His methods are unorthodox, his critics are many, and yet a waiting list full of
hopeful patients believe that one man has a miracle cure that can help them reclaim
their lives. While alternative treatments for debilitating diseases are not a new concept,
one chiropractor's unusual brand of surgery free healing has made a major splash, and ABC's Juju
Chang went in for a closer look. CARRICK: And you play other sports besides lacrosse,
you play hockey as well? ARLEN: Yeah. CHANG: Will Arlen has a traumatic brain injury,
and he's so sensitive to light, he wears sunglasses all the time. CARRICK: How's
your appetite? ARLEN: Good. NARRATOR: His family believes this doctor holds the key to a miraculous
cure. Ted Carrick is a chiropractor by training who specializes in the brain. CARRICK: That's what
I want to see, okay. Let's take your glasses off. I have to do this stuff, okay? And just sort of
look at my nose if you can. CHANG: The 17 year old describes his migraines like a knife stabbing his
brain. He can barely stand up on his own. CARRICK: I'm going to let go of you now. CHANG: And he has
trouble moving his left arm. CARRICK: Let's have you just come up and just walk over to
that platform and then come back here. Just walk as you would normally. CHANG: It all started with
a vicious hit during a lacrosse game. The severe concussion sent him into an 8-month
tailspin. CHANG: Tell me what the downward spiral was like. LARRY ARLEN: Will's a pretty active kid,
straight-A student normally, and outgoing and all that. They had to pull him out of school again
a couple weeks ago. CHANG: It's here at Life University in Marietta, Georgia that Carrick
is a pioneer in a field known as chiropractic neurology. A treatment he's been perfecting for
33 years. When hockey superstar Sidney Crosby suffered serious concussions, he praised dr.
Carrick for saving his career. CARRICK: Let me see you do it on your own. CHANG: Carrick says
it's all about reactivating pathways in the brain by stimulating parts of the body. CHANG: Is this
a miracle cure? CARRICK: Well I think miracles are things that only happen once in a while, and what
we find is that the miracles that we see, we're seeing them frequently, every day, so they're not
really miracles. What we do is amazing because of what humankind can do. Can you see your left hand
there? CHANG: In this exercise, Carrick uses a full-length mirror on Will to trick his mind's
eye with his own mirror image of a healthy arm in order to reprogram his brain. CARRICK: I want
you to lift your hand up all by yourself now, your left hand, lift it up. CHANG: A few minutes ago,
Will couldn't lift his left arm without help, but now this. For Will, it's huge. CARRICK: Okay, good
man. CHANG: But the big gun in Carrick's arsenal is this machine, which looks like it belongs to
NASA. CARRICK: Looking good! CHANG: Carrick says the gyro stim helps stimulate parts of the brain
that may be damaged. ARLEN: I've realized what I've noticed is my breathing feels like it's not
as shallow anymore. CARRICK: Good, starting to breathe better. CHANG: Were you skeptical? What
did you think coming in? LARRY ARLEN: Uh, I'm very skeptical. But uh, the thing that really
sold me was the first day we here is watching the passion in Dr. Carrick eyes. WILL ARLEN: He's
got a big heart. CHANG: Critics say Carrick's results don't pass scientific muster, and his
success is often dismissed as placebo, meaning the patients feel better because they believe in
his cure. CHANG: How can you be so sure that it's not a placebo? CARRICK: Well, if it was placebo,
we're doing a pretty darn good job of it. We don't do anything that is really original in our work,
we just combine things that other people have done in a different fashion. CHANG: Yet despite
the criticism, most of Carrick's patients are referred to him by neurologists, and he says he
has a month's long waiting list. CARRICK: And the turn around and come back to me. CHANG:
Stacy Hubbard traveled over 900 miles to find out why she can't walk more than a few steps
without stumbling. CARRICK: Tell me what you feel. HUBBARD: I feel dizzy, unbalanced mess. CHANG: A
hands-on mother of two, she barely got out of bed for 10 long weeks. CARRICK: If you could pick one
thing, what's the worst thing that you'd like me to fix for you? HUBBARD: I wanna be able to hug my
kids after school. CARRICK: Okay. Okay. HUBBARD: I wanna be able to greet them at the door.
CARRICK: Okay, let's go. CHANG: You did these arm movements, and you reprogrammed her brain? Is that
fair to say? CARRICK: Absolutely. And it happens very, very quickly. I look very, very carefully at
what's happening with her eyes, with her head, the degree that her pupils are open or closed,
and then her ability to track, and we find that if we do a certain motion, and get a different
tracking we say this is going to have a good probability of working. HUBBARD: Stupid floor.
(husband laughs) That is my problem today. CHANG: Over time, Stacey conquers her biggest enemy:
the pattern on the hall carpet. HUBBARD: I think I got this hallway today. Yes! I totally did it,
and I'm excited. CHANG: It's day three for Will. ARLEN: I've been happy since yesterday,
for the first time in a while, so, it feels good to definitely have someone who knows what they're
doing. Is that why I don't have a feeling in my left side? CARRICK: Yeah, I mean it's,
you know, it's pretty significant so that if your brain doesn't know where your hand is,
it doesn't control it. CHANG: For Will, just doing that with his fingers is the first
glimmer of hope. CARRICK: Nice, right? ARLEN: Oh yeah. CARRICK: Okay, okay. Let me see you walk,
swing your arms like a soldier. CHANG: And he's even able to swing his left arm. CARRICK:
That's huge, Will. It's huge. ARLEN: Felt a lot looser up there. CARRICK: Yeah it's huge,
it's huge, it's huge. Okay show me off. Go go go. (laughs) CHANG: On average,
the week-long therapy costs $5,000. For Stacey, it's worth every penny. When she
gets home from the clinic, she's finally able to hug her kids on her own two feet.
ARLEN: These are the glasses I used to wear 24 hours a day. CHANG: And Will,
who couldn't tolerate any light, is now able to get around without sunglasses. LARRY ARLEN:
Never mind concussions, how can we save his hair? CHANG: No longer on the sidelines,
Will is slowly getting back in the game. ARLEN: It feels good getting back in the game. CHANG: I'm
Juju Chang for Nightline in Marietta, Georgia.