New study pits Neurologists vs. Chiropractors

BostonGlobe ^ | 5/27/2003 | Stephen Smith

[CARDINALRULES]

glich=glitch

Damn, thought I fixed all the typing mistakes...lol

[Ditter]

Just what I am thinking. LOL

[friendly]

Give a vulnerable person a kind word, the human touch, and a bit of flim-flam, and you would be amazed at the medical results. A placebo effect does not make a science.

Chiropractic remains an essentially criminal enterprise.

[Ditter]

I agree, chiros & DO's, who pass themselves off as medical doctors are criminals. A number of years ago my father spent a few weeks in a "hospital" with back pain. When I was able to go & check on him, I found him in a "chiropractors/DO's PRIVATE hospital". He was recieving daily whirlpool baths & hot packs to treat 3 badly ruptured discs.

Aside from being 'extremly clean' the treatment had done NOTHING for him except extract money from his medicare account. I called an ambulance & had him transfered to a REAL hospital where he had surgery immediately & recovered quickly.

The same DO mistreated my mothers extreme highblood pressure & she had a severe stroke & lived for 5 more years as a complete invalid. BTW my father ruptured the discs while caring for my invalid mother.

This one incompetent man had their complete trust because he called himself Doctor. He completely destroyed the lives of 2 relatively healthy seniors who might have had many more good years if they had had REAL medical care. I see cases like this as being the reason MD's are against chiros & DO.

[TomB]

Definitions of subluxation are as varied as chiropractors, which is part of the problem. Our schools can't even agree on what we should be taught, there are more "Chiropractic Organizations" than you can count on one hand, controversy everywhere.

Thank you for being honest. From your definition you seem to be saying your scope of practice is limited to treating pain, specifically back, head, and neck pain? Can I assume that you do not agree with Chiropractors treating things such as sinusitis and gastritis?

I have some specific questions concerning your definition, but I'll perhaps save them for later.

[chiromommy]

While it is true that Chiropractic is a highly effective treatment for headaches, back pain, etc., pain is not the only manifestation of subluxation. Since pain is only 10% of the afferent input to the CNS, it is the last symptom to arrive and the first to be gated out.

The neurology mentioned in my post, (...When these joints do not move properly (due to minor malposition), the normal proprioceptive input to the brain is reduced. This decrease in proprioception can result in a variety of cord-level and eventually cortical manifestations. ) indicates the ability of subluxation to affect the normal function of any part of the body subject to CNS control. The central integrative state of the patient most certainly affects their entire body function. Spinal wind-up, increased sympathetic activity, will affect vasomotor tone, GI secretion, etc. Proper physiological function of end organs depends on the brain's ability to correctly stimulate and monitor that organ. This is where chiropractic affects viscera. Chiropractic philosophy is to locate and correct subluxation. IF the visceral dysfunction is related to the state of the CNS (afferentation, autonomic disturbances, segmental changes, etc.), and not some external force such as cigarette smoke or chemical exposure, it can be positively affected by removal of subluxation. (For example, adjustment of a spinal segment fires off muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs, which synapse in the dorsal column, which: 1. monosynaptically inhibits the intermediolateral tract, inhibiting sympathetic activity, and 2. increases afferent input to the brainstem, cerebellum and cortex, thereby restoring proper autonomic balance and CNS function.) That said, adjusting a patient to "fix" visceral complaints, or even pain, is outside the basic chiropractic philosophy of subluxation correction. I can draw you the pathways that explain why chiropractic adjustments help with ear infections, vertigo, asthma, etc.. It goes back to the CNS controlling the function of every cell and tissue of the body and the widely-proven neurology is there to explain it.

I am one of the few chiros who combines the "straight" philosophy of finding and correcting vertebral subluxation with an understanding of the neurological reasons "why" chiropractic works to let the body heal itself.

Clear as mud?

Synopsis: I am NOT a pain doctor, it's all about function.

[Woahhs]

I don't know Doc.

As badly as you've been cleaning his clock, I think he was giving you one last chance to bow the knee to his august association and it's dignity...and you blew it.

Medicine may have come a long way, but it's practitioners sure haven't.

[ibheath]

(I'm sure you have a name for people who just nose around but never join -- I've been one of them for about a year, but couldn't contain myself when this thread popped up.)

They are called "Lurkers", and you are not alone in that. I too am a "recovering lurker". I finally couldn't take not responding to some of the posts, so I took the plunge and became a "Newbie". The newbie will eventually wear off.

As to Chiro, I have been going for years.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Haven't spent too much time online in recent days, so I'm just reading your post now.

Seems that some FRiendly FReepers have answered your questions.

But here's another one for you...what do you think of those inverted table things for backpain that they are always selling on the HSN?

[Devra]

I work for a hospital and have worked in the OR as an X-ray tech (now work as a medical specialist in angiography). While I worked in several different OR's, I discovered that most of the surgeon's will be friendly and speak to me but I can recall several times OUTSIDE the Operating Room, for example in the cafeteria, wherein after I said "Hello, Dr. xxxx" I was given the cold treatment "do I know you?" look. We can tell! I certainly do not deny that a patient can't own an unappreciative attitude cause I have dealed with it myself but somewhere along the line I think some doctors forget that not all patients are the same and not all those medical professionals who didn't go to school for a million years deserve to be treated as not a part of Heaven.