Health & Chiro Articles

Several news stories appeared in the general press citing cases of migraine sufferers being helped by chiropractic care. One such story appeared on the June 7, 2007 WIStv.com, one in the June 6th Times Plus of Wisconsin and still another on the June 4, 2007 Boston channel 2 news. These stories noted that migranes affect nearly 28 million people and cost an estimated $13 billion a year in reduced productivity.

One of these stories describes the plight of Pam Delrosso a woman who suffered from debilitating migraines for 25 years. Ms. Delrosso described her life with migranes by saying, “My quality of life just went downhill. I’d be in bed for days on end.”

A second migraine sufferer, Adriana Grassi was a personal trainer who was very much into physical fitness. She describes her passion for fitness by saying, “This is my job, my career. I love doing what I do. I think I can help people change their lives.” Unfortunately, Grassi’s career almost came to an end due to the onset of migraines. She remembers, “I had a problem training my clients because I had terrible migraines. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t even see, sometimes, the light.”

According to the two stories both women went to neurologists, both had MRIs, CAT scans, and both were given a variety of medications. In both cases, medical care did not work. Fortunately, both women turned to chiropractic care.

Both articles report that the two women underwent a form of chiropractic care known as Orthogonal Chiropractic. According to Dr. Ryan Alther, a chiropractor interviewed for these stories, “Ortho meaning 90 degrees. We’re trying to get the skull 90 degrees to the atlas, which is the top vertebrae, and the atlas at 90 degrees to the rest of the neck.” Dr. Alther explains that when the head and neck are not at right angles, it can cause nerve interference and alter blood flow, resulting in severe headaches, neck and back pain.

For Pam Delrosso the results from chiropractic care were life changing. She states, “They don’t devastate me like they did before. I’ll get an occasional headache — maybe once a month, every 2 months. It goes away in an hour and it doesn’t put me in bed for three days.”

Adriana Grassi also had a life changing experience because of her chiropractic care. The articles note that she’s been headache free for months. She commented, “I would definitely say it’s a miracle.”

Antibiotics soon will bear a big new warning that overusing them makes them less effective. From the February 6, 2003 release of the Associated Press Health News, comes the news that antibiotics will soon carry a new warning message mandated by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The new action was prompted because it has long been known that antibiotics have been drastically overused. According to the AP story, the new warning says that doctors must be sure a patient is suffering a bacterial infection, not a virus with similar symptoms, before prescribing antibiotics. The article notes that all too often, doctors prescribe antibiotics for children with earaches caused by viruses, or for adults with colds or viral coughs.

Antibiotics have no effect on viruses; they only fight bacteria. However, the US government estimates that half of the 100 million antibiotic prescriptions written in physician offices each year are unnecessary.

One of the reasons that the FDA action has become so important is that bacteria are growing increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Many common infections no longer are treatable with old standbys like penicillin, and some have become untreatable by every antibiotic on the market. Anytime antibiotics are used, survivor germs can emerge stronger and spread. It is the overuse of antibiotics that has lead to the increased resistance by bacteria.

The FDA proposed the new warnings two years ago. They will go into effect Feb. 6, 2004. Unfortunately, the warnings would be only on the drugs’ official label, and the AP story reports that very few doctors read drug labels. Because of this the FDA is working on additional ways to spread their concern over the use of antibiotics, including future ads aimed at consumers.

Several news stories appeared on TV and online about Doug Harkey, a man who regained his eyesight after a chiropractic adjustment. Two of the stories appeared on January 11, 2008 in the Telegraph Herald from Dubuque Iowa, and KCRG-TV news from Cedar Rapids Iowa.

Doug Harkey, a 38-year-old resident of Dubuque Iowa, was legally blind in his left eye for 12 years. As he reported it, “I woke up one day and I didn’t have vision in one eye.” Being legally blind did not limit Mr. Harkey’s ambitions as the stories reported that he did parachute out of a plane in 2006.

Doug Harkey’s fiance, Gina Connolly was going to a chiropractor, Dr. Tim Stackis, and convinced Doug to attend a new-patient class. Harkey admited, “I was skeptical about chiropractic”. However, in spite of his skepticism, the stories note that on January 3, 2008 Doug received a chiropractic adjustment, and his world was changed.

Harkey recalled the events after that adjustment, “My blind eye starting watering after I left there and it watered for 45 minutes straight. It started making my good eye water. I went to wipe my right eye and I could see out my left again.” His enthusiasm continued as he remarked, “While I wiped my right eye, I could see out of my left.” He then told a friend, “Oh my God, I can see!”. To which his friend responded, “You always could.” Harkey then exclaimed, “No, out of my LEFT eye!”

Dr. Stackis explained in an interview, “I’ve heard of cases of people regaining their sight, but I’ve never experienced something like Doug’s magnitude. Miracles can happen and some of those miracles are pretty big.” He continued his explanation of what happened by noting that some of the bones in Mr. Harkey’s neck were out of alignment (subluxation), “That interferes with the messages and energy the brain sends down to the rest of the body.” Dr Stackis continued, “Your nerve system controls and regulates every function of your body,”

Harkey concluded his remarks and summed up the situation and optimism for his future by saying, “I’ll have everything back except my peripheral vision. In the daytime, it will be great to see everything  

A November 11, 2008, report from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, (APIC) suggests that there could be more than 7,000 infections and 300 deaths in U.S. hospitals on any single day from the drug resistant intestinal bacteria clostridium difficile, also called C. difficile. Several news publications ran stories on November 11, 2008 based on this report including the Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, and ABC News.

The stories note that as many as 13 out of every 1000 hospitalized Americans were infected with the C. difficile bacteria. This number is between 6.5 to 20 times higher than previously estimated. The infections are being blamed on overuse of antibiotics and improperly cleaned hospital rooms.

Dr. William R. Jarvis, the study’s lead author commented, “Hopefully this will be a wake-up call about the importance of preventing this organism.” He also noted that the incidence may actually be higher than his study suggests. He said, “Not only is it under-recognized and not tested for, but even when it’s tested for, you have a 25 percent chance you’re going to miss it.”

Epidemiologist Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, the CDC’s expert on C. difficile, said, “It’s important data that confirms that there’s an awful lot of this, that’s the bottom line.” He noted that the high use of antibiotics is a key factor in the spread of such resistant bacteria like C. diff. “We’ve long been encouraging the public not to demand antibiotics as a solution to all of their problems,” McDonald said. “This brings it home to roost, doesn’t it?”

Dr. Stuart Johnson, an associate professor of medicine at Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research, voiced his comments to the Chicago Tribune article by adding, “This confirms what many of us have suspected: that this is a very widespread problem in virtually all hospitals.”

Dr. Jarvis concluded the ABC News story on this problem by saying, “I think it’s a combination of factors. One is that we know that our population is aging, and elderly patients are at the highest risk. We know that antibiotic use is increasing, that’s a risk factor for this. And we know that there’s been the introduction of a more virulent strain, which was first recognized up in Montreal, Canada, in Quebec.”

A recent study published in the March 29, 2004 peer reviewed journal, The Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, (JVSR), showed that chiropractic adjustments had a positive effect on children with acute ear infections. In the study 21 children were examined. All these children showed acute inflammation in the inner ear with a red and bulging tympanic membrane accompanied by an increased mean oral temperature of over 100 degrees F.

The results of the study showed that after the chiropractic adjustments, the red and bulging tympanic membrane returned to normal in 95% of the children and a decrease in average oral temperature to 98.6 degrees F.

A similar story also appeared on the website of the television station, WIS TV news on March 30, 2004. That story featured a four year old girl Taylor, who went to see a chiropractor for ear infections. According to her mother Taylor had been suffering with about eight ear infections a year. Her mother noted that after two chiropractic adjustments, she hasn’t had one ear infection in nine months, “This has been a big great help for us.”

The news report ended with the following, “Besides ear infections another study found chiropractic care helps babies with colic. The study reports children cried two hours less after having adjustments than those who received the standard drug treatment.”

Several news stories and articles have appeared speaking to the issue of backpack safety in school children. One article from the Aug. 1, 2007 issue of the Okeechobee News starts off by noting that backpacks can be purchased anywhere, but very few people ask about the construction of these packs. The article suggests that parents ask the following questions. “How wide are the shoulder straps? Does it disperse weight evenly? Does the bag have a waist belt to disperse weight to the hips?”

The Okeechobee News article reports that according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), there are more than 21,000 backpack-related injuries each year. The article notes that increased weight is a major issue. The result, as they suggest, is that, “This increase in weight can be correlated to an increase in children seeing chiropractors.”

On July 12, 2007, the California publication, The Acorn, also published a story on backpack safety. In this story they quote Dr. Gerard W. Clum of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress who advises, “Backpacks weighing more than 15 pounds that are slung over a shoulder produce an imbalance in the rib cage.” He continued by saying, “This type of repetitive strain can also initiate arm and hand numbness, headaches or backaches.”

The July 20, 2007 Toledo Free Press also ran a story on backpacks where they offered tips by the American Chiropractic Association to “help prevent the needless pain that backpack misuse could cause the students in your household.” These tips included:

Make sure your child’s backpack weighs no more than 10 percent of his or her body weight.

The backpack should never hang more than four inches below the waistline.

A backpack with individualized compartments helps in positioning the contents most effectively.

Make sure that pointy or bulky objects are packed away from the area that will rest on your child’s back.

Urge your child to wear both shoulder straps.

The shoulder straps should be adjustable so the backpack fits to your child’s body.

If the backpack is still too heavy, talk to your child’s teacher.

On September 13, 2005, Medical News Today published the announcement of the creation of chiropractic guidelines for pediatric care. The guidelines “The Child Patient: A Matrix for Chiropractic Care” was originally released as a supplement to its peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics (JCCP) Vol. 6, No.3, 2005.

The release is noteworthy in two respects. This is the first time guidelines such as these have been published with parameters establishing the necessity of chiropractic care for children of all ages. But additionally, since these guidelines were published as a supplement to a scientific, peer reviewed journal, the medical news outlet “Medical News Today” picked up the release and published it in their general release available for all physicians and the general public.

Dr. Joan Fallon, Board of Directors member of the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) and past chair and current Executive Committee member of the ICA Pediatrics Council stated, “The foundation of chiropractic care is the presence of subluxation.” She continued, “For children, subluxation manifests itself differently than in adults, and also may occur as a result of multiple non- pain producing activities especially in the very young child. The Matrix closely examines the presence of subluxation in the child with respect to their anatomy, physiology and development.”

Dr. Lora Tanis, Chairperson of the ICA Pediatrics Council noted the importance of these guidelines by stating, “This is an invaluable contribution to the profession and to the public at large because for the first time we have a published document that explains why infants and toddlers need chiropractic care and how the need and/or frequency of care relates to birth trauma, immune system maturity and developmental milestones along with any abnormal, congenital, traumatic or acquired injuries the child may have.”

A widely publicized study first published in the Feb. 23, 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, (JAMA), questions the rise in prescription drugs such as Ritalin and Prozac in toddlers 2 to 4 years of age. The study indicates that there was a 50% jump in usage of these psychiatric drugs in this age group between the years of 1991 and 1995.

A number of news organizations picked up the story including MSNBC who reported, “Experts said they are troubled by the findings because the effects of such drugs in children so young are largely unknown.” They go on to say that doctors are worried that these drugs used so early could be dangerous for a child’s development. The study showed that in 1991 about 100,000 children were getting the drugs. In 1995 that jumped up to 150,000 children. Of that 60% were age 4, 30% were age 3, and 10% were 2 year olds!

US News and World Report also carried the same story in their March 6, 2000 issue. In that report they also questioned doctors ability to understand using these drugs. This story cited a 1999 survey from the University of North Carolina sent to Family Physicians and Pediatricians. In that survey 72% of the doctors said they had prescribed antidepressants to children under 18, but only 16% of those said they felt comfortable doing so, and only 8% said they had adequate training to treat childhood depression. The article in US News goes on to say, “Almost nothing is known about how antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs affect a child’s developing brain.”

Just last week the United Nations, “lambasted” the United States for “over prescribing psychiatric drugs.” According to the UN panel the United States consumes 80 percent of the worlds methylphenidate (generic of Ritalin). The US News article then asks the question, “Are American youngsters indeed suffering more behavioral illnesses, or have we as a society become less tolerant of disruptive behavior?”

The lead author of the original study, Julie Mango Zito PhD, sums it up best as reported on Feb 22, 2000 in www.thehealthnetwork.com when she said, “I am very concerned about long term safety. They are starting kids earlier on medication and keeping them on longer. Who knows what development process could be influenced by regular daily dosage? It could affect their brain, heart, liver, or other organs.”

From an October 15, 2002 Associated Press release comes a chilling story of how Nursing Homes kill thousands of senior citizens each year. The story, also picked up by many other news organizations including ABC News, noted that government documents and court records were the source of the information. The story originally came from a series of investigative reports appearing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

According to the story, investigators and researchers say that most of the deaths were caused by neglect traced to caregivers whom the elderly rely on for food and liquid, and for turning them in their beds to prevent life-threatening sores. In the latest national compilation, of the more than 500,000 deaths in nursing homes in 1999, a total of 4,138 death certificates lists the causes of death as starvation, dehydration or bedsores.

The US Department of Health and Human Services reported to Congress this year that nine of 10 nursing homes have inadequate staff. It is an inadequate number of nurses and aides that the story site as the reason for most of the nursing home caused deaths.

Several news stories including a June 3, 2008 ABC News story reported that the consumer watchdog group, the “Center for Science in the Public Interest” (CSPI), has petitioned the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban artificial food coloring. The group CSPI claims that Yellow 5, Red 40, and six other widely used artificial colorings are linked to hyperactivity and behavior problems in children and should be prohibited from use in foods.

A June 4, 2008 report in Medical News today notes that several of these food dyes have already been banned in the United Kingdom. Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C states the CSPI case by stating, “I think it’s crystal clear the dyes affect kids’ behavior. The tougher questions are how many kids, and to what extent is their behavior affected? But time is long overdue to get rid of these dyes from the food supply. Let scientists study them in a laboratory.”

Dr David Schab, a psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center and one of the authors of a 2004 comprehensive review of the literature, published in the journal Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, noted in the Medical News story, “The science shows that kids’ behavior improves when these artificial colorings are removed from their diets and worsens when they’re added to their diets. While not all children seem to be sensitive to these chemicals, it’s hard to justify their continued use in foods, especially those foods heavily marketed to young children.”

The FDA maintains that there is no evidence of a link. The ABC News story noted that pressure from the British government on the food industry has caused food companies to make changes. For instance in Britain, a strawberry sundae at a London McDonald’s contains real strawberries, whereas the U.S. sundae is red because of the dye Red #40.

CSPI Executive Director Michael F Jacobson, summed up the petition to the FDA by stating, “The continued use of these unnecessary artificial dyes is the secret shame of the food industry and the regulators who watch over it.” He added that these food dyes can be removed from the US food supply, “Absolutely, the dyes can be eliminated,” Jacobson said. “They’re unnecessary, they have no health benefits to the consumers whatsoever. They only pose a risk and that risk is intolerable.”