Headaches Helped With Chiropractic – A Case Study
A documented case study appeared in the scientific periodical, the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health on August 11, 2011 showing chiropractic helping an 8-year-old boy suffering from headaches. The study authors begin by noting that about 75% of children report a notable headache by age 15.
The authors report that cervical (neck) subluxations, and the resulting changes in cervical curves have been shown to be a factor in headaches. Past studies show that people with necks that do not have their normal forward curvature and have become straight or reversed are particularly prone to headaches.
In this study, the 8-year-old boy was brought to the chiropractor with complaints of headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, allergies, and digestive problems. The boy’s headaches were described as sharp and throbbing, and were made worse with noise, but improved when he was lying down. The boy’s headaches were mainly in the front of his head and would last the entire day, sometimes even waking him at night.
Over the previous year, the boy’s health continued to decline, and he became less able to engage in normal activities that he had previously enjoyed. In response, his parents had taken him to a pediatric neurologist-headache specialist, an allergist, a nutritionist, and a psychologist. Recommendations and medications from the medical health practitioners gave little or no relief to the boy.
A chiropractic examination and x-rays were performed, and revealed subluxations with cervical curve changes in the neck area. Chiropractic care was initiated with the child initially being seen three times per week and gradually reduced in frequency.
As a result of the chiropractic care, the child’s headaches were alleviated and post x-rays showed an improvement of the neck curvature. The boy was involved in an auto accident later in his care. Fortunately, his headaches did not return, and he suffered no ill effects from the incident.
In the discussion area of the study, the authors conclude by stating, “It seems that evidence points to the cervical spine and its alignment as a critical factor in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cervicogenic headache in the pediatric population.”
Most Drugs Prescribed To Children Have Never Been Tested On Children
A story initially appearing in the November 11, 2007 issue of the Baltimore Sun, titled, “Untested medicine” exposed the fact that, as author Stephanie Desmon stated in her article, “Most drugs given to children have never been tested for them, forcing physicians to sometimes use a best guess in determining dosing, efficacy and even safety.”
The article notes that children are not small adults and that their bodies’ process medications differently than do adults. Sometimes the medication goes into action faster and sometimes slower. The article also noted that some medications for adults are actually poisons for children. Dr. Joseph M. Wiley, chief of pediatrics at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore commented in the article how difficult it is to prescribe medication for children that has only been tested on adults, “If you extrapolate from an adult dose to a pediatric dose, you may be right … you may be wrong.”
Attempts to correct this problem have been made by laws being passed, however, the article notes that according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, that as of this year only about one-third of the drugs prescribed for children have been studied and labeled for pediatric use.
When studies were done it was found that the effects of drugs on children were much different than that on adults. Dr. Dianne Murphy, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s office of pediatric therapeutics, stated, “We found out that you can’t predict how kids are going to handle things.”
The article explained that once a medication has been approved for use in adults, it can then be legally prescribed to anyone at any age. The practice of prescribing drugs to groups it was not approved for is common and is known as “off-label” prescribing.
A study that confirmed this off-label use was published in the March 7, 2007 issue of the scientific journal the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. In that study, referenced in the Baltimore Sun article they stated in their conclusions, “Most patients hospitalized at tertiary care pediatric institutions receive at least 1 medication outside the terms of the Food and Drug Administration product license. Substantial variation in the frequency of off-label use was observed across diagnostic categories and drug classes. Despite the frequent off-label use of drugs, using an administrative database, we cannot determine which of these treatments are unsafe or ineffective and which treatments result in substantial benefit to the patient.”
Website Review – A Good Source For Patients And Doctors
A good source of information on Chiropractic and children is the website of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). Their web address is www.icpa4kids.com. This site contains articles, information and research on health related issues concerning children. Their mission statement reads, “The mission of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association is to bring the life saving benefits of chiropractic care to all children.”
Their website contains information for the general public about the benefits of chiropractic care. In one section, entitled, “Why chiropractic for children”, the ICPA discusses such issues as “Why should children have chiropractic care” and “Is chiropractic safe for my child”. The articles on this site are well referenced and thorough.
In addition to articles and information about chiropractic for infants and children the ICPA website also contains a vast resource of information on subjects that relate to child health and well being in general. Subjects such as ADHD, Asthma, Child safety, Scoliosis, Speech disorders, and many other topics are presented in articles and research in language that is easily understood. Additionally their website contains links to other health related sites on such subjects as natural child birth and vaccinations.
Two other sections that are well laid out and informative are the sections on family wellness and research. Each of these sections has large numbers of pages of pediatric health related information. If you are making critical decisions about the health and well being of your children or family, you should consider the website of the ICPA for valuable information.
Back Pain Sufferers Benefit From Chiropractic Care
A study published in the June 2010 issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, showed that people who used what the study called “Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)” received a “great deal” of benefit. Chiropractic was included in what this medical study defined as CAM care.
The study received attention in a number of news stories including an article in the July 4, 2010 Medical News Today, and in a June 30, 2010 Business Wire release by the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress. The study surveyed people who had suffered from back pain and had used at least one CAM therapy in the last 12 months. Of these participants the results showed that over 60% found remarkable relief using the top six CAM treatments. Those treatments were chiropractic care, massage, yoga/tai chi/qi Cong, acupuncture, herbal therapies, and relaxation techniques – with chiropractic care being the most popular choice.
The Medical News Today story reported that back pain is the second leading reason people walk into a doctor’s office in the U.S. The survey looked at a total of 17 CAM therapies choices. Of those, Chiropractic care was the most popular approach at 74 percent, with massage a distant second at 22 percent.
Dr. Gerard Clum, Foundation for Chiropractic Progress spokesperson and president of Life Chiropractic College West noted, “What we are seeing with these studies is compelling evidence that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for back pain sufferers more and more, that light is chiropractic care and other CAM approaches.”
One of the interesting findings of the study was that an overwhelming number of the people in the survey did not go to a CAM practitioner because of a referral from a medical doctor. In fact only 24 percent of respondents with back pain who received CAM stated that care came at the suggestion of their conventional medical practitioner.
In their study conclusion, the authors of the study stated, “CAM is used by 40% to 60% of the population yearly, and back pain is the most common medical condition for which people use CAM. Using a nationally representative survey, our analyses documented that the majority of respondents who used CAM for back pain perceived great benefit and identified specific factors associated with perceived benefit.”
In the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress release on the study Dr. Clum summed up the study by stating, “Back pain sufferers should be made aware of all treatment options, especially alternatives that have been scientifically proven to provide relief. While chiropractic care has in the past been considered alternative there is now a case to be made for making it the first choice for patients and in the process making interventions like injections and surgery the alternative approach.”
Fruits And Vegetables Reduce Stroke Risk
October 6, 1999 Reuters News reports on a story in the Journal of the American Medical Association on the benefits of fruits and vegetables. The study conducted at Harvard’s School of Public Health studied the relationship between fruit intake and the rate of stroke in over 75,000 women. The results clearly showed a decrease in stroke risk in those who had an increase in intake in the number of servings of fruits and vegetables per day.
Chiropractic For Allergies
On May 7, 2009 a story was run on the ABC affiliate, KSPR out of Springfield Missouri, which featured help for allergies through chiropractic. In this story Jami Lynn Lilly was an allergy sufferer who always had problems during the spring in Missouri. Her allergies would give her sinus problems and cause her eyes to water. She commented, “I get really bad sinus infections, for weeks I just look like I’m bawling all the time”
Jami finally decided to go to a chiropractor for her problem. After her first visit she reported improvement. She described the experience by saying, “He adjusted me one time for it, two three days my nose just drained and then I was fine after that.”
Jami’s chiropractor, Dr. Baca, was also interviewed in the news story and he raised an interesting question. “If there’s an allergy floating around out there what makes one person susceptible to it, when it doesn’t make all of us susceptible.” He then explained that the nervous system is the key. He stated, “Your nervous system controls every aspect of your body, including your immune system.”
The story noted that the nervous system is the master controller of the body. The spine protects the spinal cord thus protecting the messages that are carried over the nervous system. According to the article, Dr. Baca explained that, “If one of the vertebrae on your spine is out of place it could be putting pressure or irritating one of your nerves. Maybe the nerve that controls your sinuses, your head, your throat or your immune system.”
He further explained that this could be the reason why one person is susceptible to allergies while another in the same environment is not, “This person’s immune system isn’t functioning as well as this person’s immune system so it can’t fight the allergen off like it should.”
Jami explained that she never knew that chiropractic could help her allergies. She said, “I never knew it; I just came because my neck was bothering me.” The news story concludes by noting that. “Jami is a big believer now. She’s allergy free and passing the word on about allergies and chiropractic.”
H1N1 Swine Flu Was No Worse Than Seasonal Flu
The above headline came from a September 7, 2010 WebMD article, and was based on a study published on September 8, 2010 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In that study researchers showed that “The risk of most serious complications was not elevated in adults or children with 2009 H1N1 compared with recent seasonal strains.”
It has become obvious that the H1N1 flu scare was much less serious or wide spread than was initially declared by health authorities or the press. This study adds yet another piece of evidence to the growing speculation that the Swine Flu scare was grossly over exaggerated.
In a Medical News Today article on September 8, 2010 reporting on the same study, the authors noted that the results of this study showed that when compared to the seasonal (H3N2) flu, the H1N1, “was not linked to higher rates of hospital admission or pneumonia among children.” Additionally they reported that,” In adults, a similar picture emerged, with no significantly higher rates of hospital admissions or pneumonia for 2009 H1N1 swine flu than for seasonal flu.”
This study comes on the heels of a report released by the World Health Organization, and reported on by the CBC News out of Canada on August 12, 2010, disclosing that at least 6 of the 15 WHO advisors who were instrumental in the H1N1 pandemic declaration had conflicts of interest and ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
The issue is further complicated by the fact that in May of 2009 the WHO, after the urging of various nations’ health authorities, changed the definition of pandemic thus allowing the H1N1 to be declared a pandemic. It was after this declaration that billions of dollars were prioritized for the creation and production of vaccinations. Millions of these doses have gone unused and have since been destroyed.
Chiropractic Coverage Up By 17% In Health Care Insurance
Fox News and Reuters December 14th, 1999, reported that US employers were sweetening their health benefit packages in order to keep workers happy in this tight labor market. One of the things that have been added was chiropractic coverage. In 1999, coverage for chiropractic was offered by 78% of employer health plans. This represents a jump of 17% in that year alone. The study was conducted by a New York based consulting firm, William M. Mercer Inc..
Literature Review Shows Chiropractic Beneficial For Patients With Neck Pain
A literature review of existing studies shows that chiropractic care is effective for patients suffering from chronic neck pain. The study, published in the scientific periodical, the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, looked at 16 prior studies and put the data from these studies together to get a larger picture of results.
The results of this literature review were also picked up by several news outlets including the May 6, 2007 Medical-News.net and the May 3, 2007 United Press International. This review was very specific and did not look at cases involving whiplash, headaches, or arm pain. The reviewers only looked at scientifically sound cases that involved chronic neck pain.
Howard Vernon, DC, PhD, the review’s chief author and his colleagues found what they called “high-quality evidence” that patients with chronic neck pain showed significant pain-level improvements following chiropractic. They also found that in reviewing all these previous studies none of the groups studied remain unchanged, and all of the groups showed positive results in the first 12 weeks. Additionally, they noted that no trial reported any serious adverse effects.
The fact that all these different studies found the same results shows the consistency of chiropractic for these problems. Dr. Vernon commented, “The results of the literature review confirm the common clinical experience of doctors of chiropractic: neck manipulation is beneficial for patients with certain forms of chronic neck pain.”
The authors of the review noted that neck pain is a very common problem, second only to low back pain in its frequency in the general population.
Deaths From Overdose Of Painkillers Rose 83% From 1999 To 2005
Several articles appearing on February 9, 2009 reported that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued letters to companies that make opioid drugs, including morphine, oxycodone and methadone, requiring them to develop plans to reduce the misuse of their painkillers. These drugs include such commonly used drugs like OxyContin, fentanyl patches, methadone tablets and some morphine tablets. According to the articles these drugs are highly addictive and meant for usage in cases requiring round-the-clock pain management for patients with cancer and other serious chronic conditions.
One article in the New York Times noted that in an effort to reduce deaths and injuries from the improper use of these drugs, many doctors may not be allowed to prescribe them. According to an American Medical News article deaths from accidental overdose of these drugs among people age 15-64 has increased 83% from 1999 to 2005.
In the AMA news article, Scott Fishman, MD, past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine stated, “The prescription drug abuse problem is enormous and … it seems to be getting worse. There’s a substantial role that doctors have in this, and we have got to understand that we have a responsibility to our patients but also to society.”
In an Associated Press article on the same issue, Dr. John Jenkins, FDA’s chief of new drugs added that the FDA has issued a number of warnings over the past few years. He stated, “Despite these efforts, the rates of misuse and abuse, and of accidental overdose of opioids, have risen over the past decade.” The article reported that about 21 million prescriptions for opioids were dispensed in 2007.