Chiropractic Patients Improve with Non-Spinal
Problems, International Study Shows
An international study was
done involving hundreds of chiropractors and thousands of patients from
around the world. The study was published in the June 2005 issue of
the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. In the
study, doctors and patients from Canada, United States,
Mexico, Hong-Kong, Japan, Australia, and South Africa participated.
Although the majority of these patients sought chiropractic care for a
musculoskeletal, pain type problem, the study was focused in on other
problems these patients may have been experiencing.
In this study it was noted
that a percentage of patients reported that they were experiencing
additional non-musculoskeletal health problems that were not their primary
reason for seeking chiropractic care. After a period of care the
patients were questioned as to any changes in their additional problems.
The results showed that many
of the patients showed improvement in the problems that they did not seek
care for. The variety of non-musculoskeletal problems that these
patients were experiencing varied greatly, and the attention that these
patients gave to these problems varied as many reported that their response
for these problems was "not relevant", showing that they were focused on the
problem that brought them to the chiropractor.
Depending on the type of
problem that the patients were experiencing, the results showed that between
9% to 56% reported some degree of improvement with the health problems that
these patients did not go to the chiropractor for. These were problems that
the patients would probably not have expected any results with. Also
interesting was the fact that the study showed only an extremely small
number of the patients reported that their other problems continued to get
worse during the chiropractic care.
The results did not vary
significantly from one country to another. Several respondents noted
that they were able to reduce their medications for their
non-musculoskeletal problems after the chiropractic care. In the
conclusion, the researchers noted that the findings were similar to those of
a study done previously in Sweden. They suggested that additional research
focusing on the types of problems that patients do not traditionally seek
chiropractic care for, but see to show positive results would be helpful.
Top
|
Drug Companies Influence Doctors Diagnoses
A June 30, 2005 report from
the Seattle Times reports that a large portion of doctors diagnoses may
well be influenced by large drug companies looking to improve their bottom
line. The expose, authored by Susan Kelleher and Duff Wilson points
out that many of the criteria used for making a diagnosis have been changed in
order to classify more healthy people as sick, and therefore sell more
medication.
The article notes that researchers
at Dartmouth Medical School estimate that
during the 1990s, tens of millions more Americans were classified as having
hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes or obesity simply because the
definitions of those diseases were changed. The Seattle Times article
uncovered that the experts writing the treatment guidelines that for a broad
spectrum of diseases had drug-company ties ranging from research contracts
to consultancies to stock ownership.
The result of this drug
industry promoted disease reclassification is that tens of millions more
Americans were classified as having hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes
or obesity during the 1990s, simply because the definitions of those
diseases were changed. The net results are huge increases in sales of
prescription drugs, overall soaring health-care costs, escalating patient
anxiety, as well as millions of people taking drugs that may carry a greater
health risk than the underlying condition they were prescribed for.
The article notes that
currently, due to the expanded diagnosis parameters, three out of four
Americans technically have at least one of the commonly medicated diseases.
But millions of them are not truly sick and may never be, even without
medication. Dr. John Kitzhaber of The Foundation for Medical
Excellence in Portland, who was also Oregon's governor from 1995 to 2003
stated, "We have a system that nobody but Big Pharma is happy with."
Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a
Dartmouth medical professor and editor of Effective Clinical Practice, a
journal of the American College of Physicians, voiced his concern that more
healthy people are being classified as sick only to increase drug sales.
He commented, "You can't tell me that three-quarters of my population is
sick before I start. That just doesn't pass the laugh test." Welch
continued, "Our business is in a hard place right now. A lot of docs know
it's not right."
Top
|
Deadly Immunity
The title above comes from
one of the most stirring articles on health care. Author Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. presented this article in the June 2005 issue of Rolling Stone
magazine. The article starts off by reporting on a secret meeting that
was held at a retreat in Georgia in June of 2000 in which fifty-two
attendees representing high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and
Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health
Organization in Geneva and representatives of every major vaccine
manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur
were strickly embargoed against sharing any information outside the meeting.
Participants attending this
secret meeting, convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
were repeatedly reminded that there would be no making photocopies of
documents, and no taking papers with them when they left. The meeting was
called to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions
about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to
infants and young children.
Tom Verstraeten, a CDC
epidemiologist had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the
medical records of 100,000 children. He found that a mercury-based
preservative in the vaccines (thimerosal) appeared to be responsible for a
dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among
children. He commented, "I was actually stunned by what I saw."
What Verstaeten told the group was that since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA
had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative
be given to extremely young infants the estimated number of cases of autism
had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166
children.
The article notes that the
attendees were shocked. One doctor, Dr. Richard Johnston, an immunologist
and pediatrician from the University of Colorado whose grandson had been
born early on the morning of the meeting's first day commented, "Forgive
this personal comment -- I do not want my grandson to get a
thimerosal-containing vaccine until we know better what is going on."
However, as the Robert F.
Kennedy article further reported, instead of taking immediate steps to alert
the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, the attendees of this
secret meeting spent most of the next two days discussing how to cover up
the startling data. Kennedy noted that under the Freedom of
Information Act, transcripts showed that many at the meeting were concerned
about how the damaging revelations about thimerosal would affect the vaccine
industry's bottom line.
Dr. Robert Brent, a
pediatrician at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Delaware
stated, "This will be a resource to our very busy plaintiff attorneys in
this country." He continued, "given the sensitivity of the information, we
have been able to keep it out of the hands of, let's say, less responsible
hands." Dr. John Clements, vaccines adviser at the World Health
Organization, took a stronger approach and stated that the study, "should
not have been done at all" and warned that the results "will be taken by
others and will be used in ways beyond the control of this group. The
research results have to be handled."
Mark Blaxill, vice president
of Safe Minds, a nonprofit organization concerned about the role of mercury
in medicines was quoted in the article by saying, "The CDC is guilty of
incompetence and gross negligence. The damage caused by vaccine exposure is
massive. It's bigger than asbestos, bigger than tobacco, bigger than
anything you've ever seen."
In summing up his article
Kennedy stated his passion for doing this investigation, "I devoted time to
study this issue because I believe that this is a moral crisis that must be
addressed. If, as the evidence suggests, our public-health authorities
knowingly allowed the pharmaceutical industry to poison an entire generation
of American children, their actions arguably constitute one of the biggest
scandals in the annals of American medicine."
Top
|
Chiropractor Helps Professional Football Team
A feature story appearing in
the June 30, 2005 edition of the Catonsville Times in Maryland
celebrated the 10 year anniversary that a chiropractor had been helping the
Baltimore Ravens Professional Football team. Ten years ago the
Ravens came to town. At that time Dr. Doug Miller (right) started his
relationship with the team that has lasted since then.
Dr. Miller became the team's
chiropractor by contacting the Ravens shortly after their move from
Cleveland and telling officials about the services he provided to other
sports teams in the area. He was on the playing field when the
Baltimore Ravens won the 2000 Superbowl. He can also be found in the
locker room and on the field on most Sundays during football season.
Raven's trainer Bill
Tessendorf, refers most of the players that Dr. Miller sees for chiropractic
care. Tessendorf, who has 32 years of experience as an NFL trainer
explained, "A player favoring a knee or an ankle can cause alignment
problems elsewhere. A chiropractor can help with a lot of those issues."
Dr. Miller explained that
chiropractic care still remains misunderstood. Most of his services
are not necessarily related to the treatment of injuries. He explains,
"It's not just about relieving pain from backaches and injuries," he said.
"It's about achieving optimum health. We can do a lot to help with the
conditioning of muscles and joints."
The article notes that
presently almost every NFL team has a chiropractor on staff.
Top
|
Alternative Medicine Becoming Mainstream
The above was the headline of
a July 1, 2005 story appearing in the Daily News Central from Las Vegas
Nevada. A similar report also appeared on the June 30, 2005 WebMD website.
The stories reported that a Consumer Reports survey of more
than 34,000 of their readers were asked to rank the treatments that
worked best for them.
According to those who
responded to the survey, hands-on treatments, such as chiropractic, worked
better than conventional treatments for such conditions as back pain and
arthritis. Chiropractic was ranked ahead of all conventional
treatments, including prescription drugs, by readers with back pain.
Respondents also noted that chiropractic provided relief for neck pain as
well.
In addition to chiropractic,
people who responded to the survey also used such non-medical services as
acupuncture, deep tissue message, and herbal remedies, but reported that
these were less effective than chiropractic.
Many chiropractors however,
resist being labeled as alternative, maintaining that chiropractic has
become a mainstream service. According to the Center for Studies in
Health Policy, "The Doctor of Chiropractic can provide all three levels of
primary care interventions and therefore is a primary care provider, as are
MDs and DOs. The Doctor of Chiropractic is a gatekeeper to the health care
system and an independent practitioner who provides primary care services.
The DC's office is a direct access portal of entry to the full scope of
service."
Top
|
Preliminary Study Shows Chiropractic Helps MS Patients with Pain
A preliminary study published
in the June 2005 edition of the British scientific journal Clinical
Chiropractic, showed that chiropractic helped patients with Multiple
Sclerosis who were suffering from pain associated with their MS. The study
was performed at the extended care facility, Monroe Community Hospital in
Rochester, New York. The study noted that many patients with MS suffer
from reoccurring pain that can have a debilitating effect on patients
ability to function.
In this preliminary study 19
patients who were residents of Monroe Community Hospital and who suffered
from relapsing MS received chiropractic care over a 12 month period. The
average age of these patients was 52.7 and 84% were female.
The results showed that all
19 showed a general trend toward improvement. Also important is that
only three showed any transient side effects and that those effects lasted
less than 48 hours. In all no serious side effects were noted in
this study.
The researchers noted that MS
patients have a high likelihood of developing chronic pain syndromes. This
pain can lead to a higher degree of disability than the MS alone. They
stated, "Given the high rate of complications with NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal
Anti Inflammatory Drugs), and narcotics it is imperative that different
treatment options for this chronic pain be evaluated. The researchers
continued, "The treatment for pain has traditionally been pharmacological:
however, greater numbers of MS patients suffering from chronic pain are
turning to non-pharmacologic treatment options, including chiropractic care.
Top
|