Source Harvard Health Blog Anthony Komaroff, M.D., Editor in Chief, Harvard Health Publications The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (which I’ll just call the Law) in 2010 was regarded as a landmark event in U.S. history. Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court, which largely upholds the Law, should also be viewed [...]

A little known, but potentially life-saving fact is that common medications deplete your body of a host of vital nutrients essential to your health. In this practical guide I’ll show you how to avoid drug-induced nutrient depletion and discuss options for replacing nutrient-robbing medications with natural supplements.

Neck and Back Pain in Children: Prevalence and Progression Over Time The Chiro.Org Blog BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2011 (May 16); 12: 98 ~ FULL TEXT Per Kjaer, Niels Wedderkopp, Lars Korsholm, and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Part of Clinical Locomotion Network, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230, Odense, Denmark. [...]

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Did you know that the Meet the Doctor section of a chiropractic website can account for nearly 50 percent of total page views of your site? In many cases that’s more than the About Us or Contact Us pages, which are often considered the most important website areas after the home page.

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The Texas Medical Association (TMA) and the the Texas Medical Board (TMB) takes one in the shorts, as the Texas Court of Appeals denies their attempt to halt chiropractors from diagnosing patients.

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A large Danish registry study found that the risks of thrombotic stroke or myocardial infarction (MI) roughly doubled in women taking oral contraceptives with low-to-moderate doses of ethinyl estradiol.

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Professions, by definition, “own” their tools and their knowledge. This means that there is a cultural consensus in society that expertise in the use of professional knowledge is invested in a particular profession because that profession knows the most, is the most expert in, and can do the most good for the public with its unique tools. Lawyers know the most about laws because they make laws, study laws and apply laws. You wouldn’t go to a plumber if you had a legal case. Obviously, the situation is analogous for health care.

Source Dynamic Chiropractic The Spine Journal recently announced its “Top 25 Hottest Articles” for 2011. These are the most downloaded articles for the year. The 2011 list is surprising in that 13 of the 25 articles have at least one author who is a doctor of chiropractic. In addition, 10 of the 25 papers include [...]

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Proper treatment of TMJ dysfunction must be based on a thorough case history, a complete physical workup, an evaluation of the cranial respiratory impulse and craniosacral mechanisms, and a detailed examination of the TMJ, cranium, and cervical spine. Unfortunately, radiographs to determine abnormal joint space are rarely successful unless over 30% of the bone has been destroyed.

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As with most parts of the body, traumatic effects in the forearm or wrist may occur abruptly (eg, fracture, strain, sprain) or be the result of long-term microtrauma (eg, tunnel syndromes, arthritis, entrapment by scar tissue).

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Women are the largest consumers of healthcare, and this extends to their utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Researchers have attempted to uncover the reasons why women turn to CAM in general and to botanical medicine in particular. Desire to have personal control over their health has been cited as the strongest motive for women to use herbal medicine. Second was dissatisfaction with conventional treatment and its disregard for a holistic approach, as well as concerns about the side effects of medications.

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The shoulder girdle is a multiaxial intricately synchronized joint complex that has considerable power and an extreme range of motion. The anterior, superior, and posterior shoulder muscles provide the great power, and the collateral ligaments do not appreciably limit motion in any plane. Thus, stability must be provided by muscles: essentially the rotator cuff and subscapularis muscles of the arm, which are aided slightly by the glenohumeral ligaments.

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Accurate diagnosis of neck masses is critical to minimize morbidity and mortality. However, differentials vary greatly and can be challenging for the physician.

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It is reasonable to think that patients responding to spinal manipulation (SM), a mechanically based therapy, would have mechanical derangement of the spine as a critical causal component in the mechanism of their condition. Consequently, SM practitioners routinely assess intervertebral motion, and treat patients on the basis of those assessments. In chiropractic practice, the vertebral subluxation has been the historical raison d’etre for SM. Vertebral subluxation is a biomechanical spine derangement thought to produce clinically significant effects by disturbing neurological function.

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Although it is well recognized that national costs associated with back and neck conditions have grown considerably in recent years, little is known about the costs of care for specific ambulatory health services that are used to manage this population. Between 1999 and 2008, the mean inflation-adjusted annual expenditures on medical care for these patients increased by 95% (from $487 to $950); most of the increase was accounted for by increased costs for medical specialists, as opposed to primary care physicians.

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Presented here was a patient with acute C7 radiculopathy that, despite MRI findings of a C6–7 disc protrusion with right-sided lateral canal stenosis, resolved following a course of chiropractic treatment that included SMT and cervical paraspinal PIR. The patient’s radiculopathy symptoms did not return in 3 years of follow-up.

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Cervical radiculopathy (CR), while less common than conditions with neck pain alone, can be a significant cause of neck pain and disability; thus the determination of adequate treatment options for patients is essential. Currently, inadequate scientific literature restricts specific conservative management recommendations for CR. Despite a paucity of evidence for high-velocity low-amplitude (HVLA) spinal manipulation in the treatment for CR, this strategy has been frequently labeled as contraindicated. Scientific support for appropriate outcome measures for CR is equally deficient. While more scientific data is needed to draw firm conclusions, the present review suggests that spinal manipulation may be cautiously considered as a therapeutic option for patients suffering from CR. With respect to outcome measures, the Neck Disability Index appears well-suited for spinal manipulative treatment of CR.

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While spinal manipulation is widely seen as a reasonable treatment option for biomechanical disorders of the spine, such as neck pain and low back pain, the use of spinal manipulation to treat non-musculoskeletal complaints remains controversial. This controversy is due in part to the perception that there is no robust neurobiological rationale to justify using a biomechanical treatment of the spine to address a disorder of visceral function.

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A 36-year-old male patient had low-back pain, right leg pain, and testicular pain that was worsening. All had been present for 5 years. The patient was treated with Cox Technic (flexion-distraction) of the lumbar spine, receiving a total of 19 treatments over an 8-week time period.

Source Halifax ChronicleHerald CHILTON, Wis. — Lucky, a 7-year-old dairy cow, had been walking with a limp for several weeks when veterinarian Sara Gilbertson was called. Instead of prescribing painkillers, Gilbertson tried an unusual new therapy — a chiropractic adjustment that included a full-length spinal massage. Gilbertson rubbed the Holstein’s spine by gently squeezing it [...]

Chiro.Org Blog:

Without a doubt, no other health-care approach equals the efficacy of chiropractic in the general field of conservative neuromusculoskeletal rehabilitation. For many centuries, therapeutic rehabilitation was a product of personal experience passed on from clinician to clinician. In the last 20 years, however, it has become an applied science. In its application, of course, much empiricism remains that can be called an intuitive art –and this is true for all forms of professional health care.