies, plus we will train you how to avoid poor posture at home and work. Additionally there are at-home exercises and braces to assist at home. Poor posture leads to these “kyphosis” conditions because it causes stretching of the ligaments in the joints, and they heale in the stetched posture. Regular exercise will NOT correct the condition, and we employ neuromuscular re-education and passive exercise therapies that have proven to help to alter these ligaments, allowing us to change your posture into a better, long-term position. Over time, these therapies can make dramatic changes. Some will find they have “grown” taller by these changes. All will find that they will have life improving changes for the rest of their life. Limitations to how much improvement is related to how much degenerative chages and arthritis that is present. Don’t wait too long! Ask Dr. Forbess if he can help you!