BLOG – Page 203 – Chiropractic Resource Organization

Should last remaining known smallpox virus die?

By John Wiens DC|March 8, 2011|Virus|

More than three decades after smallpox was eradicated, an international struggle has reemerged with new intensity about whether to destroy the only known specimens of the virus that causes one of the worst scourges to plague humanity.

Some public health authorities, infectious disease specialists and national security experts maintain that the time has come to finally autoclave hundreds of vials of the pathogen held in two high-security government labs in the United States and Russia.

“We feel the world would be safer without having these stocks in existence. Why risk it escaping and resurging again?” said Lin Li Ching, a researcher at the Third World Network, an international research and advocacy group based in Malaysia.

But the U.S. and Russian governments, which have repeatedly delayed incinerating the samples, are fighting for another stay of execution. Scientists need the living virus, they say, to make a better vaccine and finish developing the first treatments just in case the deadly microbe is somehow unleashed again – by accident, by a bioterrorist or by re-creating it from the computerized records of its DNA sequences.

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Chiropractic Goes To The Hospital

By Frank M. Painter|March 6, 2011|Evidence-based Medicine, Guidelines, Low Back Pain|

Chiropractic Goes To The Hospital

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2011 (Feb); 34 (2): 98–106

Paskowski I, Schneider M, Stevans J, Ventura JM, Justice BD.

Medical Back Pain Program,
Jordan Hospital,
Plymouth, Mass

This hospital-based study is interesting for several reasons:

First, they utilized an evidence-based program for treating low back pain (LBP)
Based on that evidence, they assigned 83% of those who sought care to chiropractic management.
Results for the patients treated by doctors of chiropractic were mean of 5.2 visits, mean cost per case of $302, and
95% of those patients rated their care as “excellent.”

OBJECTIVE: A health care facility (Jordan Hospital) implemented a multidimensional spine care pathway (SCP) using the National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Back Pain Recognition Program (BPRP) as its foundation. The purpose of this report is to describe the implementation and results of a multidisciplinary, evidence-based, standardized process to improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs associated with treatment and diagnostic testing.

METHODS: A standardized SCP was developed to improve the quality of back pain care. The NCQA BPRP provided the framework for the SCP to determine the standard of quality care delivered. Patients were triaged, and suitable patients were categorized into 1 of 5 classifications based upon history and examination, directional exercise flexion or “extension biases,” spinal manipulation, traction, or spinal stabilization exercises.

RESULTS: The findings for 518 consecutive patients were included. One hundred sixteen patients (10%) were seen once and triaged to specialty care; 7% of patients received magnetic resonance imagings. Four hundred thirty-two patients (83%) were classified and treated by doctors of chiropractic and/or physical therapists. Results for the patients treated by doctors of chiropractic were mean of 5.2 visits, mean cost per case of $302, mean intake pain rating score of 6.2 of 10, and mean discharge score of 1.9 of 10; 95% of patients rated their care as “excellent.” (more…)

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Research Tithing

By Frank M. Painter|February 27, 2011|Announcement, Research|

Research Tithing

The Chiro.Org Blog

The Board of Chiro.Org held their annual Board meeting on 2-22-2011 and unanimously approved another $2500 donation to Chiropractic Research. This will be the tenth year in a row that the website has made a research tithe, and to date that contribution totals $21,000.

In the Age of Accountability, insurers may only pay for care that is supported by research. Our intention is to do our part, and to encourage our readers (chiropractors all) to do their part, by putting their money where it will do the most good… into high quality research, which accurately describes the miracles that we see daily in our practices.

This year’s gifts includes a $1250. contribution to the Integrated Chiropractic Outcomes Network, a new Practice-based research project created by Cheryl Hawk, DC, PhD, the Director of Clinical Research at Logan College of Chiropractic.

This year also marks our 8th year in a row supporting the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association’s research projects, always aimed at demonstrating the benefits of chiropractic care for children.

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A New Idea

By Frank M. Painter|February 26, 2011|Philosophy|

A New Idea

The Chiro.Org Blog

A new idea

is first condemned

as ridiculous

and then is dismissed as trivial,

until finally (more…)

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The Mythology Of Evidence-Based Medicine

By Frank M. Painter|February 25, 2011|Evidence-based Medicine, News|

The Mythology Of Evidence-Based Medicine

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: The Huffington Post ~ 2-25-2011

Dr. Larry Dossey, Deepak Chopra and Dr. Rustum Roy

The current healthcare debate has brought up basic questions about how medicine should work. On one hand we have the medical establishment with its enormous cadre of M.D.s, medical schools, big pharma, and incredibly expensive hospital care. On the other we have the semi-condoned field of alternative medicine that attracts millions of patients a year and embraces literally thousands of treatment modalities not taught in medical school.

One side, mainstream medicine, promotes the notion that it alone should be considered “real” medicine, but more and more this claim is being exposed as an officially sanctioned myth. When scientific minds turn to tackling the complex business of healing the sick, they simultaneously warn us that it’s dangerous and foolish to look at integrative medicine, complementary and alternative medicine, or God forbid, indigenous medicine for answers. Because these other modalities are enormously popular, mainstream medicine has made a few grudging concessions to the placebo effect, natural herbal remedies, and acupuncture over the years. But M.D.s are still taught that other approaches are risky and inferior to their own training; they insist, year after year, that all we need are science-based procedures and the huge spectrum of drugs upon which modern medicine depends.

If a pill or surgery won’t do the trick, most patients are sent home to await their fate. There is an implied faith here that if a new drug manufacturer has paid for the research for FDA approval, then it is scientifically proven to be effective. As it turns out, this belief is by no means fully justified.

The British Medical Journal recently undertook an general analysis of common medical treatments to determine which are supported by sufficient reliable evidence. They evaluated around 2,500 treatments, and the results were as follows:

* 13 percent were found to be beneficial (more…)

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Chiropractic Treatment of Workers’ Compensation Claimants in the State of Texas

By Frank M. Painter|February 24, 2011|Cost-Effectiveness, Low Back Pain, Research|

Chiropractic Treatment of Workers’ Compensation Claimants in the State of Texas

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: MGT of America, Austin, Texas ~ February 2003

In 2002, the Texas Chiropractic Association (TCA) commissioned an independent study to determine the use and effectiveness of chiropractic with regard to workers’ compensation, the results of which were published in February 2003. According to the report, chiropractic care was associated with significantly lower costs and more rapid recovery in treating workers with low-back injuries.

They found:

Lower back and neck injuries accounted for 38 percent of all claims costs.

Chiropractors treated about 30 percent of workers with lower back injuries, but were responsible for only 17.5 percent of the medical costs and 9.1 percent of the total costs.

These findings were even more intertesting:

The average claim for a worker with a low-back injury was $15,884. However, if a worker received at least 75 percent of his or her care from a chiropractor, the total cost per claimant decreased by nearly one-fourth to $12,202.

If the chiropractor provided at least 90 percent of the care, the average cost declined by more than 50 percent, to $7,632.

Doctors of chiropractic have been licensed to practice in Texas since 1949 and have been a fundamental part of the state’s workers’ compensation system since 1953. Each year, Texas DCs treat tens of thousands of injured workers, but until recently, little data were available comparing the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of chiropractic versus other forms of care available through the workers’ compensation program.

(more…)

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