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November 2007

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Research Shows Chiropractic Helps Stage One Hypertension

A study published in the October 29, 2007 edition of the scientific periodical, the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, showed that chiropractic adjustments had a profound positive effect on stage 1 hypertension. According to the authors of the study, the purpose of the study was" This pilot study examines the relationship between nonsurgical interventions to align the Atlas vertebra and changes in blood pressure and heart rate."

The atlas vertebra is the top bone in the neck. Chiropractors have long noted the importance that particular bone plays in proper nerve function.  Accordingly, the author's hypothesis for this study was stated as: "Those with hypertension and absence of neck pain will have misalignment of their Atlas vertebra where upon correction will lead to significant lowering of their blood pressure."

The results showed a significant drop in both the systolic and diastolic (upper and lower numbers) of blood pressure. The amount of the drop was so significant that the researchers remarked, "We conclude that restoration of Atlas alignment is associated with marked reductions in blood pressure similar to the use of two-drug combination therapy. Larger studies are needed to validate these findings.".

The study compared two groups of individuals who had a history of Stage 1 hypertension with no apparent cause or disease creating this condition.  Of the participants only 42% had a family history of hypertension.  The volunteers in this study were divided into groups.  One group received specific chiropractic adjustments while the control group went through a similar procedure (called sham intervention)  without receiving a real adjustment. The researchers noted that the "sham intervention" was designed to be indistinguishable to the patient from an authentic adjustment.

Both groups were examined before and after the procedures and their blood pressures were taken. Both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings were significantly reduced for the group that received chiropractic adjustments as compared to the control group that got the sham procedure. Researchers were so impressed with the findings that in their summary and conclusions they wrote, "This pilot study shows that correction of misalignment of the Atlas vertebra lowers and sustains reductions in blood pressure for at least 8 weeks in people with Stage 1 hypertension.  Individuals with Stage 1 hypertension who have no apparent etiology and lack a family history may have cervical neck abnormalities related to the Atlas Vertebra."

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Vaccinated Children More Likely to Have Disorders Like ADHD and Autism

Over the past several years the debate has raged as to the connection between vaccinations and autism.  Many consumer groups and authorities claim that there is an indisputable connection while others claim that there is no proven link.  One argument against the medical authorities who claim there is no link, is that none of the studies have ever compared groups of children who were vaccinated to groups that have never had vaccinations. 

Recognizing this apparent deficiency in studies, a consumer group. "Generation Rescue" commissioned an independent opinion research firm, SurveyUSA of Verona NJ, to conduct a telephone survey in nine counties in California and Oregon.  The results of this survey were published in several online publications in October and November of 2007, including the Generation Rescue website and Rence.com.

In a release on September 25, 2007 Generation Rescue reported on the results of the independent survey. This survey was believed to be the first large scale study comparing groups of vaccinated children to unvaccinated children.  In this study, parents of more than 9,000 boys age 4-17, were surveyed in nine counties in Oregon and California. The results showed that vaccinated boys were two and a half times (155%) more likely to have neurological disorders compared to unvaccinated young boys. Additionally, vaccinated boys were 224% more likely to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and 61% more likely to have autism.

The phone survey conducted by the independent group, SurveyUSA was set up to be the same as the methodology the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) used to determine the prevalence for neurological disorders in their CDC national phone survey.

Co-founder of Generation Rescue, J.B. Handley, whose son was diagnosed with autism, commented, "No one has ever compared prevalence rates of these neurological disorders between vaccinated and unvaccinated children."  He continued, "The phone survey isn't perfect, but these numbers point to the need for a comprehensive national study to gather this critical information."

In Washington, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York, has been pushing for a national study of vaccinated and non vaccinated groups.  She noted, "Generation Rescue's study is impressive and forcefully raises some serious questions about the relationship between vaccines and autism. What is ultimately needed to resolve this issue one way or the other is a comprehensive national study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children," said Congresswoman Maloney. "The parents behind Generation Rescue only want information. These parents deserve more than road blocks, they deserve answers. We can and should move forward in search of those answers. That's why I've introduced a common sense bill (Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Population Act of 2006) that would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a comprehensive, comparative study on the possible link between autism and thimerosal."

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Andrew Goes to the Chiropractor - Child's Book Introduced

A new child's educational book has just been released this November 2007 by author Geri Carlson. The book entitled, "Andrew Goes to the Chiropractor" is designed as a children's story to help educate children about the benefits and procedures of going to a chiropractor.

Ms. Carlson is a chiropractic patient and advocate who had her life changed by chiropractic.  She chronicled her story in her first book, "I Stand Amazed".  In this new book she explains to children what to expect from their first visit to the chiropractor.

Geri noted her reasons for writing this children's educational book. "I love children and have spent most of my adult life serving them. I can't imagine continuing to work to promote chiropractic and not include the most precious people of all. I want children everywhere to have optimal health, and a chance at the best they can be." 

Geri also related a story mentioned in her first book that inspired the writing of this second book geared toward children.  She recalled, "In I Stand Amazed, I wrote about a young boy (around the age of 10) who went with his parents for his first adjustment. When they returned a few days later for the second adjustment, the boy refused to let the chiropractor touch him, despite the efforts from his parents to have him see the importance of it. I had a hunch I knew the reason for the boy's apprehension. I looked at him and asked, "Does the doctor adjust your neck?" He said he did. I continued, "Did you hear a sound when you received your adjustment?" The boy's eyes grew big as quarters. I knew the answer. I told him I remembered the first time I heard that sound, it really caught me off-guard. "It was weird, wasn't it?" I asked. He nodded. Then I explained how I learned to love that sound because it was the sound of God healing me. That was 3 1/2 years ago and that lovely family is still committed to their adjustments today."

Information on both of Geri Carlson's publications can be found on the website, www.istandamazed.com.

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Most Drugs Prescribed to Children Have Never Been Tested on Children

A story initially appearing in the November 11, 2007 issue of the Baltimore Sun, titled, "Untested medicine" exposed the fact that, as author Stephanie Desmon stated in her article, "Most drugs given to children have never been tested for them, forcing physicians to sometimes use a best guess in determining dosing, efficacy and even safety."

The article notes that children are not small adults and that their bodies' process medications differently than do adults. Sometimes the medication goes into action faster and sometimes slower.  The article also noted that some medications for adults are actually poisons for children. Dr. Joseph M. Wiley, chief of pediatrics at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore commented in the article how difficult it is to prescribe medication for children that has only been tested on adults, "If you extrapolate from an adult dose to a pediatric dose, you may be right ... you may be wrong."

Attempts to correct this problem have been made by laws being passed, however, the article notes that according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, that as of this year only about one-third of the drugs prescribed for children have been studied and labeled for pediatric use.

When studies were done it was found that the effects of drugs on children were much different than that on adults.  Dr. Dianne Murphy, director of the Food and Drug Administration's office of pediatric therapeutics, stated, "We found out that you can't predict how kids are going to handle things."

The article explained that once a medication has been approved for use in adults, it can then be legally prescribed to anyone at any age.  The practice of prescribing drugs to groups it was not approved for is common and is known as "off-label" prescribing.

A study that confirmed this off-label use was published in the March 7, 2007 issue of the scientific journal the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. In that study, referenced in the Baltimore Sun article they stated in their conclusions, "Most patients hospitalized at tertiary care pediatric institutions receive at least 1 medication outside the terms of the Food and Drug Administration product license. Substantial variation in the frequency of off-label use was observed across diagnostic categories and drug classes. Despite the frequent off-label use of drugs, using an administrative database, we cannot determine which of these treatments are unsafe or ineffective and which treatments result in substantial benefit to the patient."

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Medical Study Demonstrates Chiropractic Safety for Neck Adjustments

A study published in the scientific medical journal "Spine" notes the safety of chiropractic.  The article published in the October 2007 issue of the journal was titled, "Safety of Chiropractic Manipulation of the Cervical Spine: A Prospective National Survey".  The study was a prospective national survey designed to, "estimate the risk of serious and relatively minor adverse events following chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine by a sample of U.K. chiropractors."

The authors admitted that the risk of any serious side effects to chiropractic care was relatively unknown to them and the medical community.  The chiropractic profession has long noted that the malpractice rates for the chiropractic profession at large, a possible indicator for injury from care, were considerably lower than any other medical health care providers.

This study looked at the outcomes from 19,722 chiropractic patients who had received some form or another of neck adjustments that they referred to as "chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine."  The researchers reviewed a total of 50,276 neck adjustments and looked to see if there were any serious side effects from the chiropractic care. They defined serious effects to be those that resulted in the need to be referred to a hospital, or that caused a worsening of symptoms immediately after treatment and/or resulted in persistent or significant disability or incapacity. 

The results as quoted in the study were that, "There were no reports of serious adverse events."  Researchers did not find any serious adverse effects in any of the subjects they studied. They also noted that this is the first medical study of its kind by stating, “Safety of treatment interventions is best established with prospective surveys, and this study is unique in that it is the only prospective survey on such a large scale specifically estimating serious adverse events following cervical spine manipulation.”

Researchers noted the safety advantage between chiropractic care and drug care by saying, "The risk rates described in this study compare favorably to those linked to drugs routinely prescribed for musculoskeletal conditions in general practice.”  They summed up their findings when they stated, "On this basis, this survey provides evidence that cervical spine manipulation is a relatively safe procedure when administered by registered U.K. chiropractors.”

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Multiple Sclerosis Overcome With Chiropractic

A human interest story appeared in the November 1, 2007 issue of the online magazine "The Vista" that talked about the sickness and recovery from Multiple Sclerosis of James L. Klages, a cornet soloist who was the only person hired in that capacity in the 20th century by "The Presidents' Own" United States Marines.

Klages was one of the country's finest cornet soloists and played for several US presidents.  In 1989 he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and was told his career was over.  Not only was he unable to play the cornet, but as time progressed he was unable to even hold the instrument. 

Clint Rohr, a friend of Klages and night manager at the University of Central Oklahoma's world famous "Jazz Lab" had taken lessons from Klages and commented, "He went from being able to play all these cornet solos to not being able to hold the cornet. I remember one day he dropped his cornet because he couldn't feel his hands."

As his condition got worse Klages was not only unable to play music, but was unable to do even the simple things of a daily routine.  He recalled, "I couldn't play the piano for 14 years. I couldn't button my clothes, I couldn't tie my shoes, now I can."

During his sickness Klages tried many different medications, none of which helped, and many made his life worse.  He recalled, "When I was on steroids I became a foul mouth, violent individual, essentially being drunk from the drug. And I was tired all the time. And then they added a drug to keep me from being tired."

According to the article, Klages finally tried Chiropractic one day after falling down while mowing his lawn.  One of his students was a chiropractor and offered to help.  Klages noted why he finally decided to see a chiropractor, "I went to see him just to get him off my back." 

The article reported that, "The treatment was an instant success."  They noted that Klages was relieved of pain immediately, has since weaned himself completely off medication.  He continues to receive weekly chiropractic care and now states that he is completely healed and has not taken any form of MS medication for at least five years. He stated, "Several people in town have followed the same treatment I have, and they've had the same results."  He now has a desire to tell others about his success and concluded his interview in the article by saying, "As a Christian I read about Jesus healing the lepers…of all ten, only one came back and thanked him.  How can I not help other people with MS?"

As a result of Klages miraculous turn around, Sam Karp, a film maker has made a documentary on Klages story that is set to be released shortly.  The film titled "Healed" covers the story of James Klages and includes interviews with such notables as Wynston Marsalis.  A preview of the upcoming film can be seen at http://www.samkarp.net/healed.html.

 

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