Premenstrual Syndrome and Chiropractic

A positive report was published in the November / December 1999 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics concerning the effects of chiropractic on the symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome.

The study was completed on 25 women. Estimates of the prevalence of this condition vary depending on criteria. This study estimated that between 10% and 20% of reproductive age women have severe symptoms associated with this condition. The study included chiropractic adjustments for a ten day period prior to the beginning of the subjects cycles.

The women were asked to monitor their symptoms and rate them with a score using "0" = none to "3" = severe. The results showed a reduction in symptoms from between 42% and 32% for the group that received chiropractic for only a short time. Although these findings are encouraging, and long term study would be interesting to see if the results were even greater, the researchers concluded, "results support the hypothesis that the symptoms associated with PMS can be reduced by chiropractic".