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John Wiens DC

About John Wiens DC

Dr Wiens created the very first chiropractic information page on the web in Nov 1994. In 1995 he joined chiro.org as chief designer. He lives in Canada.

Elon Musk’s chiropractic connection

By |May 16, 2017|History, Uncategorized|

Source Regina Leader-Post

Dr. Scott Haldeman is a board certified Neurologist in active clinical practice in Santa Ana, California. He currently is a distinguished Professor at the University of California, the Chairman of the Research Council for the World Federation of Chiropractic and the Founder/President of World Spine Care.

 

Accomplished in his own right, he also happens to be the uncle of one of the worlds great innovators, Elon Musk. Read how the young Musk spent time on the Haldeman family farm in Saskatchewan. Both Scott’s father and his grandmother (Musk’s great-grandmother) were chiropractors. In fact, Almeda Haldeman became Canada’s first known chiropractor in the early 1900’s.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Information on the Haldeman’s and other chiropractic pioneers can be found in Dr J.C. Keating’s notes in our Chiropractic History section.

Australian Study Indicates Common Painkillers Ineffective for Back Pain

By |February 7, 2017|NSAIDs|

Commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat back pain provide little benefit and may make things worse according to new research from The George Institute for Global Health.

The findings of the systematic review, published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, reveal only one in six patients treated with the pills, also known as NSAIDs, achieve any significant reduction in pain.

The study is the latest work from The George Institute questioning the effectiveness of existing medicines for treating back pain. Earlier research has already demonstrated paracetamol does not speed recovery or reduce pain for acute low back pain, and opioids provide minimal benefit over placebo.

Lead author Associate Professor Manuela Ferreira says the study highlights an urgent need to develop new therapies to treat back pain which affects 80 per cent of Australians during their lifetime.

A/Prof Ferreira, Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute and at the Institute of Bone and Joint Research, said: “Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is commonly managed by prescribing medicines such as anti-inflammatories. But our results show anti-inflammatory drugs actually only provide very limited short term pain relief. They do reduce the level of pain, but only very slightly, and arguably not of any clinical significance.”

A/Prof Ferreira added: “When you factor in the side effects which are very common, it becomes clear that these drugs are not the answer to providing pain relief to the many millions of Australians who suffer from this debilitating condition every year.”

The team at The George Institute, which examined 35 trials involving more than 6000 people, also found patients taking anti-inflammatories were 2.5 times more likely to suffer from gastro-intestinal problems such as stomach ulcers and bleeding.

Research Fellow Gustavo Machado, of The George Institute and the School of Medicine at the University of Sydney, said: “Millions of Australians are taking drugs that not only don’t work very well, they’re causing harm. We need treatments that will actually provide substantial relief of these people’s symptoms.

“Better still we need a stronger focus on preventing back pain in the first place. We know that education and exercise programs can substantially reduce the risk of developing low back pain.”

Most clinical guidelines currently recommend NSAIDs as the second line analgesics after paracetamol, with opioids coming at third choice.

 

A Giant in Chiropractic Radiology: Remembering Dr. Lindsay Rowe (1956-2016)

By |March 23, 2016|News|

Source Dynamic Chiropractic

By Deborah Pate, DC, DACBR

Lindsay Rowe, DC, MD, DACBR, was a giant in the field of chiropractic radiology who enjoyed careers as a chiropractor, medical doctor, radiologist and educator.

A distinguished international lecturer and author, he wrote more than 50 scientific papers and numerous book chapters; and together with Dr. Terry Yochum, co-authored the internationally respected text Essentials of Skeletal Radiology, now in its third edition. It is the standard text in most chiropractic colleges and has been enthusiastically reviewed in scientific journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine and Radiology.

Dr. Rowe earned his chiropractic degree (MAppSc – Chiropractic) with honors from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. He subsequently practiced chiropractic and later earned board certification in chiropractic radiology at a time when few chiropractors entered into the specialty. He chaired the Department of Radiology at Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto, Ontario. Later, he held the same position at Northwestern College of Chiropractic in Minneapolis, Minn.

Dr. Rowe received a medical degree from the University of Newcastle, Australia, followed by residencies in emergency medicine and diagnostic and interventional radiology at the same institution. He was associate professor at the University of Newcastle, an adjunct professor at Northwestern Health Sciences University and Murdoch University, staff radiologist at the Center for Diagnostic Imaging (a national medical imaging network) and John Hunter Hospital in Melbourne. He was also a prolific presenter at professional meetings in Australia and many countries around the world.

Dr. Rowe’s accomplishments in skeletal radiology have contributed much to the advancement of chiropractic’s acceptance in the medical community, especially chiropractic radiology. He was a leader and a trailblazer, bridging the gap between allopathic and chiropractic; creating respect for our profession within the modern health care community.

Flu Vaccine for All: A Critical Look at the Evidence

By |December 30, 2015|Vaccination|

Flu Vaccine for All: A Critical Look at the Evidence

The Chiro.Org Blog


SOURCE:   Medscape
NOTE: you need to create a free account to view this source


Question

Does the evidence support the call for universal influenza vaccination?

Response from Eric A. Biondi, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatric Hospitalist, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York
Response from C. Andrew Aligne, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Director of The Hoekelman Center, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, Rochester, New York

Influenza vaccination is a yearly ritual. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend annual influenza vaccination for all healthy persons 6 months of age or older who are without contraindications.

In an interview published in The Atlantic, Tom Jefferson, head of the Vaccine Field Group at the Cochrane Database Collaboration (the world’s leading producer of evidence-based medical reviews), voiced serious reservations about the data supporting influenza vaccine recommendations, stating that “The vast majority of the studies [are] deeply flawed. Rubbish is not a scientific term, but I think it’s the term that applies.”

A critical look at the evidence raises further questions about the flu shot recommendations. A 2012 Cochrane review examining the efficacy of pediatric influenza vaccination noted that:

…industry-funded studies were published in more prestigious journals and cited more than other studies, independent of methodological quality and size. Studies funded from public sources were significantly less likely to report conclusions favorable to [influenza] vaccines… reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin but there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies.

And a 2014 Cochrane review examining use of flu vaccine in healthy adults, including pregnant women, concluded that:

[Influenza] vaccination shows no appreciable effect on working days lost or hospitalization.

Read about the virology of influenza and it’s relationship with vitamin D.
(more…)

Concussion study: UBC’s Thunderbirds use their heads to advance science

By |November 27, 2015|Concussion|

Source CBC News

Canadian Chiropractic Research Foundation funds concussion study at the University of British Columbia.

UBC football players are helping advance the science around concussions — using their own heads.

When the Thunderbirds take to the field for the national semi-finals today a number of them will be wearing head sensors that take measurements to help researchers unravel the impact of concussions on athletes.

“What we’re trying to do is get a little more info on what’s occurring in head trauma and football,” said Harrison Brown, a PhD candidate at UBC in Kinesiology.

The study is also uncovering patterns or trends, such as,  “the differences between positions, practices and games, for example,” Brown said.

More than a dozen players, including the starting quarterback and starting running back, volunteered for the study, funded by the Canadian Chiropractic Research Foundation.

Brown said sensors called “xPatches” — an impact sensing patch — are put behind the players’ ears and worn during practices and games.

Researchers study the number, and the intensity, of hits players take, as well as the effects.

So, while the UBC Thunderbirds take on St. Francis Xavier’s X-men in the hopes of advancing to the Vanier Cup, they will advance science no matter what the final score of the game.

The results of the 2-year study are expected next spring.