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December 2012

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• Cancer Treatment Centers of America Include Chiropractic
• Breech Pregnancy Corrected with Chiropractic
• Baby with Colic Helped with Chiropractic
• Pregnant Women with Low Back Pain Helped by Chiropractic
• Prescription Overkill
• Sensory Processing Disorder Helped with Chiropractic

"Foundation for Chiropractic Progress applauds Cancer Treatment Centers of America for their patient care model," is the headline from the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress's news release on Nov. 5, 2012, in Carmichael, Calif.  The Cancer Treatment Centers of America opened CTCA in the Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Newnan, Ga. and is now offering chiropractic services by licensed chiropractors to all patients.

The CTCA is a national network of hospitals that offers a complete and comprehensive method for treatment of complex and advanced staged cancer for its patients. The CTCA is now at Southeastern Regional Medical Center, as well as four other hospitals in Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tulsa.

The chiropractic services are part of the Patient Empowered Care model in the CTCA where each member of a team of health professionals visits each patient in the comprehensive, integrated treatment plan. James Rosenberg, D.C., national director of chiropractic care at CTCA at Midwestern Regional Medical Center, and the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, credits chiropractic care with positive patient results through increased utilization in the CTCA.

“Overall patient health improves with the noninvasive, non-drug approach of chiropractic care,” said Dr. Rosenberg. “Doctors of chiropractic are able to reduce stress to the nervous system by providing conservative care to musculoskeletal dysfunctions, which helps to improve the patient’s healing ability and functionality.”

Cancer, and the treatment for cancer like chemotherapy and radiation therapy, inflicts stress on the neuromusculoskeletal systems of cancer patients according to Dr. Rosenberg. Chiropractic care improves the quality of life for cancer patients, and provides positive patient outcomes. Demand is so high for chiropractic at CTCA that all chiropractors have a patient waiting list for their chiropractic services.

“Chiropractic care at CTCA is an important piece to the integrated healthcare approach by providing patients with an evidence-based, low risk approach to care,” said Dr. Rosenberg. “A steadfast commitment to excellence continues to fuel the demand for our services.”

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A case study of a pregnant woman, whose fetus presented breech and was successfully turned with chiropractic care, was published in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health on December 4, 2012. The title of the case study was, Resolution of breech presentation after application of Webster Technique in a 35-year-old female: A case study.

The 35-year-old pregnant woman was in the 30th week of her pregnancy. The woman’s doula (a labor coach or midwife) established that the fetus was in breech position. The woman was in good health and had been receiving chiropractic care for headaches and low back pain with good results for the previous two years. This was the woman’s second pregnancy, with her first child delivered vaginally.

Previous studies have determined that breech presentations occur in 3 to 4 percent of all pregnancies, with the often resulting decision to birth by cesarean section rather than vaginally for the safety of mother and baby. Breech presentations often turn after the 35th week of pregnancy, but 87 percent of breech pregnancies are delivered by caesarian section.

Though safety is argued as the case for a caesarian section, the rate of morbidity was 3.6 percent in a study of 2,088 women birthing with caesarian section. Fetal morbidity can also result from caesarian section with reports of fetal heart-rate abnormalities, spinal cord injuries, skull fractures, long bone fractures, genital injury, and respiratory problems.

A chiropractic examination was performed, and postural abnormalities were found, as well as a decrease of lateral flexion of 5 degrees, and lumbar range of motion significantly decreased due to the pregnancy. Motion palpation found several spinal misalignments, and EMG scans and thermography correlated the determination that spinal subluxations were present in the patient.

Chiropractic care began for the woman using Webster’s Technique—a technique that uses sacrum adjustments and trigger point release in the abdomen area to reestablish pelvic function which can allow the fetus to turn to the desired head-down birth position. After four adjustments in four weeks using Webster’s Technique, the fetus turned from the breech position to the normal birth position.

A healthy female baby was delivered vaginally by the mother at a home birth. The use of the Chiropractic Webster’s Technique resolved a breech presentation, and a possible caesarean section into a normal, natural and healthy birthing experience.

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A baby with colic who was helped by chiropractic was the focus of a study published in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal, & Family Health on Nov. 28, 2012.

Colic in babies has classic symptoms of crying for more than 3 hours a day, usually at the same time each day, and for at least 3 days a week. Infants may have a hard abdomen, burp and pass gas a lot, spit up frequently after eating, and cry while pulling their legs up and making tight fists. The crying sounds as if the baby is in pain.

Colic is distressing not only to the baby, but also to the mother and father who witness the suffering of their baby, and are frustrated by their inability to help the baby.

In this case an 8-week-old baby girl was brought into a chiropractic clinic with the classic signs of colic. The mother said that the baby cried constantly for up to 5 hours, and that the baby’s face showed pain when making a bowel movement. The baby also had diarrhea, and would scream and cry during these episodes.

A chiropractic examination of the baby was performed using static, motion, and muscle palpation. Subluxations were found in the atlas and T11, as well as observations of subluxation in other areas of the infant’s spine.

Specific chiropractic adjustments were begun with “…light impulse finger adjustments.” The adjustments were made to C1 (atlas) and T11. The care plan included two visits weekly for four weeks.

Immediate improvement was observed after the initial adjustment, and the colic symptoms disappeared after eight adjustments over four weeks.  The parents of the baby reported,  “after her first visit, she slept the entire night. She did not have the crying spells and we reduced the medication to once per day." After two weeks of chiropractic care the parents further noted, “she (the baby) no longer takes her medication daily. She is now a happy baby. She eats, sleeps and has regular bowel movements with no pain. For the first time since she was born, she slept through the night.” .

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A qualitative study of pregnant women with low back pain, and their chiropractors was published on Oct. 9, 2012 in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies with the title of "The treatment experience of patients with lowback pain during pregnancy and their chiropractors: A qualitative study".

The pregnant women, all in their second or third trimester and suffering with low back pain, were interviewed by the study’s authors to investigate their feelings about the experience of chiropractic care during their pregnancy. Anonymity and confidentiality of the study’s respondents were protected by assigning a number to each respondent.

Low back pain is a common symptom during pregnancy. Between 50 to 80 percent of pregnant women report low back pain during pregnancy because of hormonal, postural, and structural adjustments to the body. Chiropractic care for low back pain during pregnancy is safe and effective according to previously published studies and reviews.

Positive results with no adverse effects were experienced by all the pregnant women in the study. A reduction in low back pain, increase in range of motion, and better function were some of the reported experiences.

“It really allowed me to function. I could barely walk before or stand, the pain was intense, but after I went to the chiropractor I found I could function day to day, I could walk from the bus stop to work, I could do these things, so that was pretty significant. It’s just helping me function. It’s just teaching me how to pick up my daughter so I don’t hurt myself. To still function, to still play with my daughter and be able to go to the grocery store and do all these things without really hurting myself. As well as it allows me to sleep at night,” said patient number 05.

In addition to the reduction or elimination of lower back pain, some of the pregnant women reported that chiropractic care increased their overall quality of life, and increased mobility.

“I can walk longer periods of time. So that’s excellent. I can go standing for four to five hours. Because prior to that I’d be standing 40 minutes to do the dishes and I’d be in agony. Even the basic things, like picking things up off the floor, you’d get stuck in that position, I haven’t experienced that yet [in this pregnancy]. Or just sitting for long periods of time, because I do work an office job from home, so I do sit long periods of time. I know for most people [they] have to get up and stretch for a couple minutes, even in doing that I’ve been doing okay,” said patient number 01.

Some respondents had sought chiropractic care for previous pregnancies due to low back pain, and continued with chiropractic care for later pregnancies because of positive results.

Pregnant patient number 11 said, “It worked so well the first time, I’d even come away from the appointment feeling better. It was almost an immediate fix. So because of my positive experience the first time, there was no question that I was going to use chiropractic care for the second pregnancy.”

The study results conclude that chiropractic care for pregnant women suffering from low back pain is effective for pain relief, increased range of motion, increased mobility, and overall better quality of life. “I think after the treatment, it was decreased pain and increased sense of mobility, increased range of motion and decreased sense of frustration and grumpiness,” said patient number 06.

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The Los Angeles Times published a story titled “Legal drugs, deadly outcomes” on Nov. 11, 2012 about deaths from prescription drugs.

When people think of deaths due to drug overdose, probably heroin and cocaine as the cause comes to mind before the prescription drugs in the medicine cabinet. An investigation of coroner’s records by the L.A. Times revealed that prescription drugs prescribed by a few doctors were at the root of many drug overdoses.

The L.A. Times investigation revealed that Van H. Vu,M.D., was the doctor responsible for prescribing drugs that were used in the deaths of six people due to drug overdose in a time period of 18 months. Ten more of Vu’s patients died from overdoses in the next four years.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2.7 percent of Americans use psychotherapeutic drugs for non-medical reasons with pain relievers being the number one abused prescription drugs with 5.1 million American using the drugs non-medically.

Twelve thousand people died from prescription drug overdose in 2008, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Cocaine deaths were numbered at 4,000 people, and heroin deaths were numbered at approximately 2,000 people. Both numbers are significantly less than the total of prescription drug overdose deaths.

Prescription drugs are obtained by teenagers helping themselves to drugs prescribed for their parents. The most common of these prescribed drugs are Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Xanax. Teens take the drugs for themselves and they also sell them to students at their schools. Pharmacies are threatened with drug robberies to obtain the prescription drugs.

The L.A. Times investigation revealed that prescription drugs caused or contributed to 1,762 deaths in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, and San Diego counties between 2006 and 2011. A small number of doctors were found to be associated with the drug prescriptions. Each of the doctors had prescribed drugs to three or more of the people who died. Vu prescribed the drugs for sixteen of the people who died.

"The data you have is something that's going to shock everybody," said Dr. Jorge F. Carreon, a former member of the Medical Board of California.

Only four of the doctors associated with this investigation have been convicted of drug offenses, and a fifth has been charged with second-degree murder due to the prescription drug overdoses of three patients. All other doctors, including Vu, have not been charged.

According to the L.A. Times article, doctors write around 300 million prescriptions a year for painkillers. This amount could allow every adult in America to be medicated 24 hours a day for a month. Pain relievers cause 3 out of 4 prescription drug overdoses. Additionally, for every death, 32 people go to the emergency room for non-fatal drug overdoses.

Many doctors don’t acknowledge the ease with which patients can become addicted to prescription drugs, or the dangers involved with prescription drug use, according to Dr. Lynn Webster, the president-elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.  "It leads them down a path that can be very harmful, and that's what physicians have to watch for," said Webster.

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The case of a 3-year-old boy with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) was documented in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal, & Family Health on Nov. 8, 2012.

A 3-year-old boy was brought to a chiropractor by his mother after the boy had been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, as well as possible Einstein syndrome which indicates an extreme intelligence coupled with delayed speech.

Sensory processing disorder is a neurodevelopment disorder in which the person has problems processing sensory information. Normal touch, sound, and movement can cause extreme stress, and the 3-year-old boy’s symptoms included head banging, lack of pain response, hiding under the crib or in a corner, rubbing himself against the wall, and chewing holes in his clothes.

The child's development was mildly delayed, and the childcare provider discussed a possible diagnosis of autism with the mother when the child was 16 months old. At 24 months, the child had a MMR vaccination and had a severe reaction. He developed a fever, total body rash, swollen glands, and pock marks.

A chiropractic examination was performed and subluxations were detected by asymmetries in the head and neck regions, as well as shoulder level, foot/leg level, and other indicators of subluxation. A care plan was created and initiated with specific chiropractic adjustments for the child’s subluxations at a rate of two adjustments weekly.

The child’s improvement with touch and vibration, social skills, and gross motor skills were noted in the initial phase of care when he began to receive specific chiropractic adjustments. During this time, the child’s language skills improved immensely. “Meltdowns” were still present, as well as teeth grinding, but were reduced in frequency and intensity.

Continued chiropractic care resulted in improvements in communication with the child stating opinions for the first time, as well as showing signs of increasing imagination, affection, engagement, and attention span. The child is sleeping better, and his gross and fine motor skills have improved.

The parents see great improvement in their son as a result of chiropractic care and adjustments. The 3-year-old boy is continuing under chiropractic care with the expectation of increased improvement and a lessening of symptoms of SPD.

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