The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Getting it Straight: Dr. Paul Fisher adjusts the neck of fellow chiropractor Robert Martines. Willow Glen resident Lida Lopez credits Fisher's treatments with helping her to conceive.

Willow Glen woman credits chiropractic treatments with helping her to conceive

By Christine Frey

Lida Lopez was diagnosed as infertile at the age of 29. Now, nearly 11 years later, she has a 10-week-old baby girl.

"It was the best 40th birthday present a woman could ask for," says the Willow Glen resident, who turned 40 one month after Erica was born.

But Lopez says traditional medical treatments did not help her conceive. For five years she had tried "everything short of in vitro" without success and eventually quit all forms of treatment at the age of 34.

Instead, Lopez believes her pregnancy was made possible by the chiropractic care she has been receiving for the past six years.

According to her chiropractor, Paul Fisher, Lopez had severe scoliosis. Her unaligned spinal cord compressed the nerves which led to her ovaries, blocking the brain's signals to ovulate. By straightening her spinal cord, Fisher says he released the pressure on the nerves; the brain's signals could then flow through her body.

According to Tom Souza, the dean of clinics at Palmer West Chiropractic College, there is no scientific evidence proving that the spinal cord's alignment can affect a woman's fertility. However, he says he's aware of anecdotal evidence that may suggest the possibility.

Prior to visiting Willow Glen's Fisher Family Chiropractic, Lopez was completely unaware of her spinal cord problem. She made an appointment with Fisher at the urging of an acquaintance. When Lopez saw the X-rays of her spinal cord, she could not believe the twisted bones were her own. "I was in shock. I was just in shock. I literally asked him if that was me," she says.

Lopez immediately began treatment, visiting Fisher three times a week. Within a few weeks, Lopez, who had a few medical problems, was noticing remarkable improvements in her health. Over time she gained a sense of balance and grew an inch and a half taller. But despite the physical benefits she was receiving, Lopez did not expect to get pregnant. Fisher told her the treatment would take four to five years to affect her fertility; by then she thought she would be too old to conceive.

However, Fisher was more optimistic. "The Lord still works miracles today," he says.

Erica is not the first "miracle" Fisher has taken part in. During his 15 years of practice, Fisher's patients have credited him with relieving their allergies and asthma attacks. Included in his collection of patient testimonials is the story of a 4-year-old cerebral palsy patient who regained the use of her left hand after receiving chiropractic treatment.

Fisher, a 1982 graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic, is modest about these successes, giving credit to his patients and not himself. "The body is an amazing machine if working properly," he says.

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