Wellness Articles

THE WINSOR AUTOPSIES
Can an Unhealthy Spine Affect Internal Organs?
1 Nov 1921

Henry Winsor, MD questioned chiropractic. "Chiropractors claim that by 'adjusting' vertebrae, they can relieve stomach troubles, ulcers, menstrual cramps, thyroid conditions, kidney disease, constipation, heart disease, lung and other diseases-but how?" He decided to perform an experiment: he dissected human and animal cadavers to see if there was a relationship between any diseased internal organs discovered on autopsy and the vertebrae and nerves that went to the organs.

The University of Pennsylvania gave Dr. Winsor permission to carry out his experiments. In a series of three studies, he dissected a total of 75 human and 72 cat cadavers and found 221 structures other than the spine, were diseased. He found a nearly 100% correlation between "minor curvatures" of the vertebrae and diseases of the internal organs. Let us examine some of these disease categories:

HEART DISEASE

All 20 cases with heart and pericardium conditions had the upper five thoracic vertebrae misaligned (T1-5).

LUNG DISEASE

All 26 cases of lung disease had spinal misalignments in the upper thoracic area.

STOMACH DISEASE

All nine cases of spinal misalignment in the mid-thoracic (T5-9) area had stomach disease.

LIVER DISEASE

All 13 cases of liver disease had misalignments in the mid-thoracic area (T5-9).

GALLBLADDER

All five cases with gallstone disease had spinal misalignments in the mid-thoracic area (T5-9).

PANCREAS

All three cases with pancreas disease had spinal misalignments in the mid-thoracic area (T5-9).

SPLEEN

All 11 cases with spleen disease had spinal misalignments in the mid-thoracic area (T5-9).

KIDNEY

All 17 cases with kidney disease were out of alignment in the lower thoracic area (T10-12).

PROSTATE AND BLADDER DISEASE

All eight cases with prostate and bladder disease had the lumbar vertebrae misaligned (L1-3).

UTERUS

The two cases with uterine conditions had the second lumbar misaligned.

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Dr. Winsor's results were published in The Medical Times. Other researchers have confirmed his discovery. Today medical literature contains many experiments proving chiropractic's theory and effectiveness. Dr. Henry Winsor's insights and research were prophetic indeed.

All quotes taken from: Winsor, H. Sympathetic segmental disturbances-II. The evidence of the association, in dissected cadavers, of visceral disease with vertebrae deformities of the same sympathetic segments. Medical Times, Nov. 1921, 49, pp. 267-271

Medical Times