You can call this
chiropractor Dr. Fix-it

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Bonnie Borasky and David Diviney can both recall suffering from headaches four or five times a week for extended periods.
For Borasky, of Holme Circle, the headaches lasted for 20 years. She took up smoking to deal with the stress. She had a brain scan, an MRI test, saw a specialist and took allergy medication and a nasal spray.
Nothing worked until she made an appointment with Robert Rush, a chiropractor with an office in the Fayway Travel Building, at 13044 Bustleton Ave. in Somerton.
The patient finally got some relief after Rush worked on and adjusted her neck.
"Within three months, I was having no headaches at all," said Borasky, who has quit smoking. "I’m just about headache-free."
Like many of Rush’s patients, Borasky does not know exactly what caused her headaches.
Looking back, she thinks getting whacked on the head during a violent pillow fight at a summer camp when she was a teenager caused an injury to her neck that led to headaches.
Diviney, of Morrell Park, went to Rush after injuring his shoulder and neck on the job. Before making an appointment, he took aspirin to ease the pain, but the headaches returned.
The headaches have not returned since Rush performed a deep massage and adjustment to Diviney’s neck.
"He treated me less than a week and got rid of the headaches," the patient said. "He’s done a lot for me."
Rush and other chiropractors generally treat the neck and shoulders to cure headaches.
But the local chiropractor thinks he has found a couple of other trigger points.
On a Friday night last December, Rush needed treatment himself. A guitarist who once played for the Rip Chords and who writes a monthly column for the British rock magazine The Beat, he was at a gig at a Doylestown bar when he treated himself to a single malt scotch.
The next day, he was scheduled to play at a wedding reception in Quakertown but developed a headache. He blames the scotch.
Before the band took the stage, he had drummer Larry Branca work on his neck and shoulders. He directed Branca to move his hands to the teres, located on the ribs under the latissimus dorsi, and the supraspinatus, which is a muscle of the rotator cuff. He soon experienced some relief.
During the set, the once-ailing lead guitarist gave the thumbs-up sign to the drummer.
"Lar, I’m all better," he said.
While it’s still a little early for conclusive data, Rush nonetheless describes his discovery of relieving headaches by treating the teres and supraspinatus as "incredible." He claims a 90- to 95-percent cure rate.
For other patients, the intensity of the headache lessens, the length of the pain decreases or the headaches don’t occur as frequently.
"The results have been outstanding," Rush said.
Rush said he can’t locate any literature that describes his new method as a way to relieve headaches.
According to Rush, only about 5 percent of headaches come from the head, usually from a direct injury. The rest, he said, originate in the neck and shoulder areas, many times from misaligned bones.
"The headache is not the problem," he said. "It’s the result of the problem."
The chiropractor cautions that it will take time for him to manage, reduce or rid a patient of a headache. Cure or improvement is generally based on how long the person has been suffering.
Rush’s method is to use a combination of techniques, including specific deep massage, chiropractic adjustments, moist heat, muscle therapy and cranial work.
"It’s not cookie cutter," he said. "Each person’s body and perception of pain is different."
Often, Rush said, patients come to him after their primary doctors cannot cure their headaches. He accepts that chiropractors are frequently the last resort for consumers.
"I get a lot of M.D. referrals," he said. "They trust me and know that I get results."
Rush urges headache sufferers to contact him if they are not getting results from medication.
"I’m not anti-medicine," he said. "I’m pro-health."
Some folks, Rush acknowledges, view chiropractors as "quacks" who treat only back-pain sufferers. But he said their methods work for headaches, ear ringing and other ailments.
Betsy Scafidi, of Rhawnhurst, first came to the office six years ago because she was having trouble sleeping. She also paid a visit when she developed neck pain. And she makes an appointment when she has the occasional headache.
Each time, Rush has used a combination of deep massage and adjustments to make her feel better.
"I don’t take Tylenol," she said. "I just go to him, and he fixes it."
Chiropractic care is a safe treatment, too, Rush said. If it wasn’t, he noted, there would be no way his annual malpractice insurance payment would be a paltry $1,870.
Besides his primary practice, Rush is medical director of the Northeast Fibromyalgia Support Group and works closely with the Philadelphia Police Department and the city’s police and firefighter unions on a variety of health issues.
"People think we’re low-back doctors," he said. "We’re not. We make the body heal better."
Headaches, though, are becoming his specialty. Rush wants sufferers to know that there is help for them.
"People don’t have to live with headaches, and it breaks my heart when they do," he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com