News – Page 22 – Chiropractic Resource Organization

Brigadier Gen. Becky Halstead Touts Benefits of Chiropractic at 2009 Chiropractic Symposium

By Frank M. Painter|November 24, 2009|News, Patient Satisfaction|

Brigadier Gen. Becky Halstead Touts Benefits of Chiropractic at 2009 Chiropractic Symposium

“Chiropractic care provided me with a better quality of life,” stated Brigadier General Becky Halstead (Ret.) at the opening session of the 2009 Chiropractic Symposium and Expo (CSE), which took place Oct. 30 – Nov. 1 in St. Louis, Mo.

CSE 2009, a new educational event offered by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and its specialty councils featured a variety of lectures and symposia on popular chiropractic specialties such as sports injuries and physical fitness, chiropractic pediatrics, occupational health, diagnosis and internal disorders, and chiropractic forensics. (more…)

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New Federal Law Bans Genetic Discrimination

By Frank M. Painter|November 23, 2009|News|

Thanks to Daniel Redwood, DC and the The Daily HIT Blog

As reported in the LA Times:

The most sweeping federal anti-discrimination law in nearly 20 years takes effect today, prohibiting employers from hiring, firing or determining promotions based on genetic makeup.

Additionally, health insurers will not be allowed to consider a person’s genetics — such as predisposition for Parkinson’s disease — to set insurance rates or deny coverage. (more…)

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Senate Bill Includes Key Chiropractic Provisions

By Frank M. Painter|November 20, 2009|News|

Senate Bill Includes Key Chiropractic Provisions

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: The Daily Hit ~ November 20, 2009

by Daniel Redwood, DC

Here’s some good news from my favorite Blogger, Daniel Redwood, DC:

The Senate Democrats’ blended bill contains the nondiscrimination language championed by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT), along with a couple of other steps forward.

Here’s today’s report from the American Chiropractic Association: (more…)

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Pain Among Children and Adolescents

By Frank M. Painter|November 5, 2009|Education, News|

Pain Among Children and Adolescents

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: Pediatrics 2005 (Feb); 115 (2): e152-62

Musculoskeletal problems (NMS) in children are associated with both physical and psychologic consequences, and they can become barriers for participation in physical activity and sports, resulting in negative consequences for the individual’s health throughout life.

A recent study in Germany involved interviewing children (and their parents) to determine what percentage of them had NMS copmplaints. [1] The results of the study was quite surprising:

(more…)

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Medicine and the Overtreatment of Back Pain

By Frank M. Painter|November 3, 2009|Education, News, Politics, Safety|

Medicine and the Overtreatment of Back Pain

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: J Am Board Fam Med. 2009 (Jan); 22 (1): 62-68

Commentary by Dan Murphy, D.C.

I just read a fascinating article in the January edition of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, as it documents the massive increase in costs for medical management of chronic back pain, with no comparable improvements in patient outcomes, or decreases in disability rates. Worse yet, significant increases in post-intervention complications (including death) also appear to be on the rise.

This article documents:

a 629% increase for epidural steroid injections
a 423% increase in expenditures for opioids for back pain
a 307% increase in the number of lumbar magnetic resonance images
a 231% increase in facet joint injections
a 220% increase in spinal fusion surgery rates
Manufacturers aggressively promote new drugs and devices for the treatment of back pain, yet there is evidence of misleading advertising, kickbacks to physicians, and major investments by surgeons in the products they are promoting.
Prescription opioid use is steadily increasing, especially for musculoskeletal conditions. Emergency department reports of opioid overdose parallel the numbers of prescriptions. Deaths related to prescription opioids are greater than the combined total involving cocaine and heroin. Ironically, “Opioid use may paradoxically increase sensitivity to pain.”
New and improved spinal fusion techniques and devices, such as implants, increase the risk of nerve injury, blood loss, overall complications, operative time, and repeat surgery, but do not result in improved disability or reoperation rates.
Increases in the rates of imaging, opioid prescriptions, injections, and fusion surgery might be justified if there were substantial improvements in patient outcomes; unfortunately, they are not. In fact, statistics indicate that disability from musculoskeletal disorders is rising, not falling. “Prescribing yet more imaging, opioids, injections, and operations is not likely to improve outcomes for patients with chronic back pain.”

At the same time that medicine has ramped up costs (gobbling up the Medicare pie), a long line of studies have shown the clear superiority of chiropractic management for low back pain. Please review the most in-depth study, published in May of 2007 which compared medical and chiropractic management for LBP in a managed care group:

Clinical and cost utilization, based on 70,274 member-months, over a 7-year period, demonstrated:

decreases of 60.2% in-hospital admissions
59.0% less hospital days
62.0% less outpatient surgeries and procedures, and
83% less pharmaceutical costs

when patients were seen by a chiropractor, instead of seeing a conventional medical IPA doctor.

It’s time to end the

Medical Mis-Management of Low Back Pain

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Is Chiropractic Complementary, Alternative, or Mainstream?

By Frank M. Painter|October 5, 2009|Education, News|

Is Chiropractic Complementary, Alternative, or Mainstream?

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: University of Minnesota

I just ran across this remarkable page about chiropractic, located (of all places) on the University of Minnesota website. I hope you will find this of interest:

Is Chiropractic Complementary, Alternative, or Mainstream?

Chiropractic may seem mainstream because of physician referrals and the frequent role of chiropractic in interdisciplinary teams in settings such as rehabilitation centers. Furthermore, visits to a chiropractor are commonly reimbursed by most health insurance plans.

But chiropractic is still considered a complementary and alternative form of healthcare because it is not regulated by medical practice statutes. Chiropractic is not currently taught in public universities along with medical or nursing schools and does not include pharmaceuticals or surgery in its care of patients.

How is it complementary?

Today chiropractic most often shares a complementary role with conventional medicine. Many people seek chiropractic care based on referral from informed health professionals who understand the unique skills and perspective of the chiropractor in caring for perplexing problems.

Doctors of Chiropractic (DC) may also be members of an interdisciplinary team. Interdisciplinary practices are now becoming more common in a variety of settings, with chiropractors, medical doctors, physical therapists and others working as partners in occupational health, sports medicine teams, and rehabilitation centers.

In this role, chiropractors may provide the primary intervention of manual therapy to normalize joint function in patients recovering from injuries, or they may work cooperatively, for example by providing manual therapy and nutritional guidance for patients undergoing chemotherapy.

How is it alternative?

The roots of chiropractic are distinctly alternative to the conventional allopathic system of medicine. Chiropractic has a unique philosophy that stresses the body’s innate intelligence and focuses on preventive care as a means to sustained health and quality of life.

Recent cooperation with academic medicine has been troubling to some within the chiropractic profession, suspicious of the growing cooperation with medicine in practice and research. Purists embrace the founding principle of hands-only care and reject modified approaches. Most chiropractors in practice today, however, appreciate the important roles of multiple modes of care for patients.

What’s the bottom line?

So chiropractic fits all the labels in some respects! It seems “mainstream” because it is one of the most commonly used “complementary” therapies and is regularly reimbursed by insurance.

On the other hand, it retains its own unique philosophy of care and the central role of the chiropractic adjustment in its regimen of care. Thus, chiropractic remains both a complementary practice and an alternative healthcare system.

References:
Chapman-Smith, D. A. (2000).
The chiropractic profession: Its education, practice, research and future directions.
West Des Moines, IA: NCMIC Group Inc.

Expert Contributor: Larry Kuusisto, PhD, DC

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