Views of a chiropractic critic: your real enemy is yourself

Article Abstract:

An allopathic physician (conventional medical doctor) discusses his views of chiropractic and chiropractors. Investigating all kinds of quackery has been an active concern of the author for more then 20 years; his inquiries have been directed at unnecessary surgery, psychotherapy and chiropractic. With regard to their credibility, many of the difficulties chiropractors face are caused by themselves and their confused philosophy of practice. Chiropractic practice was established on the principles of D.D. Palmer, and based on the largely abandoned and discredited notion that all illness is caused by misalignments of the spine. As a result of this approach, chiropractors have claimed to treat ''pinched nerve, and release nerve energy''. There is not even the slightest scientific evidence that ''choked off'' nerve energy exists, or that it causes disease. To gain credibility and avoid being classified as quackery, chiropractic practice must abandon these unproven, unscientific beliefs. Similarly, the claim that subluxed (out-of-position) vertebrae cause disease, which can be treated by manipulations, is not based on scientific fact. Many chiropractors use 14 X 36 inch full-spine X-rays for diagnosis, but this procedure is unlikely to produce meaningful results as a screening method. Some chiropractors encourage ''preventive maintenance'', in the form of frequent, often weekly, adjustments of the spine to keep their patients healthy. Well people do not require weekly preventive intervention, except to increase the income of their practitioners. The prescribing and sale of high-dose vitamins is also used by chiropractors as a means of increasing revenue; dietary supplementation of the type recommended by chiropractors is unproven. In general, individuals truly needing massive doses of vitamins need specialist medical care, beyond the competence of general medical practitioners. In short, their claims of unscientific diagnosis and treatments that only lead to economic gain are chiropractors' worst enemies. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Evaluation, Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Ethical aspects, Vitamin therapy, Fraud investigation, Quacks and quackery, Quackery

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Sacroiliac and lower extremity pains as presenting symptoms in sarcoidosis

Article Abstract:

Sarcoidosis is a generalized inflammatory disease of unknown cause which may affect any organ or tissue of the body. The disease is associated with diffuse and highly variable lesions of organs, such as the lungs (the most common site), parotid glands, skin, joints, nervous system, bone, and abdominal organs. The severity of the disease ranges from mild and self-resolving to fatal. Blacks, females, and individuals between the ages of 20 and 40 are the groups most frequently affected. The overall incidence is 25 cases for each 100,000 persons in the US. The case of a 29-year-old man is described. The patient was first seen with pain in his ischial tuberosities (the portion of the pelvis upon which one sits), and the sacroiliac joint. Over the course of a week the pain grew worse and radiated to the lower extremities. Laboratory and X-ray findings where at first unremarkable, but gradually showed changes. Approximately one month after the onset of pain, lesions on the patient's skin, and changes in the lymph nodes surrounding the root of the lungs were found. This case demonstrates that polyarthritis symptoms accompanied by a skin rash can be easily misdiagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis or rheumatic fever, instead of sarcoidosis. Because sarcoidosis is a systemic and multisystem disease, two or more organ systems must be involved to support this diagnosis. The recovery rate for sarcoidosis is 46 to 89 percent, and the mortality rate is less than 3 percent. A frequent treatment is nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin for the joint pain, and corticosteroids may be used if lung symptoms occur. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Care and treatment, Case studies, Diagnosis, Sarcoidosis

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Avascular necrosis of the hips

Article Abstract:

The case of a 41-year-old man with recurrent lower back pain which persisted for approximately one year is presented. The patient's pain became intense nine days before seeking chiropractic care. A conventional physician, as well as another chiropractor, had been previously consulted. X-ray examination of the lumbar spine showed a narrowing of the spinal canal at two regions and the presence of cysts within the head of both femurs (thigh bone). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a specialized imaging technique that allows soft tissue and bone to be examined, showed that the heads of both femurs were eroded (aseptic necrosis) as the result of alcoholism. The patient was referred for an orthopedic evaluation of his hips, and to determine if surgery was needed. The consultant found that the hip joints were asymptomatic, and concluded that the patient's abstinence from alcohol made a spontaneous recovery of the femurs likely. Distraction reduction, a chiropractic procedure, was performed to provide relief of the symptoms caused by the narrowing of the spinal canal causing disk protrusion. This case provides an example of a patient with a combination of problems that needed to be dealt with separately. In this case, some symptoms could be relieved by chiropractic and others by non-chiropractic means. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Usage, Femur, Spinal adjustment

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