Dr Erin Elster, erinelster.com incompetent IUCCA chiropractor, ripoff, inaccurate TyTron scan results, caused me to waste my time and money flying halfway across the world induced by her claims that she is the best and her published research and testimonials re multiple sclerosis, MS, Parkinson's Disease etc Boulder Colorado

I was treated by Erin Elster for chronic fatigue with complications from a whiplash injury to my neck.

- my experience was the complete opposite of "Debbie".  Dr. Elster was, and is, the consummate professional -- she is exceptional in her field, very caring, extremely competent and concerned with the healing of her patients.  In terms of results, Dr. Elster was the only upper cervical doctor who got it right.  After she adjusted me, I felt instant relief -- she is very gifted in her technique and understands how much pressure to use and in which direction to make an adjustment.  She answered all of my questions at length, and when I was suffering and hurting, she was very kind and compassionate.   If you get a chance to see her, you should jump at it. Don't let one person's angry tirade dissuade you from her gentle, caring practice.  She has helped many people with a variety of degenerative illnesses and will continue to do so.  

I have neither MS nor Parkinsons and I am sorry for you who have to deal with such serious health concerns. I understand that one is longing for a cure when battling serious illness. I want to nuance the OPs experience as I too have a positive outcome after having being treated by Dr. Elster from afar. I traveled half across the world to Boulder to see Dr. Elster also, from Northern Europe, and I chose to stay in Boulder in Dr. Elster's care for 5 months for her to treat me back in 2006. I believe she says on her web page that she has had success in treating (not healing,) and alleviating symptoms in a range of disorders with her specific method correcting a spine out of alignment, she is not guaranteeing anything or saying that she can cure all these diseases. I suffered a neck injury with debilitating symptoms in 2004 and no one was able to help me here in Europe so I emailed my list of symptoms to Dr. Elster who said that she wanted to see me as she thought she could help me, which indeed she did. She was quick and professional responding to my many questions before we met, and I felt confident that she knew what she was talking about. I also felt that I got personalized attention which is rare in the medical industry. I went from being chronically fatigued , exhausted and bedridden most of my day to being able to work full time again, only months after the initial correction by Dr. Elster. Dr. Elster is in my opinion extremely professional, courteous, always on-time for her appointments and very knowledgeable. As long as I listened to her advice, I was fine after her corrections. I think that the resting area was sufficient, I wanted sometimes to stay there longer and let my body rest up after the correction and even if I didn't care much for the music, I found the resting part of the treatment to be both necessary and positive for my healing. Who cares if she doesn't have a secretary? She has a one person practice, it wouldn't make sense to pay for a secretary as she's obviously capable of deciding what patients to see when, herself. I'm sorry that Debbie had such a negative experience with Dr. Elster and I believe in the consumer's right to complain about a service, but I also believe in speaking up when one doesn't agree with the picture painted by the person complaining. I also think it's unnecessary to attack the doctor personally even if the OP didn't like her or her methods. I don't know why Debbie didn't feel that Dr. Elster was professional or knowledgeable, but I certainly did during my stay in Boulder. I think people should decide for themselves whether they should go see Dr. Elster or not, there are no guarantees for a cure for anything, but upper cervical care by Dr. Elster certainly helped me back on my feet for which I will always be grateful.  

I just ran across this complaint by Debbie with the subsequent postings and I am compelled to file a rebuttal. I have been diagnosed with MS. About seven years ago I was taking one of the several ineffective and debilitating MS drugs and my quality of life was going downhill fast. I found Dr. Elster and scheduled the initial exam, then began treatments.

My MS symptoms immediately improved after the first treatment, and continued to improve. I have been on a maintenance program with Dr. Elster for several years, seeing her most recently yesterday. Even though three different neurologists have told me that it is impossible for upper cervical treatment to improve my condition, my experience has been the opposite. If my hand and leg begin to go numb and I am unsteady on my feet, I schedule an appointment with confidence that the feeling will return and I will feel better right away.

Dr. Elster never told me that she could cure MS, and I never expected that the treatments would cure it. For me, the relief of symptoms and the absence of progression of the disease over all these years suggests there is a connection.

Personally I have always found Dr. Elster to be professional, interested in my symptoms, and willing to discuss the theory extensively. After my dozens of appointments with Dr. Elster over the years, I have to suspect that Debbie's unhappy experience may have been more her attitude or unrealistic expectations than any shortcoming on the part of Dr. Elster.

Hi, I really want to divert the focus away from trivialities and a personal attack on Dr Elster, and reiterate the fact that IUCCA is inadequate for MS & PD patients in order to help other people with these diseases.

Today I received an analysis of my spinal X-rays from Noel Batten in which he clearly identifies the excessive/extreme muscle tension and vertebral misalignments that are causing my symptoms, and which are present in nearly all MS & PD sufferers. It shows/proves that upper cervical chiropractic is inadequate on its own and would never have enabled me to regain my health and mobility as it ignores the rest of the spine and the factors that are causing the problems, eg stress + blood and oxygen flow problems. In fact, Noel classifies both MS & PD as "advanced stress". It is me to a T and I wish I could post the photos on this web site, but unfortunately I can't. His web site is awesome though and for your own sake I urge you to go to http://info.noelbatten.com/testimonies_and_cases.html and review the evidence yourself. Also watch Noel's before and after videos on www.youtube.com - just type his name into the search box at the top.

I repeat my message.... IUCCA and other upper cervical chiropractic techniques are inadequate as they ignore the rest of the spine and the variety of factors that are causing the problems.

Hey, Debbie;

I'm not sure responding to you is worth the trouble, but I'll take the plunge.

You start off in pit bull mode by questioning my guts and courage because I choose to be anonymous. Well, let's compare what readers know about you and what they know about me. They know you're Debbie in Lexington and I'm Anonymous in Portland. What's the difference, really? If I tell you my first name is Dave does that put us on equal footing or do you require more information (along with a double standard) for others to measure up to in your assessments of guts and courage?

I reckon this is the main point: We know everything about Dr.Elster, including her address and phone number. If you are as serious as you seem to be concerning accountability and, in particular, because you have attacked her on a personal basis, why don't you give us some more information about you? One obvious benefit of such a move would be the chance for people like me to contact you for more in depth lessons on the meanings of guts and courage.

Go back and look at what I wrote in my original post concerning when I underwent treatment from Dr.Elster. I believe you will see the year was 2004. It is now 2009. Q: Is it just possible that in 2004, at the time of treatment, I resided in Japan and that at some point after the treatment was finished, I moved back to theU.S.? A: Not only is it possible, it's actually what happened.

Concerning the topic of the missing P, I thought I saw it somewhere but was perhaps mistaken. In any case I meant no harm. And, by the way, what would be the point of my getting the first letter of your last name from Dr. Elster and using it to address you in my original post? What evil purpose would that serve?

I am not the owner of anything related to Dr. Elster and did not identify myself as such when sending my original post; my only connection to her was as a patient for a three-and-a-half month period during 2004. I have not seen or communicated with her in any fashion since the end of that time.

I was aware of the Cease and Desist Order you refer to. Again, go back and note the second last paragraph of my original posting. It should be clear to you that I am not a Dr.Elster shill who is completely blind to any and all shortcomings.

As for your suggestions concerning doctors and Parkinson's, give me one good reason to pay any attention to them at all (aside from your empirically brilliant analysis of Dr.Elster's Parkinson's patient population, conducted from a front row seat in the waiting room). You seem to have enough of a challenge dealing with your own health issues, so why waste time and energy telling me how to approach mine?


The good things I have to say about Dr.Elster are based on personal experience, specifically in connection to Parkinson's disease. As I stated at the end of my original message, potential patients will have to do their own research and make their own informed decisions about alternative medical practitioners like Dr.Elster. As with any other product in the market place- particularly on the Internet -health care comes with a buyer beware warning. My take on you is that you went into this whole IUCCA thing with unrealistically high expectations and when they weren't met came away highly frustrated and bitter. One manifestation of your dissatisfaction is to attempt to discredit the authenticity of anybody who disagrees with you.

Look, I don't take any particular satisfaction or joy in anything I've written here. But I find the tenor of many of your remarks overly strident, poorly thought out and not very well supported.

After 3 months of IUCCA treatment I am back in the UK and worse. My mobility and balance have both deteriorated. I realize now that my walking is controlled by the lumbar, not the upper cervical area, which along with the rest of the spine is ignored totally by IUCCA. No wonder Dr Elster was given a Cease & Desist Order.

I'm really adding this because I want my report to end on this note and the last update to state it in the headline so that other people with MS don't end up wasting their time and money like I did.

I know Dr Elster claims to be an "expert" in dealing with MS & PD sufferers, but the whole time I was in her office I only saw one person with walking problems - and she still had walking problems when I left! ie Dr Elster didn't help her at all either. The rest of her clients had minor ailments, eg migraine or lower back pain like the rest of the people who attend chiropractors. There was definitely nothing special about her clientele at all.

Noel Batten on the other hand ONLY deals with people with MS, PD and other serious/autoimmune diseases and turns their cases around very quickly.

I'm really adding this because I want my report to end on this note and the last update to state it in the headline so that other people with MS don't end up wasting their time and money like I did.

I know Dr Elster claims to be an "expert" in dealing with MS & PD sufferers, but the whole time I was in her office I only saw one person with walking problems - and she still had walking problems when I left! ie Dr Elster didn't help her at all either. The rest of her clients had minor ailments, eg migraine or lower back pain like the rest of the people who attend chiropractors. There was definitely nothing special about her clientele at all.

Noel Batten on the other hand ONLY deals with people with MS, PD and other serious/autoimmune diseases and turns their cases around very quickly.

I just want to add that any outstanding issues with Dr Trevens & Trevens Specific Chiropractic have been resolved. It is just IUCCA that I feel is inappropriate/inadequate for people with MS.

I also want to add that any outstanding issues with Dr Trevens and Trevens Specific Chiropractic have been resolved. It is just IUCCA that I feel is lacking and inappropriate/inadequate for people with MS.

According to Dr Elster my upper cervical misalignment was 3mm to the left and 4mm upwards. It's just not possible that such a small amount can be responsible for such serious nerve damage.

Well, Mr Anonymous

Firstly I question and suspect your authenticity for the following reasons....

1) You don't have the courage or the guts to identify yourself. If you were genuine, then why wouldn't you?

2) You say you flew from Japan to see Dr Elster, but your location clearly says that you're from Portland, Oregon!

3) You call me Debbie P, yet I have only identified myself as Debbie. Nowhere in my report do I include my last name, so how can you know that it begins with a P unless Dr Elster has told you and put you up to this to try to repair her reputation?

4) Your ID states that you're the owner of her company!

I agree with you that we need a balance of opinion and for this reason I think we should include that of the neurologists. Do you know that Dr Elster was given a Cease & Desist Order on September 22nd 2000?

Here is the link.... http://www.chirowatch.com/chiro-practices/Elster/index.html

Or better still, here it is....

Chiropractic Correction of Upper Neck Injuries and Multiple Sclerosis?

Press release from WCA

Erin Elster, a Colorado chiropractor, claims that her upper neck manipulations can
treat MS. This is a press release from the WCA. It's a summary of her claims as published in the August 2004 issue of the JVSR.

Are Multiple Sclerosis claims supported by the Colorado Board of Chiropractic Examiners?

Erin Elster says: "I can treat your Multiple Sclerosis with Upper Cervical Manipulation"

This remarkable chiropractor is referred to in an article published by the Boulder Daily Camera as a physician who treats Multiple Sclerosis by using precise instruments to manipulate the upper cervical neck area. She also claims to successfully treat allergies, alleviates 80% of the symptoms of patients with Parkinsons' disease, and more. Don't forget she has an undergraduate degree in art history, and graduated from Palmer Chiropractic in Iowa. Her web site lists at least 40 health problems that she can treat in her practice, including attention deficit disorder, carpal tunnel syndrome, indigestion and ulcers. She sees people of all ages in her practice, from children to seniors.

The Colorado State Board of Chiropractic Examiners clearly states that chiropractors can not make false statements about the diseases that they can treat.

I can't find a single neurologist who agrees with State Board of Chiropractors' decision to uphold her practice promotion. If anyone has anything to say about this promotion, they can contact the Board themselves.

They disciplined her on September 22, 2000, and told her to cease and desist her claims. They said that she was in violation of the Colorado Chiropractic Act which prohibits the use of false, misleading, and unethical advertising. Under the Act, "unethical advertising" is defined as advertising through any medium that contains false or misleading statements, holds out promises or guarantees results, or contains claims which cannot be substantiated by standard laboratory or diagnostic procedures. They reviewed her business web site; specifically the advertising of "Conditions Helped By Upper Cervical Chiropractic". They said that her web site is "holding out and making a promise to cure and as a result, constitutes false and misleading advertising that cannot be substantiated.....".

She was ORDERED TO CEASE AND DESIST in this advertising on her web page. They encouraged her to include DISCLAIMERS on her web site regarding the use of "unproven and experimental procedures".

CEASE AND DESIST ORDER - September 22, 2000

BEFORE THE STATE BOARD OF CHIROPRACTIC EXAMINERS
STATE OF COLORADO
Board Case No. 2601000020

TO: Erin Elster, D.C.
4880 Riverbend Road
Boulder, Colorado 80301

Go to the link I provided above and it will take you to pages 1 & 2 of the Cease & Desist Order.

Erin Elster's testimonials are misleading and should be removed from her web site as they give a false impression and make false claims about her ability to cure people with MS, and result in people like me flying halfway across the world with false hope and wasting a ton of money which we can ill afford.

If you really do have Parkinson's Disease, then go to www.youtube.com and type Noel Batten into the Search box. He is an Australian from Brisbane who first introduced me to the link between spinal misalignments and MS/PD. He has written a book called "Multiple Sclerosis: The Greatest Medical Mistake" and "Parkinson's Disease: The Greatest Medical Blunder", and he has amazing before and after videos on youtube of people he has treated with MS & PD and made walk again within a matter of days - IT DOESN'T TAKE MONTHS LIKE THE IUCCA PRACTITIONERS WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE, THEY ARE A RIPOFF! SPINAL CORRECTIONS SHOULD GIVE IMMEDIATE RELIEF AND RESULTS!!

Noel offers a $500 discount if you are prepared to give your real name and the name of the neurologist who diagnosed you on video to prove you're genuine and spread the word.

He has a 5-stage technique that includes identifying spinal misalignments in the cervical, thoracic AND lumbar areas, NOT JUST UPPER CERVICAL and realigning these with a chiropractor + other aspects that include breathing and blood flow circulation exercises, massage and stress management. His before and after videos made me realize that the upper cervical technique is lacking on all these accounts....

1) The fact that all the MS patients that Noel has treated have had spinal misalignments in the thoracic and lumbar (L4/5) areas as well as the (upper) cervical region. That's me - the CD and report I got of my X-rays shows that I have scoliosis in the thoracic and lumbar areas as well as a slipped disc and misalignment in the L4/5 area.

2) The fact that my affected right leg and foot are constantly and mysteriously ice cold was totally ignored and overlooked by the IUCCA practitioners. Noel's technique includes blood flow circulation, which is clearly vital.

3) My constant breathlessness when trying to talk standing up. Noel's program includes breathing exercises and increasing the flow of oxygen to the body. As this improves, so do the symptoms.

4) The fact that my IUCCA TyTron scan, which shows pressure on and irritation to the nervous system via thermography, is bad when my emotional state is. Noel's technique includes stress management in his 5-stage treatment plan.

As far as the cost of medical treatment goes, it's all relative. I come from the UK where health care is free under the NHS, so $555 for an initial consultation that includes nothing more than a few X-rays and a random so-called "realignment", and $80 a time for 10-minute follow-ups that might not even involve an adjustment is extortionate in my book.

Noel puts you through an intensive 5, 7 or 14 day program depending on how bad you are, and stays with you until you can walk again and are on the road to recovery, not like Dr Elster who shouts at you if you dare to tell her that her pathetic minimal treatment isn't working for you. No, it's just blah blah blah rubbish about it "taking time for your body to heal" and "give me more money" endlessly until it does, which it never would because upper cervical misalignments are only a small part of the problem.

I also want to retract my statement above saying that my experience with the IUCCA practitioner (Dr Trevens of Trevens Specific Chiropractic) on the east coast of the USA was positive, but I am going to write a separate report about this. Months and months of IUCCA treatment would have yielded nothing except a huge dent in my bank balance, and neither improved or stabilized my condition, it is a RIPOFF!!!!

Debbie P. in Lexington, it's a shame that your time with Dr. Elster was so negative and you make the case against her rather forcefully and effectively. Nonetheless, in the interests of balance, allow me to offer my own take on the treatment, both medical and personal, I experienced with her.

First, I came for treatment for Parkinson's disease, in 2004. Like Debbie P., I traveled to Boulder from half way around the world from Japan, to be precise. My early contacts with Dr. Elster were by e-mail and involved a good deal of back and forth communication on the necessity that she write to the Japanese president of the college I worked at, where I had applied for a leave of absence to do the treatment. During this period, Dr. Elster was prompt, courteous, and professional and effectively helped me to not only get the leave of absence, but have it granted with full pay.

In Boulder, I went with my wife to a first meeting with Dr. Elster and we both found her to be cordial, informative, thorough and quite willing to answer questions; there was no sense of us being rushed, or any defensiveness or rudeness on her part. In general, this first interaction was typical of how things went during the 10 or so visits made during my four months of treatment.

It's true that Dr. Elster's office setup is on the minimalist side, with no receptionist. But this didn't trouble me much for one particular reason: As I recollect, she met with me on time for every visit except one, when she was something like 4 minutes late. I'm willing to bet that there are very few medical patients anywhere who wouldn't trade that track record for their own countless hours spent in waiting rooms over the years.

As for the morgue-like atmosphere in the room where patients wait under blankets after cervical adjustment, Debbie P. may have a point. But even here, Dr. Elster showed some tolerance. I told her that if patients were going to spend big chunks of time under such circumstances that maybe she should consider an alternative to the bland, white bread new age music coming from the speakers in the morgue recovery area. I gave her a tape, which she accepted, took home and - I think actually listened to. True, she rejected the suggestions, but did so in a clearly civil way.

Concerning the medical care I received from Dr. Elster, I came away quite satisfied. As a result of my time with her, I was able to cut down on my Parkinson's drug intake of both sinemet and mirapex by 50%. In addition, several symptoms, including range of motion for arms, gait, and balance were noticeably improved.

Perhaps Dr. Elster has raised her prices since my 2004 treatment experience and it may well be she is more expensive than other IUCCA practitioners, I don't know. But as a person diagnosed with Parkinson's who has dealt with the costs of the conventional medical establishment on an entirely uninsured, all out of pocket cost basis since 1996, her charges are seemingly an absolute bargain.

An important part of a patient's view of any non-traditional medical treatment revolves around expectation of outcomes. A look at Dr. Elster's web site reveals she does indeed make some rather wild, unsubstantiated claims for treatment success of a variety of illnesses and conditions. Still, I looked at the material on Parkinson's and it made sense to me, so I decided to take a chance. I was grateful for the opportunity to try something different and, as for outcomes, was simply hoping for some improvement in my condition. Sure, there are a lot of desperate folks out there with medical conditions much more serious than Parkinson's who may be more tempted than most to latch onto a new or scientifically unsupported treatment. If they view these possible treatments as the answer, they are likely to come away disappointed.

To sum up, I am not advocating that anyone seek out treatment from Dr. Elster, or not. That's obviously a decision that potential patients can make on their own. What's written here is merely a modest attempt to express a differing point of view with the hope that any future discussion of Dr.Elster and her practice be conducted on a more level field of play.

I just want to clarify that I am not disputing the fact that spinal misalignments and upper cervical subluxations are a primary cause of MS or that the IUCCA procedure can cure it and reverse the symptoms. My report is directed solely at Dr Erin Elster as an IUCCA practitioner.

I just want to clarify that I am not disputing the fact that spinal misalignments and upper cervical subluxations are a cause of MS or that the IUCCA