Spinal Adjustments Hurt
Spinal Adjustments Are Dangerous
Chiropractic Doctors Lack Education Compared
With Medical Doctors
Chiropractic Is Not Scientific
Chiropractic Care Is Expensive
You'll Have To Continue Chiropractic Care For
The Rest Of Your Life
Chiropractors Only
Treat Back Pain
Spinal Adjustments Hurt
Quite the contrary.
Many patients feel instant relief immediately after their
treatments. In fact, most look forward to their chiropractic
treatments. In patients suffering from severe bouts of back
or neck pain, some discomfort may be experienced for obvious
reasons, however, for most patients this is not the case.
For detailed information
on chiropractic adjustments, see the pain section of the treatment
page.
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Spinal Adjustments
Are Dangerous
Chiropractic spinal
adjustments are extremely safe when performed by chiropractors.
In fact, chiropractic adjustments are among the safest treatments
for most back and neck problems. According to a 1993 Ontario
Ministry of Health commissioned study,
"There is
no clinical or case-control study that demonstrates or even
implies that chiropractic spinal manipulation is unsafe in
the treatment of low-back pain. Some medical treatments are
equally safe, but others are unsafe and generate iatrogenic
(doctor-induced) complications for low-back pain patients.
Our reading of the literature suggests that chiropractic manipulation
is safer than medical management of low-back pain."
Lead investigator
of the study, Pran Manga, Ph.D., however, did warn that spinal
adjustments performed by health care professionals other than
qualified doctors of chiropractic were potentially harmful
and less effective:
"Indeed, several
existing medical therapies of low-back pain are generally
contraindicated on the basis of the existing clinical trials.
There is also some evidence in the literature to suggest that
spinal manipulations are less safe and less effective when
performed by nonchiropractic professionals."
On December 8,
1994, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR)
of the US Department of Health and Human Services released
clinical practice guidelines for the management of acute low
back pain. Their guidelines were developed after extensive
study of the diagnostic and treatment methods used for acute
low back pain. Their findings included:
- The risk of
serious complications from lumbar spinal manipulation is
rare;
- Conservative
treatment such as spinal manipulation should be pursued
in most cases before considering surgical intervention
- Prescription
drugs such as oral steroids, antidepressant medications
and colchicine are not recommended for acute low back problems.
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Chiropractic
Doctors Lack Education Compared With Medical Doctors
The training and
education endured by chiropractors is extremely thorough and
demanding, similar to that of medical doctors with the exception
of pharmacology and surgery.
Prior to entering
chiropractic college, the aspiring chiropractor requires 2-4
years (depending on the college attended and the state one
wishes to practice in) of premed undergraduate studies. Once
completed, the student must next complete 4-5 academic years
of studies at a chiropractic college. This includes extensive
training in anatomy, physiology, pathology, neurology, radiology,
differential diagnosis, chiropractic adjustive techniques,
biomechanics , and other health-related studies.
In addition, prior
to graduation each student must successfully complete several
hundred clinical hours of "real" patient management
in a clinical setting under professional supervision. Most
chiropractic colleges also require students to partake in
clinical externship programs which place them in actual chiropractic
offices, further enhancing their clinical practice skills.
Near or soon after
graduation, the new doctors of chiropractic must successfully
complete rigorous National and State Board examinations prior
to obtaining a license to practice chiropractic. Once licensed,
most states require that chiropractors receive annual continuing
education to ensure that a high level of competency is maintained.
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Chiropractic
Is Not Scientific
Chiropractors have
always sought to provide the safest and most effective healing
methods for their patients. In order to achieve this, the
chiropractic profession has been dedicated to conducting scientific
studies to improve their diagnostic methods and treatment
techniques. In the last 20 years chiropractic health care
has established an impressive array of scientific research
that demonstrates the efficacy, safety and cost effectiveness
of chiropractic care. There are many further studies currently
underway, and several have been performed by medical doctors
and government researchers in both the U.S. and a number of
other countries.
In fact, the chiropractic
profession has accumulated a greater number of scientific
trials on chiropractic than the medical profession has accumulated
for many of the treatments rendered by medical doctors. According
to David M. Edy, M.D., Ph.D., professor of health policy and
management with Duke University, North Carolina, only 15 percent
of all medical interventions are supported by solid scientific
evidence. Paul G. Shekelle, M.D., M.P.H., of the RAND Corporation
made the following statement on ABC's 20/20:
"There are
considerably more randomized controlled trials which show
benefit of this (chiropractic care) than there are for many,
many other things which physicians and neurosurgeons do all
the time."
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Chiropractic
Care Is Expensive
Research clearly
disproves this myth. Chiropractic care has been consistently
shown to be cost effective in a number of government and workers'
compensation board studies.
According to The
Manga Report, a 1993 Canadian government commissioned study,
"There would
be highly significant cost savings if more management of low-back
pain was transferred from physicians to chiropractors... Users
of chiropractic care have substantially lower health care
costs, especially inpatient costs, than those who use medical
care only."
According to an
economic analysis conducted in Richmond, Virginia,
"By every
test of cost and effectiveness, the general weight of evidence
shows chiropractic to provide important therapeutic benefits,
at economical costs. Additionally, these benefits are achieved
with apparently minimal, even negligible, impacts on the costs
of health insurance."
When the State
of Florida's Workers' Compensation Board conducted research
in 1988 on treatment costs associated with injured workers
who received care from either chiropractic doctors or medical
doctors, they found chiropractic treatment costs were 58.8
percent of the treatments costs rendered by medical doctors
($558 vs. $1,100 per case)
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You'll Have
To Continue Chiropractic Care For The Rest Of Your Life
Most doctors of
chiropractic promote a preventative type of lifestyle which
has been construed by adversaries to mean that chiropractic
care requires a lifetime of commitment. Actually, recommending
that patients return for periodic spinal care is no different
that what dentists recommend to their patients in order to
prevent cavities and gum disease.
Just as it would
be ludicrous to believe that visiting a dentist once per lifetime
would ensure permanently healthy teeth and gums it's equally
as silly to think that visiting a chiropractor a few times
will ensure a lifelong healthy spine. Our spinal tissues undergo
daily bombardment of stresses originating from bad postural
habits, suboptimal work environments, psychological stress,
and hectic lifestyles just to name a few.
For theses reasons,
after the resolution of acute problems patients are given
the option to receive periodic spinal checkups which acts
to minimize the likelihood of future recurrences or development
of new problems. The preventative approach in health care
has been gaining much recognition as of late and there has
been a large push in the medical community and health insurance
industry to incorporate preventative programs into mainstream
medicine.
It's really that
simple. Periodic care to prevent future problems - safe, natural,
convenient care now to avoid nasty and complex problems later.
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Chiropractors
Only Treat Back Pain
Chiropractors provide
effective treatment for all types of soft tissue disorders
and not just back and neck ailments. This includes conditions
of the joints of the extremities like the ankle, knee and
shoulder.
What you may not
be aware of is chiropractic's success in treating a number
of non-soft tissue conditions like ulcers, migraine headaches,
and ear infections in children. While we cannot claim to cure
these conditions, we believe that many of these problems can
be aggravated and some times caused by disruptions in the
nervous system as a result of spinal abnormalities. By correcting
these spinal abnormalities like the vertebral subluxation,
chiropractic has helped thousands of individuals overcome
these conditions and regain control of their lives.
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Neck & Back Center
