Today we will review a trial that Kaiser’s reviewers obviously ignored so that they could deny benefits for cervical adjusting.

First off, this article should have been very easy for their reviewers to find. Look at the title:

Our ongoing series of Editorials continues by reviewing what’s known about neck pain, and the success or failure of specific treatment approaches.

Today we will answer the question:

As a response to the actions of Kaiser, we will be publishing a series of editorials to review the alternatives, if chiropractic is eliminated from coverage. Informed Consent includes the process of reviewing the safety and efficacy of alternative forms of treatment. So let’s compare medicine’s success with resolving neck pain with chiropractic’s. I hope you will find these reviews of interest.

A recent balanced article in the Feb 13, 2008 issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) revealed that between 1997 and 2005, the costs for “standard medical management” of spinal pain syndromes (both neck and back) increased by an inflation-adjusted 63%, while measurable outcomes for physical functioning, work or school limitations, and social limitations among adults actually declined. During this same period, there was also an overall increase in the number of individuals who experienced neck or back pain (from 20.7% to 24.7%).

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I’m not enrolled in any of the Kaiser provider panels, so I have no vested interest in challenging their actions, but any time one Insurance Company explores a novel new way to reduce their costs, there’s always the chance that others will follow. Because Kaiser opened the conversation, asking whether chiropractic care actually provides benefits for those with neck pain, I draw your attention to the research we have gathered.

Source chiroeco.com

Kaiser Permanente Mid Atlantic States and Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group recently revised their Chiropractic Manipulation Medical Coverage Policy to exclude cervical Chiropractic Manipulative Treatment (CMT).

The revised policy states, “Given the paucity of data related to beneficial effects of chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine and the real potential for catastrophic adverse events, it was decided to exclude chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine from coverage.”

Last week, ACA sent a letter to Kaiser outlining the extensive data that supports cervical spinal manipulation as both beneficial and safe. The association also released the following statement:

“The American Chiropractic Association is aware that Kaiser Permanente Mid Atlantic States and Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group have revised their Chiropractic Manipulation Medical Coverage Policy to exclude cervical Chiropractic Manipulative Treatment (CMT) from coverage.

This restriction, if allowed to stand, will be harmful to chiropractic patients and doctors. We have contacted Kaiser to express our grave concern over this change, and we await its reply. ACA will expend every effort to encourage Kaiser to reverse this new restriction, and we will keep our members and the profession informed along the way.” – ACA President, Dr. Rick McMichael

Source The Daytona Beach News-Journal

PORT ORANGE — Tucked in retired Brig. Gen. Becky Halstead’s briefcase are several dog tags listing the names of men and women who “didn’t make it home.”

Halstead, 51, the first woman to command in combat at the strategic level, said Wednesday she carries the tags she had engraved of the people who died and served under her command in the U.S. Army as a reminder of “the sacrifices they made.”

“I don’t ever want to forget,” Halstead told more than 100 college students at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Port Orange.

She told the story while talking to students about leadership and principles she thinks are important to live by such as serving others, having a positive attitude, being dedicated and disciplined.

Halstead, who spent 27 years in the military and served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006 after previously serving in Afghanistan, also is the first female graduate of West Point to be promoted to general. She now heads her own consulting company.

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Chiro.Org has been around since March 1995, providing access to chiropractic information without the hot air, hustle, or self-promotion I see on many other DC-oriented websites. Our motto was, and always will be “…for DCs, by DCs, with no thought of personal gain.”

Please become our FaceBook friend and consider joining us in providing non-solicitous, non-confrontational, non-political, and unbiased information of value to the profession. That’s all we’re about.

The Nutrition Page provides non-solicitous nutrition information, including articles and research abstracts supporting the benefits of vitamins, minerals and herbals for the restoration and maintenance of health. The Nutrition Section is divided into several convenient sections.

Our Whiplash page has been online since early 1996. During those years we have continued to compile valuable materials, including the Whiplash Care Recommendations, generously provided by Arthur C. Croft, DC from his best-selling text book titled Whiplash Injuries: The Cervical Acceleration/ Deceleration Syndrome.

Have you dropped by the Forward Head Posture Page lately? There have been several new articles added recently.

We would all like to thank Dr. Richard C. Schafer, DC, PhD, FICC for his lifetime commitment to the profession. In the future we will continue to add materials from RC’s copyrighted books for your use.

The following is Chapter 3 from RC’s best-selling book:
“Clinical Biomechanics: Musculoskeletal Actions and Reactions”

The following materials are provided as a service to our profession. There is no charge for individuals to copy and file these materials. However, they cannot be sold or used in any group or commercial venture without written permission from ACAPress.

Chapter 3:   Basic Factors of Biodynamics and Joint Stability

The techniques used for analyzing static positions of the body are only approximate inasmuch as forces accompanying movement incorporate such dynamic factors as acceleration, momentum, friction, the changing positions of rotational axes, and the resistance and support offered by tissues other than muscles. This chapter discusses the basic concepts and terms of biodynamics, biomechanical stress, and the biomechanical aspects of articular cartilage pertinent to the clinical setting.

Structural Motion

The study of dynamics is concerned with loads and the motions of bodies (kinematics) and the action of forces in producing or changing their motion (kinetics). Kinematics lets us describe the characteristics of motion position, acceleration, and velocity such as in gait or scoliotic displacements. Here we are concerned with the position of the center of mass of the body and its segments, the segmental range of motion, and the velocity and direction of their movements. In kinetics, we become concerned with the forces that cause or restrict motion such as muscle contraction, gravity, and friction. A complete biomechanical analysis of human motion or motion of a part would include both kinematic and kinetic data.

Motion can be defined as an object’s relative change of place or position in space within a time frame and with respect to some other object in space. Thus, motion may be determined and illustrated by knowing and showing its position before and after an interval of time. While linear motion is readily demonstrated in the body as a whole as it moves in a straight line, most joint motions are combinations of translatory and angular movements that are more often than not diagonal rather than parallel to the cardinal planes. In addition to muscle force, joint motion is governed by factors of movement freedom, axes of movement, and range of motion.

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We would all like to thank Dr. Richard C. Schafer, DC, PhD, FICC for his lifetime commitment to the profession. In the future we will continue to add materials from RC’s copyrighted books for your use.

The following is Chapter 7 from RC’s best-selling book:
“Clinical Biomechanics: Musculoskeletal Actions and Reactions”

The following materials are provided as a service to our profession. There is no charge for individuals to copy and file these materials. However, they cannot be sold or used in any group or commercial venture without written permission from ACAPress.

Chapter 7:   CLINICAL BIOMECHANICS OF THE CERVICAL SPINE

This chapter considers those factors that are of biomechanical and related clinical interest imperative to the satisfactory evaluation of common or not infrequent cervical syndromes. The discussion assumes that the physician is skilled in taking a thorough clinical history and performing the basic physical, orthopedic, neurologic, and roentgenographic examination procedures. The kinesiology and kinematics of the neck, the effects and mechanisms of cervical trauma, and a number of clinical problems are discussed that are pertinent to the diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal cervical disorders.

Background

The viscera of the neck serve as a channel for vital vessels and nerves, the trachea, esophagus, spinal cord, and as a site for lymph and endocrine glands. The cervical spine provides musculoskeletal stability and support for the cranium, and a flexible and protective column for movement, balance adaptation, and housing of the spinal cord and vertebral artery. When the head is in balance, a line drawn through the nasal spine and the superior border of the external auditory meatus will be perpendicular to the ground.

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Source Observer-Dispatch
by FRAN PERRITANO

Tom LaFountain hails from a very athletic family, so it would be natural that his career is somehow connected to sports. LaFountain is a chiropractic orthopedist who practices in Utica, but he also has been a member of the PGA sports medicine team since 1997. He has worked with some famous golfers including Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Davis Love, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Question: You’ve been involved as a chiropractor on the PGA Tour since 1997. How did that come about?

Answer: I had worked for seven years for the U.S. Speedskating Team and had done the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France, in 1992 and Lillihammar, Norway, in 1994. I became friends with a physical therapist who worked on the U.S. Luge team. He left to work with the PGA Tour after the 1992 Olympics. In 1997, he called me and said that they needed someone to work on the PGA Tour that had a specialty in spinal problems, and that he thought that I would be a good fit. I did a trial tournament at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, signed on and have been there since.

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We would all like to thank Dr. Richard C. Schafer, DC, PhD, FICC for his lifetime commitment to the profession. In the future we will continue to add materials from RC’s copyrighted books for your use.

The following is Chapter 13 from RC’s best-selling book:
“Applied Physiotherapy in Chiropractic”

The following materials are provided as a service to our profession. There is no charge for individuals to copy and file these materials. However, they cannot be sold or used in any group or commercial venture without written permission from ACAPress.

Chapter 13:   Rehabilitation Methodology

The topics of this chapter have been adapted from Volume 1, Chiropractic Rehabilitation, by K. D. Christensen, DC, © 1990, and used here with permission.

INTRODUCTION

Strengthening exercises for the muscular system play an essential role in the chiropractic management of various neuromusculoskeletal disorders. Knowledge of various training methods and exercise techniques are thus among the most important requirements for effective treatment. [1] Properly conducted individual exercise programs help prevent many injuries and serve to shorten the recovery period necessary to restore the patient back to health. [2] Exercise programs can be designed to increase strength, aid weight loss, increase cardiorespiratory efficiency, or simply improve overall musculoskeletal performance.

All exercise programs should have specific goals in mind. The cornerstone of exercise is Davis’ Law, or the (SAID) principle that states that the body makes specific adaptation to imposed demands. [3] The more specific the exercise, the more specific the adaptation. Exercise, therefore, should be as specific as possible to the individual’s goals and needs.

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