A recent study suggests that wellness care provided by doctors of chiropractic may improve health behaviors, enhance patient perceived quality of life and reduce health care costs. Published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (JVSR), a joint study by chiropractors and researchers at the University of Lund found that chiropractic care could influence basic physiological processes that affected oxidative stress and DNA repair. The study’s landmark results offer a scientific explanation for the positive health benefits reported by chiropractic patients.

The study measured serum thiol levels in 21 patients under short term chiropractic care and 25 patients undergoing long-term chiropractic care, compared with 30 subjects in a non-chiropractic care control group. Long-term chiropractic care of two or more years was shown to re-establish a normal physiological state independent of age, sex or nutritional supplements. Symptom-free or primary wellness subjects under chiropractic care demonstrated higher mean serum thiol values than patients with active disease, and produced somewhat higher than normal wellness values. Serum thiols, primary antioxidants that serve to measure human health status, provide a surrogate estimate of DNA repair enzyme activity, which has been linked with lifespan and aging.

The chemical, physical and emotional stress of life affects the function of the nervous system and the study hypothesized that these disturbances in nerve function could affect oxidative stress and DNA repair on a cellular level. Now a broadly accepted theory about human aging and disease development, oxidative stress metabolically generates free radicals, which result in DNA damage and inhibition of DNA repair, the mechanism that fixes the damage caused by environmental impact. Chiropractors apply spinal adjustments to correct disturbances of nerve function, thereby improving the ability of the body to adapt to stress.