I’ve seen it so many times in the office. A new patient tells me they went to the ER after a car accident and was told nothing was broken, “you’ll be fine”. They continue to have pain and finally decided to seek care. This new research has a focus on auto accidents and suggests that people have ongoing pain years later. See the research synopsis here.
Additionally the author notes, “the focus up until now in a lot of our care is on whether you live or die, which is obviously important. But we can’t just stop there. And I think we need to look at what are the things we can do to improve people’s lives after serious illness or injury.
How about the only proven treatment for whiplash? Chiropractic.
Although frequently prescribed for patients with lower back pain recent clinical guidelines by the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society suggest that opioids should be reserved for the minority of individuals with severe disabling pain. In addition the guidelines warn clinicians of potential risks for abuse, addiction and other adverse events.
Another recent study by
Webster et al. looked at 8443 worker’s compensation claims and found that opioids prolonged disability, “after controlling for age, gender, job tenure and injury severity, the findings indicate that receipt of higher amounts or morphine equivalent medications in early treatment was significantly associated with adverse outcomes, including higher medical costs and prolonged disability, higher risk for surgery and continued use of opioids.”
The Graston Technique is in the news again, this time for the treatment of chronic pain. See the ABC news story here.
People often ask me about surgical treatments for lower back pain. One that has come up more recently is the Prodisc artificial disk replacement. One thing is for sure you have to be very careful about conflicts of interest in medicine these days.
According to a recent
New York Times expose half of the surgeons who participated in the trial evaluating the artificial disk had direct financial stake in the success or failure of the product. ”Instead of serving as objective gatekeepers who can screen out potential harmful or ineffective new devices or drugs, some medical experts say, clinical researchers may have incentive to overstate the value of a new product for patients.”
The positive results of this study are very suspect and just another reason to use
safe and proven effective chiropractic care. I wouldn’t subject myself to any unproven invasive medical procedure, you shouldn’t either.
The average person with kids today is not aware that drugs given to children have never been tested specifically for them. Physicians are prescribing drugs based on a “best guess” as to the correct dosage efficacy and even safely. Looking at the FDA’s recent warning regarding children being given cough and cold medicines demonstrates that children are not just “small adults”.
This year, the Government Accountability Office said that only one-third of the drugs prescribed for children have been studied and labeled for pediatric use. The pediatric research that has been done includes some frightening results: of older drugs recently being studied on children, 87 percent were being improperly prescribed. Children were getting medicine that didn’t work at all, was under- or overdosed, or that had some possibility deadly side effects.
What can you do? Ask your pediatrician these simple questions before accepting a prescription:
1. Would a wait and watch approach be advisable in this instance?
2. Is this the only treatment available or do I have options that don’t include drug therapy?
3. What are the side effects of this drug?
4. Has the drug been tested for pediatric use?
5. Is this the use for which the drug was intended or are you prescribing this off label?
6. Can we begin with a smaller dosage and then increase if necessary?
Many parents report and improvement in their childs quality of life after beginning routine, family chiropractic wellness care. A healthy nervous system results in a stronger immune system, which could mean less prescriptions drugs.
According to the American Chiropractic Association the presidential candidates are more supportive of chiropractic care than ever before.
Barack Obama, “my health plan prioritizes preventative care, chiropractors play a significant role in this effort”.
Hillary Clinton, “Chiropractic is widely recognized as one of the safest, drug free, non-invasive and minimally risky therapies for musculoskeletal problems”.
Two weeks ago in Reno I had the opportunity to hear Scott Haldeman MD, DC, PhD discuss the findings of the The World Health Association’s Neck Pain Task Force. The task force was created to help neck pain sufferers and health professionals use the best research evidence to prevent, diagnose and treat neck pain.
The Neck Task Force recently released it’s findings after an exhaustive seven year study of neck pain treatments. They concluded that neck manipulation, acupuncture and massage are better than most of the treatments most utilized by the traditional medical system. It was found that steroid injections, surgery and neck collars show little evidence of benefit.
In addition to it’s comprehensive review of neck pain, the task for also took on the widely publicized incorrect notion that chiropractic manipulation causes stroke. They found that patients who visit the chiropractor are no more likely to experience a stroke than patients who visit their medical doctor.
Will the medical establishment take these guidelines and apply them to neck pain patients to ensure the best results. Doubtful, but the task force is going to do it’s best to get the word out.
RSS
Comments (2) 
