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April 2004

In This Issue:

 

Chiropractic Care For Infertility

The TV station KOLD-TV from Tucson Arizona, ran a feature on March 29, 2004 on the subject of infertility and the positive results that chiropractic offers for women with this problem.  The story starts off by saying, "Infertility. If you haven't struggled with it, chances are you know someone who wants to become pregnant, but can't. Infertility affects more than 6 million women and their partners across the country. Now there's surprising new research that may crack the case and offer couples new hope."

In the story, they feature the case of a woman named Kaycee Mogel who had always dreamed of becoming a mother. She and her husband had attempted for years  to conceive. She had tried fertility drugs, but nothing worked. Then, she decided to go to the chiropractor. She recalls "within a couple months, I was pregnant. Oh, we're really excited."

It was noted that new research shows a possible link between spinal adjustments and increased fertility in some women.  Dr. Madeline Behrendt, Kaycee's chiropractor said "it (chiropractic) lets couples who have been infertile or couples who are planning on having a family, it offers them hope." Dr. Behrendt led a study, looking at 15 women who struggled with infertility. Some for more than a decade. Then, for various reasons, each went to the chiropractor. Of these women 14 became pregnant and are now mothers. Dr. Behrendt says "the chiropractor identifies spinal distortions, which are called subluxations, and once they were detected and corrected, the fertility function improved."

Dr. Behrendt explained that there is a link between chiropractic care and fertility because the nerves to your reproductive system run through your spine. She says when the back is misaligned, the nerves misfire and cause a hormone imbalance, which can prevent a woman from getting pregnant.

 

Chiropractic Adjustments for Children with Acute Otitis Media

A recent study published in the March 29, 2004 peer reviewed journal, The Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, (JVSR), showed that chiropractic adjustments had a positive effect on children with acute ear infections. In the study 21 children were examined.  All these children showed acute inflammation in the inner ear with a red and bulging tympanic membrane accompanied by an increased mean oral temperature of over 100 degrees F.

The results of the study showed that after the chiropractic adjustments, the red and bulging tympanic membrane returned to normal in 95% of the children and a decrease in average oral temperature to 98.6 degrees F.

A similar story also appeared on the website of the television station, WIS TV news on March 30, 2004.  That story featured a four year old girl Taylor, who went to see a chiropractor for ear infections.  According to her mother Taylor had been suffering with about eight ear infections a year. Her mother noted that after two chiropractic adjustments, she hasn't had one ear infection in nine months, "This has been a big great help for us."

The news report ended with the following, "Besides ear infections another study found chiropractic care helps babies with colic. The study reports children cried two hours less after having adjustments than those who received the standard drug treatment."

 

Chiropractic: A Rapidly Growing Profession

From Columbia South Carolina, comes a March 21, 2004 report on the website of television news station WIS that highlights the increased usage of chiropractic care.  The story also noted that more than 30 million people visited doctors of chiropractic last year for a variety of conditions, and more and more medical doctors are referring their patients to doctors of chiropractic.

There were several interesting facts noted in the story.

  • In 1970, there were an estimated 13,000 doctors of chiropractic licensed in the United States. This number had increased to 40,000 in 1990 and to approximately 50,000 in 1994. Thus, there is roughly one doctor of chiropractic for every 5,000 United States residents.
  • A recent study estimated that the number of doctors of chiropractic will double by the year 2010 (to over 100,000), far exceeding the 16 percent increase projected for medical doctors. Thus, it appears that doctors of chiropractic will represent a substantially larger proportion of health care professionals in the coming years.
  • The proportion of the United States population that uses chiropractic and the number of chiropractic visits per capita have approximately doubled in the past 15-20 years.
  • According to a study published in the November 11, 1998 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, approximately 11 percent of the population visited a doctor of chiropractic in 1997. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, today there are approximately 273 million people in the country. This translates into approximately 30 million patients who visited a doctor of chiropractic in 1997.
  • Chiropractic is the third largest doctoral-level health care profession after medicine and dentistry.

 

Antidepressants And Children Not A Good Mix

The April 10th issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) contains a clinical review that shows that antidepressants should not be prescribed as a medication for depression in people under 18 years of age.  According to the BMJ, Australian researchers analyzed existing results from six randomized controlled trials of newer antidepressants and their use in children.  The review team found what they called "disturbing shortcomings", in the study results published on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Effexor, Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.

As a result of the study, the researchers stated "Antidepressant drugs cannot confidently be recommended as a treatment option for childhood depression."  The BMJ report itself stated, "Two small studies found no statistically significant advantage for antidepressants over placebo on any of the outcome measures reported. Of the remaining four papers, two did and two did not show statistically significant advantages for antidepressants over placebo on primary outcome measures."

In addition to not seeing any benefits, the report also noted that there may be a conflict of interest as the pharmaceutical companies paid for the trials and otherwise remunerated the authors of at least three of the four larger studies.

The BMJ study concluded: "We are concerned that biased reporting and overconfident recommendations in treatment guidelines may mislead doctors, patients, and families. Many will undervalue non-drug treatments that are probably both safer and more effective.

 

Chiropractors Urge Walking for Better Health

A health minded program, "America on the Move" seems to fit the Chiropractic model of wellness. From an April 9, 2004 release on PRNewswire, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) urges people to take an extra 2000 steps per day.  America on the Move is a national initiative dedicated to helping individuals and communities make positive changes to improve their health and quality of life. 

To assist in this program chiropractors are urging people to take some simple additional steps each day.  Dr. George McClelland, a chiropractor and member of ACA's Wellness Committee, explains that, "Adding a short walk to your lunchtime schedule, coupled with taking the stairs at work rather than the elevator, could add up to 2,000 additional steps for many of us. And cutting just one can of soda from your day and replacing it with water can eliminate more than 100 calories."

According to Dr. McClelland, "Many health care providers are now beginning to talk with their patients about healthy lifestyles -- an approach doctors of chiropractic have taken for many years. It's simply not good enough to wait until someone gets sick to start thinking about making them well. As we've seen, that model of health care is just not working."

The article notes that the easiest way to keep track of your extra 2,000 steps is to get your hands on a pedometer, a small device that can count the number of steps you take. It just might be the best 10 dollars you'll ever spend.

 

Chiropractic Advice for Moms-to-Be

On April 2, 2004 the TV station WOAI from San Antonio Texas ran a special during their news program with Chiropractic advice for pregnant women.  The feature started by noting, "Studies have found that about half of all expectant mothers will develop low-back pain at some point during their pregnancies." The article explained this by saying that during pregnancy, a woman's center of gravity almost immediately begins to shift forward to the front of her pelvis.

Additionally as the baby continues to grow, the pregnant woman's weight is projected even farther forward, and the curvature of her lower back is therefore increased.  This places extra stress on the spinal disks.  As a result, the normal curvature of the upper spine increases, as well.

The article notes a series of tips from the American Chiropractic Association, these include:

  • Try exercising at least three times a week, gently stretching before and after exercise.
  • Wear flat, sensible shoes.
  • When picking up children, bend from the knees, not the waist.
  • Get plenty of rest.
  • Sleep on your side with a pillow between your knees to take pressure off your lower back.
  • If you have to sit at a computer for long hours, make your workstation ergonomically correct.
  • Eat small meals or snacks every four to five hours-rather than the usual three large meals-to help keep nausea or extreme hunger at bay.

The feature also recommends chiropractic care for pregnancy. They conclude, "Before you become pregnant, your doctor of chiropractic can detect any imbalances in the pelvis or elsewhere in your body that could contribute to pregnancy discomfort or possible neuromusculoskeletal problems after childbirth."

 

Canine Chiropractic

A cute little news feature that aired in March of 2004 on the TV station KSFY from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, followed the story of Heidi, an eight-year-old Miniature Dachshund who had suffered major lower back problems. 

Heidi's owner Darla Kempf, recalled, " Initially she had been lifting one back leg for quite a while and the vet had looked at her and said she had a disc problem."  Despite plenty of pampering and rounds of drugs, Heidi wasn't getting any better.

Darla then decided to take Heidi to a chiropractor.  Dr. Jones, examined Heidi and started to initiate care.  The results were expectedly positive. Heidi's owner says she's seen huge progress in five sessions. But Dr. Jones doesn't limit his animal practice to pups, "I've worked on every animal from A-Z, but of course if there's anything that's dangerous, I like to have a muzzle on it!"

 

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