Doctors, Others Deride Chiropractic School

AP ^ | 1/16/05 | BRENT KALLESTAD

[Peelod]

http://www.canoe.ca/ChiroYork/home.html

The last few months have been tough on chiropractic in Canada and the next few may be a whole lot worse.

First, members of the chiropractic community were hit with a $12-million lawsuit over a stroke death that resulted from a chiropractic manipulation.

Then, a Toronto neurologist announced that the early results of his study suggest chiropractic neck manipulation may be the largest cause of vertebral dissection which is the major cause of strokes in Canadians under 45.
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[anniegetyourgun]

It sells everything else.....why not Chiropractic?!?!

[UseYourHead]

There's usually a Board of Chiropractic for each area and they can be consulted for recommnedations. A reputable sports medicine clinic should also know who to go to. For me, I needed someone who has knowledge of the Gonstead System as straight Palmer was not helping.

[sarasota]

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

[sarasota]

I was quite advanced in years before I realized all doctors do is prescribe drugs and perform surgeries. Guess if one likens drugs to good health, that's going to work. But that's when I started concentrating on a better lifestyle.

[reagandemo]

[RipSawyer]

<<<<<That's basically a hit-piece which could have been written by the PR department of any Doctors Union. The article is all smoke and no fire. All allegation and conjecture. But it would do well on any Jeraldo show.<<<<<

Floyd R Right about that, I believe.

[theFIRMbss]

[rlmorel]

heh, I LOVE that graphic...nice job! Do you mind if I use it on occasion, or would you like to reserve it for your own use?

It sure does give me a laugh when I see it...reminds me of the pained look my dad used to get when we were being really dumb asses as kids...:)

[rlmorel]

And...we are supposed to believe anything coming down from the great socialized medicine north of Canada?

Sorry...only kidding!

[Bushforlife]

Chiropractors are quacks. If someone has a sore neck or back, and they get a massage [adjustment], they are likely to feel better. Since most acute back/neck pain episodes resolve spontaneously within 7-10 days, of course chiropractors can claim that their "therapy" was responsible for the "cure". And of course if a patient is told that a particular treatment is designed to make them better, a certain percentage will improve no matter what the treatment consists of [placebo effect].

Modern medicine is NOT limited to surgery and medication prescription. Physical therapy is routinely prescribed for neck/back problems. A whole specialty of Pain Control has evolved to deal with the chronic pain of neck/back disease. Chronic neck/back pain is VERY hard to control, hence the emergence of a pseudoscience like Chiropractic.

As for the "modern medicine can cause people harm" posts, the posters show an amazing degree of lack of understanding of the complexity of medical treatment. For instance, one poster cited an allergic reaction to an antibiotic as an example of modern medicine causing illness. If a patient is found to have a pneumonia, that patient needs an antibiotic to recover. There is no may to predict if a patient will have an allergic reaction to an antibiotic. What would you have the physician do, refuse to prescribe the life saving antibiotic for fear that the patient will have an allergic reaction? All drugs have the potential for side effects; thats the fault of REALITY, not modern medicine.

Consider this situation: you go to your doctor and are diagnosed as having very high blood pressure. You do not respond to a low salt diet. You are told what has been shown in SCIENTIFIC studies, that you are at high risk of having a stroke or a heart attack as a result of untreated high blood pressure. You are told that you have to take blood pressure medication, and that ALL MEDICATION HAS SIDE EFFECTS, which are listed for you. Choice A: refuse to take medication, and play the odds that you will have a disabling illness as a consequence. Choice B: take the medication and play the odds that you may have a side effect to the medication, but a much lower risk of stroke/heart attack. Which will you choose?

All of modern medicine consists of this choice, which basically is to offer the patient a lower risk therapy to avoid the higher risk of the disease. In real life, there is absolutely no therapy without side effects; there is no food to which someone won't be allergic, and there is no car that can't suddenly break down in traffic. So if you are told you have an illness, go ahead and refuse any treatment without side effects, and you will therefore do without treatment. Such is the nature of the real world.

[Michael.SF.]

a handful have even threatened to resign rather than teach alongside what they consider a "pseudoscience."

Two comments:

There i$ one primary rea$on Doctor$ are oppo$$ed to Chiropractor$.

Other then drugs or surgery what are a Doctor's options when it comes to back pain? Answer: virtually none

[Bushforlife]

Please see my post #53.

So according to your logic, if a practitioner wishes to shake a rattle and dance around the patients' bed as a treatment, then the only reason doctors oppose that treatment is for financial concerns.

I think that in truth, the opposite is what is really happening. There is an illness that is very hard to treat, so a pseudoscience has evolved which claims it has the answers. For money.

[anniegetyourgun]

Ah yes, the secrets of the universe....I'd recognize them anywhere....

[Michael.SF.]

So according to your logic, if a practitioner wishes to shake a rattle and dance around the patients' bed as a treatment, then the only reason doctors oppose that treatment is for financial concerns.

Don't be an ass.

This thread is specifically about Chiropractors. I believe they have a long enough track record in the US and a longer one in Europe to be taken as a serious alternative to drugs and or surgery.

[anniegetyourgun]

See #25. I was young a foolish back then. Once was enough.

[Bushforlife]

I think there would be a difference of opinion about who is being an a**. You made an accusation that physicians oppose chiropractors for financial reasons. I pointed out that physicians would oppose ANY questionable sham treatment, and their objection would be that the treatment is bogus.

The track record you refer to is a record of holding out false hope to victims of a terrible disease resistance to therapy. It is a record of deceiving people in pain, similar to the Medicine Shows of the 19th century. It is a record of collecting money from the desperate, who indeed have been around a long time both in the US and Europe.

[Old Professer]

When I first moved here 10 years ago, my neighbor's father, a Vietnam vet, was staying with them and being treated in a group of vets to determine the validity of Agent Orange medical problems while also being treated for diabetes.

He developed a nagging ache in his neck that limited his movement and caused him a great deal of discomfort and the VA docs couldn't figure out the cause but they didn't object when he went to a chiropractor several times a week for about a month or so.

Finally, the VA gave him a full head and neck scan and discovered a rapid-growth tumor.

He was scheduled for corrective surgery, etc. when he died of a stroke.