The Winsor Autopsies
Can an unhealthy spine affect internal organs?
Henry Winsor, M.D. 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 internal organs. Let us examine some of these disease categories.
Heart Disease
All 20 cases with heart and pericardium conditions has the upper five thoracic vertebrae misalinged. (T1-5)
Lung Disease
All 26 cases of lung disease had spinal misalgnments in the upper thoracic area.
Stomach Disease
All nine cases of spinal misalgnment in the mid-thoracic (T5-9) area had stomach disease.
Liver Disease
All 13 cases of liver disease had misalgnments in the mid-thoracic area (T5-9).
Gallbladder
All five cases with gallstone disease had spinal misalgnments in the mid-thoracic area (T5-9).
Pancreas
All three cases with pancreatic disease had spinal msialignments 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 kideny disease were out of alingment in the lower thoracic area (T10-12).
Prostrate and Bladder Disease
All eight cases of prostrate and bladder disease had the lumbar vertebrae misaligned (L1-3).
Uterus
The two cases with uterine conditions had the second lumbar misaligned.
{Hint: Print this page and feel free to compare to our Nerve Chart.}
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: Windor, H. Sympathetic segmental disturbances--II. The evidence of the association, in dissected cadavers, of visceral disease with vertebrae deformities with the same sympathetic segments. Medical Times, Nov. 1921, 49, pp. 267-271.