Parkinson's disease: what upper cervical research has looked at

The tremor, the stiffness, the small changes in speech and memory. You and your family are watching for anything that might make the days easier.

Parkinson's disease: what we can and can't say →

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We are careful with this topic, because hope is precious and easy to misuse. One case report has described a man with Parkinson's disease under upper cervical care. This page says what it measured and what it can't tell anyone.

1 study on this page

Designs: Case report
Published: 2000

Where these studies sit, by design and year

1 study, published 2000. Strongest design: case report.

the studies

What each study looked at

Strongest study design first. The dots show the design, from a single case (one dot) to a controlled trial (four). How to read this library

Case report2000Knee Chest, by hand

A 60-year-old man with Parkinson's disease

Who and how many: One man, 60, diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at 53, with leg rigidity, tremor, slurred speech and memory loss.
What was measured: Precision upper neck X-rays and infrared thermal imaging along the spine, then the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, the doctor's observation and his own description, over nine months of upper cervical care on a knee-chest table, delivered by hand to the atlas.
What was found: Re-evaluations showed marked improvement in both his own report and the measured findings.
Limits: One person. Parkinson's symptoms vary over time, and a single case can't separate care from other changes.

Read the abstract on PubMed → Source 1

before you draw conclusions

What this research does and doesn't tell you

One person. It does not show that upper cervical care changes Parkinson's disease, and it can't predict anything for anyone else. Parkinson's care stays with your neurologist; anything we do would sit alongside it.

Published research can't predict what will happen for any one person, including you. Studies report averages and single stories; your nervous system is your own. That is why The Lazar Method^™ starts with measurement, not with a promise.

We measure first, so the answer is about you, not an average.

Before any correction we measure how your nervous system is regulating your body: heart rate variability, thermal and muscle tone scans, PostureIQ™, and digital X-ray of the upper neck. QSM3, the method used at our office, is a progression of NUCCA. Dr. Jonathan Lazar, D.C., or someone personally trained by him, will go over your scans and images with you.

If we can help, we'll tell you. If we can't, we'll help you find someone who can.

Talk it through on a 15-minute Clarity Call →

This page is educational and is not medical advice. Keep the doctors who know you in the loop.

citations

Sources

Elster EL. 2000. Upper cervical chiropractic management of a patient with Parkinson's disease: a case report. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 23(8):573-7. PubMed 11050615 · DOI 10.1067/mmt.2000.109673

Titles are quoted exactly as published. Sources checked 2026-11-03.

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