Chiropractic Questions and Information

Chiropractic is a hands-on, holistic, alternative health care approach to better health and increases livelihood though diet, exercise and (of course) manipulation of the spine and extremities. We are considered to be the nueromusculoskeletal (nerve-muscle-skeleton) professionals. Chiropractic is a lifestyle of health care.

Chiropractic can help you by working with you and your other health care professionals (M.D., and D.O.) by maintaining your spine in proper alignment. Every organ in the body is under some sort of neurological (nerve) control, so does it not make sense that if nerve impulses do not get to the organ its function will be compromised.

Not all nerve impulses have a stimulatory effect on organs, some impulses inhibit the organs they influence. For example, the Vagus Nerve has an inhibitory effect on the heart causing the heart to slow its rate when it receives these signals. The same Vagus Nerve, however, on the stomach and digestive tract stimulates these organs into increasing their activity. Through manipulation of the spine, the Chiropractor helps place the spine in proper alignment to prevent a malfunction of nerve impulses to other organs and tissues.

The manipulation (also known as adjustment) is a high velocity, low amplitude thrust given into a specific joint in order to provide a therapeutic result. This is not to say, however that all manipulations are the same. Just as Chiropractors are different individually, so are our many techniques.

The manipulation can sometimes cause some minor discomfort, but it is not generally considered painful. Most of the discomfort will go away after the manipulation is performed several times. That is right - several manipulations may be necessary before total relief is seen. It is just as important for you to follow your chiropractor’s plan of care, number and frequency of adjustments as it is for you take the entire course of antibiotics. If you stop either too soon, you run the risk the problem reoccurring and it being more difficult to correct the second time around.

The discomfort that you may feel is very often related to how long you waited before you sought treatment for you pain or illness. The sooner treatment begins after onset or accident, the less discomfort usually felt and the fewer treatments usually needed for continued good health.

I will ask you this question, is medicine dangerous? There are fewer documented cases of injuries from Chiropractic manipulation per year than from drug realated accidents: mis-prescribed drugs, drug overdose, bad drug combinations and interactions, side effects and treatments in the medical profession. Persons injured by a chiropractic-like manipulation are all too often the victims of a friend of the individual or the individual themselves trying to deliver a manipulation and not a trained Chiropractor. Chiropractic students practice and perform hundreds to thousands of manipulations before being permitted to deliver them to a patient in need. Chiropractic Students practice and critique each other while in school in order to ensure being capable of performing them on patients.

The most recognizable part of the manipulation is a cavitation (a pop or click sound) which is often heard or felt by the patient as a result of the manipulation. This cavitation is the result of a rapid release of air bubbles within the joint that have been under pressure, much like the opening of a carbonated soda can. The cavitation occurs more often than not, but it does not have to occur for the manipulation to be effective.

No, we do, at times, recommend pills be taken by our patients. The pills we recommend, however, are high quality vitamins, minerals and other supplements that our body need in order to maintain proper health. At times we may prescribe herbs such as echinacea, feverfew, garlic, milk thistle, and others to aid the body in its attempt to cure and heal itself. We do not condemn the use of all pills, we just prefer to go to the primary source of all medicines - Mother Nature - for our help.

This is a very complicated question to answer from the physiological view. To keep things as simple as possible, Chiropractors explain the principle as a garden hose. Consider the hose to be a nerve and the water flowing through the hose as nerve impulses. When the hose is laid out straight without any kinks, water is allowed to flow freely and uninhibited through the hose. If on the other hand we kink or park a car on the hose, water flow is reduced or even stops flowing through the hose. If this condition persists long enough, eventually, the hose will become damaged (pain).

By performing the manipulation early-on we remove the kink, allow for free water flow and begin to make plans to save the hose from further damage. This in turn allows us many more years of valuable use to ourselves and others.

CAUTION!

If you are ever in an auto accident, you may be too excited or shocked to think clearly at the moment. Because accidents happen to the best of drivers, everyone should be prepared to do the right things immediately afterward. Many legal troubles arising from accidents could be avoided or lessened if the persons involved knew in advance what they should do. Feel free to print out a copy of this page and keep it in the glove compartment of your vehicle.

Helpful Actions to take in the case you are in an accident

1. STOP - State law requires that the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident wherein a person is injured or damage is done to some property shall immediately stop his vehicle at the scene of the accident or as close to the scene as possible without obstructing traffic more than is necessary.
2. ASSIST THE INJURED - Your first duty after stopping your car is to check for injured persons. If someone is seriously injured, call 911.
3. PROTECT THE SCENE - Take all possible precautions to prevent further accidents. Try to have someone warn approaching vehicles and, if at night flares and reflectors are available, put them out or have it done. If no flares and reflectors are available and you have a flashlight, use it.
4. CALL AN OFFICER - Remain at the scene, unless injured, until the officer arrives. Cooperate with the officer by advising him of the basic facts briefly.
5. IDENTIFY THE OTHER DRIVER - Obtain the other driver's name, address, and registration number of the vehicle he is driving, and request him to exhibit to you his driver's license.
6. WITNESSES - Obtain the names and addresses of any witnesses as soon as you can. Both eyewitnesses and all others might have some information about any of the circumstances of the accident.
7. ARRESTS - An arrest at the scene does not necessarily indicate liability.
8. WHEN TO LEAVE THE SCENE - Unless your injuries impel you to do otherwise, do not leave the scene of the accident until you have, as outlined previously, assisted the injured, protected the scene, called an officer and assisted him, identified the other driver, obtained the names, addresses, and statements of all witnesses and made notes.
9. SEE YOUR CHIROPRACTOR - Remember that serious and costly injuries do not always result in immediate pain or bloodshed.
10. INFORM INSURANCE COMPANY - Make a complete report to your insurance company. Failure to make a prompt and correct report may affect your rights.

Dr. David Daniel Palmer was a practicing magnetic healer in the 1890's, who practiced in Davenport, Iowa. There was a janitor who worked in the building where Dr. Palmer practiced named Harvey Lillard. Harvey had been deaf for 17 years and was so deaf that he could not hear the wagons bump along the brick paved streets.

Dr. Palmer asked Harvey how he had lost his hearing. Harvey replied that while bent over, in a stooped position, he heard something "pop" in his spine and immediately lost his hearing. Dr. Palmer was a very reasoning man and asked if he could examine Harvey's spine to see if he could determine what had caused the deafness. Harvey agreed, and Dr. Palmer palpated Harvey's spine.

He found a noticeably large bump on Harvey's spine at the 2nd cervical level. He determined that perhaps this large bump on Harvey's spine had caused Harvey's deafness and decided to reduce that bump by making a thrust upon it. Dr. Palmer placed Harvey down on his stomach and gave the bump a hard shove. After a series of three shoves the bump was reduced - Harvey's hearing returned!

Dr. Palmer reasoned - if Harvey Lillard's hearing was restored by reducing the bump in his spine, why not reduce the bumps in other people's spines and restore their hearing. So he started to advertise that he could restore hearing by reducing bumps on people's spines. He started watching and plotting where spinal nerves went, what organs and tissue cells they innervated.

He developed his own anatomical charts, made notes of what was happening to different individual's problems and found that people were healing from conditions other than deafness. Heart conditions, asthma, kidney problems, and even cancer to name a few, were clearing up in the patients of Dr. D.D. Palmer. He started looking to the spine as the cause of the diseases.

Dr. D.D. Palmer knew that he had stumbled on how to get the body to heal itself, but he did not want to share it with the world, rather he wanted to keep it as a family secret. His son, Bartlett Joshua Palmer (B.J.), decided on letting the world know about the discovery his father had made and tried to keep secret. B.J. talked his father into starting a school for people to learn the art of chiropractic.

D.D. opened "The Palmer Infirmary and Chiropractic School" in 1897, but since he had no students, he stated the opening of the school was in 1898 (when he had two students). B.J. was one of four students in the class of 1902. After graduating, B.J. practiced in several cities. His father asked him to come home and help run the infirmary and school, which B.J. did. B.J. later bought out his father's interest and D.D. moved to Los Angeles, California, where he lived the remainder of his life.

B.J. worked at developing his school in Davenport, Iowa. There were many trials and tribulations; not to mention the arrests, the legal battles, etc. that comes from trying to develop something new. He went through financial difficulties and then made a lot of money through various enterprises that he was involved in. He started a new business in the fledging radio industry. In fact, one of the largest radio stations in the midwest carry the call letters "WOC", meaning the "Wonders of Chiropractic". The most famous of the people to ever work for him was Ronald Reagan, the man later to become President of the United States.

Among other things that B.J. did was to develop a research clinic, a radio station, a sanitarium for the mentally ill, a television station, analytical instruments for the new chiropractic profession and adjusting tables. He wrote many books and one thing which he did not like was to be interrupted by having to put a new sheet of paper into his typewriter in the middle of a thought. He went to a typewriter company and told them that he wanted them to build him an electric typewriter (the first) that would hold a roll of paper. He then would type several feet of paper, take it to his secretary, and have her put it on normal size paper, punctuated, etc. He took a new invention, x-rays, and developed the techniques for taking certain views that would help the chiropractor see the vertebrae that were out of position. Some of these views are referred to by medical radiologists as "those chiropractic views" and are never referred to disparagingly because they are helpful to chiropractors and medics alike. The first full spine x-rays, that is a full view of the human spine on one film, were taken by Dr. B.J. Palmer, not the medics.

Some of the sayings that B.J. put out were: "As Sterling is to Silver, Palmer is to Chiropractic", "From the Palmer College Fountain Head, flows the pure water of chiropractic thinking", There is a small booklet of the sayings that B.J. had painted all over the walls of the school. For example, "Enter to learn - Leave to serve", "Prescription are written in Latin, but the bills come in plain English."

B.J.'s private clinic was a marvel. In order to work in the clinic, a student had to first complete all of the college clinic requirements and get accepted into Dr. Palmer's private clinic. Very seriously sick patients were seen in this clinic. Patients were referred in by other chiropractors and would also come in when medical intervention had proven unsatisfactory. Patients were sent in from all over the world, those who couldn't walk, who couldn't function in any way.

B.J. was getting a fantastic percentage of patients as well who were labeled as the "incurables". He had employed medical doctors to work in his clinic, who would run their tests to verify the hometown doctor's diagnosis, He would run his own Chiropractic tests, give the patient chiropractic adjustments when necessary, then the medical doctors would run their tests over to verify the results that Dr. Palmer was obtaining chiropractically. B.J. was a tireless worker and a mental giant, a man ahead of his time.

There is evidence that chiropractic is effective in certain situations. The seven studies below found that proper chiropractic treatment can deliver short and long-term results:

The Manga Report:

Chiropractic was the treatment of choice for low back pain, according to the Manga Report, a study by the Ontario Ministry of Health in Canada that recommended all low back pain patients be referred to chiropractors.

The Rand Corp. Study:

Spinal manipulation was an effective treatment for low back disorders according to a 1991 report by the RAND Corp., done by a panel of independent experts who surveyed existing studies.

British Medical Journal:

Chiropractic medicine was significantly superior to traditional medical care as measured by pain relief, time off from work, and money spent on treatment, British researchers discovered after a 10-year study that appeared in the June 1990 British Medical Journal.

The Florida Study:

Shorter Disability and Lower Related Costs: Temporary total disability for chiropractic patients was found to be 51.3 percent shorter than for patients receiving standard medical care. The direct costs of chiropractic physician services were an average of 58.8 percent lower than the corresponding cost for medical doctors. The estimated average total cost of care was 95.3 percent higher for medical patients than for chiropractic patients.

The Utah Study:

Chiropractic is Cost Effective: Compensation costs for work time lost were $68.38 for patients who received chiropractic care, compared to $668.39 for patients who received standard, non-surgical medical treatment. The number of work days lost under medical care was nearly 10 times higher with 20.7 days lost under medical care and only 2.4 days lost under chiropractic care.

The Meade Study:

Chiropractic Offers Long-Term Benefits: This study concluded, "For patients with low-back pain in whom manipulation is not contraindicated, chiropractic almost certainly confers a worthwhile, long-term benefit in comparison to hospital outpatient management."

Koes’ Clinical Trial:

The Positive Results of Chiropractic are Lasting: Manipulative therapy (chiropractic) and physiotherapy were compared as a treatment for persistent back and neck complaints. After 12 months, the manipulative therapy group showed greater improvement in the primary complaint with fewer visits.

The New Zealand Report:

This research studied cost effectiveness, chiropractic education and training, safety issues, and patient satisfaction. This 377-page document concluded that including chiropractic would have a positive influence on the health of the country.

The United States Agency for Health Care Policy Research (AHCPR) Study:

Published in 1994, this five-year study concluded that relief can be accomplished most safely with non-prescription medication and/or spinal manipulation.

For more information about the studies cited here, contact:

FOUNDATION OF CHIROPRACTIC EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
P.O. Box 4689, Des Moines, Iowa 50306-4689
Phone (800) 622-6309

It is clear that the major challenge facing our health care system today is to lower the cost of care without sacrificing quality.

One area that is particularly promising in this regard is the treatment of lower back pain. A significant body of evidence has been compiled to show that the use of chiropractic care for lower back pain is actually more effective and less costly than treatment by a medical doctor.

This synopsis provides a closer look at some important findings of various studies as well as the opinions of several medical experts. In addition, you will find that chiropractic is at the forefront of health care reform through the practice guidelines recently published by the American Chiropractic Association. This set of comprehensive guidelines is designed to help manage the care given to chiropractic patients so that it can be most efficient and effective.

By examining these facts about chiropractic care in the treatment of neuro-musculoskeletal disorders, it becomes apparent that chiropractic offers tremendous potential for helping our nation meet today’s health care challenge.

Research conducted throughout the world shows that chiropractic treatment for lower back pain is both safe and effective. The following are excerpts from a few of the more recent studies.

Quality of Results

"... for the management of low-back pain, chiropractic care is the most effective treatment, and it should be fully integrate into the government's health care system." - The Manga Report, 1993.

vs. Alternative Treatments

"Chiropractic treatment was more effective than hospital outpatient management, mainly for patients with chronic or severe back pain." - British Medical Journal, 1990.

"... spinal manipulation applied by chiropractors is shown to be more effective than alternative treatments for low-back pain." - The Manga Report, 1993.

"...injured workers ... diagnosed with low-back pain returned to work much sooner when treated by chiropractors than by physicians." - The Manga Report, 1993.

Long-Term Effectiveness

Two and three years after patients with back pain were treated by chiropractors, they experienced far less pain than those who were treated by medical doctors." - British Medical journal, 1990.

"Low Back Pain of Mechanical Origin: Randomized Comparison of Chiropractic and Hospital Outpatient Treatment."

"...one of the unexpected findings ...looks as though the treatment that the chiropractors give does something that results in a very long-term benefit." - T.W. Meade, M.D., CBC Radio.

vs. Alternative Treatments

"Chiropractic treatment was more effective than hospital outpatient management, mainly for patients with chronic or severe back pain." - British Medical Journal, 1990.

"... spinal manipulation applied by chiropractors is shown to be more effective than alternative treatments for low-back pain." - The Manga Report, 1993.

Chiropractic treatment for a variety of neuro-musculoskeletal conditions is gaining wider acceptance among the medical profession. Because students of chiropractic spend significantly more time studying the spine than do medical students, many medical doctors recognize the value of chiropractors as the appropriate source for diagnosis of and first line of treatment for functional disorders of the entire musculoskeletal system.

1. "M.D.s now categorize chiropractic manipulation with the highest rating: "Generally well- established and widely used." Spine, 1991. North American Spine Society.
2. "A majority of family physicians (in Washington) admitted having encouraged patients to see a chiropractor, and two-thirds indicated a desire to learn more about what chiropractors do." The Journal of Family Practice, 1992.
3. Family Physicians and Chiropractors: What's Best for the Patient? "Our trial showed that chiropractic is a very effective treatment, more effective than conventional hospital outpatient treatment for low-back pain ... particularly in patients who have sever problems."- T.W.Meade, M.D.
4. "The only difference that I can see is that the patients at John F. Kennedy get chiropractic manipulations. And in my experience, the patients at J.F.K. almost without fail get out of the hospital in a week. At Lutheran, it usually takes, oh, not uncommonly, 14 days."Per Frietag, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, on why he prefers to admit his patients with back pain to John F. Kennedy Hospital, which has staff chiropractors, rather than Lutheran General, which does not have staff chiropractors.
5. "Manipulative medicine is no longer a taboo topic." Norton Hadler, M.D., self-described "cantankerous doctor who would have never dealt with manipulation in the past," professor of rheumatology, University of North Carolina Medical School at Chapel Hill, Time Magazine, 1991.
6. "Ten years ago if you practiced manipulation . . . you couldn't get published and were never invited to meetings. Now I can't keep up with the invitations." - Neurologist Scott Haldeman. M.D., D.C. - New York Times. 1991.

Chiropractic treatment of back pain is a perfect example of how health care expenditures can be reduced while in fact increasing the quality of care. Not only is chiropractic treatment significantly less costly than treatment managed by a medical doctor, but because chiropractic care can get workers back on the job more quickly, it can save business millions of dollars in lost productivity.

Cost/Quality Analysis:

"The overwhelming body of evidence shows that chiropractic management of low-back pain is more cost effective than medical management, and that many medical therapies are of questionable validity or are clearly inadequate . . . Chiropractic manipulation is safer than medical management of low-back pain." - The Manga Report, 1993.

"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." - The Manga Report, 1993.

Mean Compensation Costs:

"The mean compensation cost (not treatment costs) paid out by the Utah Worker's Compensation Board for patients treated by medical doctors was $668.39; the mean compensation cost paid for patients treated by chiropractic was only $68.38." - Journal of Occupational Medicine, 1991.

"Cost per Case Comparison of Back Injury Claims for Chiropractic vs. Medical Management for Conditions with Identical Diagnostic Code." - Medical Payments Total medical costs for back-related injuries cost the Utah Worker's Compensation Board an average of $1,665.43 per case; chiropractic costs for similar cost only $775.30. -D.C. Tracts, 1989.

"Cost per Case Analysis of Utah Industrial Back Injury Claims: Chiropractic Management vs. Medical Management for Diagnostically Equivalent Conditions."

Comparison of Compensation Days

Days Of 1,996 low-back pain cases studied, patients receiving chiropractic treatment averaged 6.26 compensation days compared to 25.56 compensation days for medical patients. Chiropractic Journal of Australia, 1991. "Mechanical Low-Back Pain: A Comparison o Medical and Chiropractic Management."

The Av-Med Study

This study included 80 patients, each of whom was previously treated by a medical doctor and subsequently referred to the Silverman Chiropractic Center. Of these 80 patients, 21% had been diagnosed with disc problems, 5% received emergency room treatment and 12% had been diagnosed as requiring surgery. Following chiropractic treatment, no surgery was required. 86% needed no further treatment at all. And the projected savings on the patient study group was approximately $250,000. - The Av-Med Study, 1993.

Because chiropractic treatment of lower back pain is often more successful than medical treatment, patient satisfaction with chiropractic care is generally higher. As these successes mount, positive word-of-mouth spreads. Today, the popularity of chiropractic is at an all-time high.

1. Nearly 30% of the U.S. population, aged 18 and older, have used chiropractic. - The Gallup Organization, 1991.
2. Nine of ten chiropractic users felt their treatment was effective. - The Gallup Organization, 1991.
3. 58% of those using chiropractic considered it an essential part of their Health insurance package. - The Gallup Organization, 1991.
4. "Chiropractic patients were three times more satisfied with their care than patients of family practice physicians." - Western Journal of Medicine, 1989.
5. "Patient Evaluations of Low-Back Pain Care."-"Chiropractors are now accepted as a legitimate healing profession by the public and by an increasing number of physicians." - The Manga Report, 1993.
6. "Chiropractic is a growing component of the health care sector, and it is widely used by the population." -The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, and Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, January 1992.
7. "Mandated health Insurance Coverage for Chiropractic Treatment: An Economic Assessment, With Implications for the Commonwealth of Virginia."