Posted on 11/09/2007 12:21:14 PM PST by Red Badger
Going to a chiropractor to treat back pain could be a waste of time, according to a new study which found that having your spine manipulated does nothing to speed up recovery. Current treatment guidelines for acute back pain recommend that, in the first instance, GPs advise patients to remain active and avoid bed rest and take paracetamol for the pain. If that does not work, patients are referred for spinal manipulative therapy and given non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs such as ibuprofen and diclofenac to treat the pain. Mark Hancock, of the back pain research group at the University of Sydney, studied 240 patients with short-term lower back pain who had already been given both advice and paracetamol. The patients were randomly allocated to four groups and given different treatments: NSAIDs with placebo manipulative therapy; manipulative therapy with placebo drugs; drugs with therapy; or double placebo. "Neither diclofenac nor spinal manipulative therapy gave clinically useful effects on the primary outcome of time to recovery," the researchers wrote in the Lancet today. "If patients have high rates of recovery with baseline care, and no clinically worthwhile benefit from the addition of diclofenac or spinal manipulative therapy, then GPs can manage patients confidently without exposing them to increased risks and costs associated with NSAIDs or spinal manipulative therapy." In an accompanying article in the Lancet, Bart Koes of Erasmus University medical centre in Rotterdam wrote: "The limited or absent beneficial effect of diclofenac for acute lower back pain after adequate first-line treatment may have wide implications. NSAIDs are widely prescribed for a range of acute musculoskeletal disorders. The important message is that the management of acute low back pain in primary care (advice and prescription of paracetamol) is sufficient for most patients."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
The really strange thing is that all the things Pepcid AC and Zantac are sold to fix were previously considered to by pre-ulcer symptoms. Now that we know that stomach ulcers are caused by h.pylori infection, the drug companies are trying to separate the early symptoms of ulcers from ulcers themselves.
I am amazed that they doctors don't just prescribe a course of the same drugs they use for ulcers when a patient has these pre-ulcer conditions. However, nobody is likely to ever test that this will work, as it would cost the drug companies a huge amount.
Follow the money.... Problem with prescribing the typical regime of antibiotics for pre-ulcer symptoms is that it sets you up for resistance to those drugs later on. h.pylori can be aquired many times, through various methods and there's no lifetime immunity to it (like a virus) once you get rid of it.
I recently read a very interesting article that recommends 7 different herbs/foods which combat the bacteria naturally and would be inclined to try that route first. My philosophy is, "start low and work your way up to the big stuff... because the odds are... you can't go backwards."
Long term use of bacteriostatic antibiotics like minocycline for acne, have not shown increased resistance. It's the antibiotics like penicillin and the beta-lactams that generate resistant bacteria. It has been shown that the beta-lactams, by attacking the bacterias cell wall, can prompt some bacteria (80 at current count) to go into a cell wall deficient form. In this form, the bacteria invade human cells; and it's these invaded human cells that are being attacked by the immune system in an auto-immune disorder. Using tetracyclines, and other bacteriostatic classes of antibiotics can aid the immune system in cleaning out this type of infection.
As far as reinfection goes, the MP should reduce that. We know where the bugs are hiding between the acute attacks of ulcers, inside various human cells and most importantly inside the phagocytes of the immune system. The MP helps the immune system clean itself out and the rest of the body. Then, a healthy immune system leaves you much more resistant to reinfection.
As far as natural goes, antibiotics like minocycline are derived from a natural bacteria killer, it's issued by staph bugs to kill strep bugs, or some such thing.
And, I'd rather use what works, and can be explained as to how it works (at the molecular level). Most of the explanation of natural products activities are a bit vague. They don't distinquish between fixing a problem (you get to stop taking the product) and simply making you feel better while you take it.
It's a free country, so try what you want. But keep an eye on www.bacteriality.com as it reports different folks progress on the marshall protocol. These aren't reports of anonymous folks here, they've put their full name into the article.
So you got lucky, and everyone else should disregard the evidence and take the crap-shoot that you did?
No, thanks. Natural means cure infections faster than any man made antibiotic, and the closest thing to a side effect they produce is an occasional bad taste in your mouth, as opposed to the total havoc that the antibiotics wreak on your digestion, and your immune system.
I think that's a bit of an undeservedly snarky reply. If I 'got lucky', then so did the other folks who tried the MP. I did try something a bit unknown, but it wasn't a total crap shoot as the science is well referenced, and it's better now than when I started. I also refer folks to places they can look at the science for themselves. The first to try something might 'be lucky', but the next to try have much more information on the odds.
I'm suggesting that they look at the science and evidence, not disregard it. The numbers on curing sarcoid are pretty good with the MP, and zero with any other method.
You may be in good health, and not need this information. Bully for you. But what have you got to offer somebody in the late stages of sarcoidosis or lupus that has a track record of successful cure?
Natural means cure infections faster than any man made antibiotic
And it's this kind of claim that really should be backed up by a link to some kind of research. Folks tried for a long time to come up with a 'natural' cure, or any cure at all, for syphilis. Penicillin worked a lot better than any previous attempt.
as opposed to the total havoc that the antibiotics wreak on your digestion, and your immune system.
The havoc on my digestive system long preceded any use of antibiotics, but it's much better now after the antibiotics. It isn't perfect, as during the cure the immunopathology effect can bring it back for short periods, until it's cleared out and the antibiotics have no more kickback.
Havoc on my immune system? Another claim that should be backed up. With an autoimmune disease, the immune system is already in high gear, but also quite ineffective. The MP medications make it effective, but in a controlled way.
Sarcoid wreaked havoc on my immune system. The MP has put it back into pretty good shape.
Let’s see... and using CFCs — which are long out of patent — destroys the ozone layer. And burning “fossil fuels” will cause the icecaps to melt and destroy the world, so we need to build more nuclear plants. And professional journalism was investigated by John Chancellor, who found that the profession did a great job, and had the courage to say so during a network news program. And Aspirin, which has been out of patent for over a century, should be replaced by modern painkillers. Etc etc.
From the Guardian: Tony Metcalfe, president of the British Chiropractic Association, said that because the study had only looked at 15 Australian physiotherapists, direct comparisons could not be made with UK practitioners of spinal manipulative therapy.
"The study did not address chiropractic-only spinal mobilisation carried out by physiotherapists. The majority of participants had low velocity mobilisation techniques and only 5% experienced high velocity techniques. Chiropractic manipulation is based predominantly on high velocity techniques, so the results are therefore not comparable with chiropractic treatment."
Chiropractors and osteopathic physicians, aka osteopaths or D.O.s, use high velocity techniques. If your joints are misaligned, you can get instant relief.
I’ve never had any complaint about their treatments.
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