New study pits Neurologists vs. Chiropractors

BostonGlobe ^ | 5/27/2003 | Stephen Smith

[Jimmyclyde]

It is the medical world's equivalent of the Hatfields and McCoys: Neurologists vs. chiropractors, conventional vs. alternative medicine.

And the feud just got a little nastier this month, with the brain specialists using a freshly minted study by university researchers to load their slingshots with new ammunition aimed at chiropractors. That research links strokes in younger patients to chiropractic neck manipulations.

[randog]

No need to fret...if your chiropractor damages your vertebral artery just dangle a quartz crystal over your neck and all will be well.

[pabianice]

But the lead author of that study, Dr. Wade S. Smith, swears that it's not his intention to drive chiropractors out of business.

R-i-g-h-t. And "Prime Minister" Abbas just stated that the PLO has no intention of killing any of the Jews in Israel...

[Taliesan]

Most manipulations of the spine are so quick, and performed with such care, he said, that it would be impossible to tear the artery. In some cases, he suggested, maybe patients whose arteries are already torn visit chiropractors because of pain, and a treatment results in the inadvertent dislodging of a clot.

Scary answer. This brain is not that of a scientist. The first sentence begs the question, the second ignores it.

I suppose it would be too much to ask the chiropracter to actually diagnose the specific cause of the pain before administering treatment?

[realpatriot71]

R-i-g-h-t. And "Prime Minister" Abbas just stated that the PLO has no intention of killing any of the Jews in Israel...

Why would the neurologists care? The chiropractors mostly see the mendane crap that neurologists don't want to deal with, also, it now seems ever more so, neurologists get to mop up the pieces when the chiropractors do something screwy. There's plenty of work to go around.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Aren't all their diagnosises the same?

I have been to them and been helped for certain things so I am not opposed per se. But aren't spinal misalignments the diagnosis for just about all ailments?

[Trust but Verify]

But aren't spinal misalignments the diagnosis for just about all ailments?

If you listen to most chiropractors that's what they'll tell you.I have never been to a chiropractor and probably never will. I think they're just one level above quacks. They are the same 'health professionals' who will tell you to take herbs instead of FDA approved prescription medication.

[knuthom]

I have never been to a chiropractor and probably never will. I think they're just one level above quacks. They are the same 'health professionals' who will tell you to take herbs instead of FDA approved prescription medication.

I have been to chiropractors. None of them was anything like that. I have also been to see an orthopedic MD for my back pain. The MD did nothing that helped. The chiropractic treatment did.

I have heard that there are some chiropractors who claim that spinal manipulation will cure just about everything. I have never met one. I do not judge all chiropractors by excesses of a few.

[gas_dr]

This stuff is true and real. The chiropractors cannot perscribe drugs, and will tell you they can cure everything that ails you with manipulation.

I am proud to be a physician (anesthesiologist) with a stron background in internal medicine. One day at the Minnesota State Fair last September, I went to the exhibition hall where there was a chiropractor booth. The propaganda said free chiropractic evaluation, will help cure disease.

Here is the scary part -- remember that I CAN READ XRay (although I did not tell him that). He shot a back film, told me that my back was entirely out of alignment and that I would need extensive chiropractic manipulation. He also said that I am on a lot of medications that should be stopped for vitamins. I am on NO medicines, and I looked at the xray -- and there was NO misalignments...

Remember -- these are the people that stop perscriptions, which IMHO probably kills many more people than vertebral artery disruption.

Finally, the vertebral artery supplies the lower brain, stroke of this artery can produce lock in syndrome where the upper brain is fine (Thought, emotion) but motor movements, including speaking, is gone...

Chriporactors need to be taken out of medicine.

[Imagine]

True Story, First person: After nearly three years of back pain agony from a baseball game injury, after seeing 3 nurologists and 3 nurosurgeons (from Yale to NY Hospital for Spec Surgery) and getting 3 DIFFERENT surgical solutions, I was at wits end and an impass in what I should do. I then (accidently) fell down the stairs -- big thud, flat on my face -- and the next morning ALL THE PAIN WAS GONE. Been essentially pain free for nearly 5 years (back pain that is.) Don't tell me spinal adjustments don't matter !!!

[Trust but Verify]

True story: The friend of a husband of mine, 50 years old and in perfect health fell down a flight of stairs on New Year's day of this year. His skull was fractured and he DIED. Don't tell me falling down the stairs is a cure for back pain!

[js1138]

I would suspect that spinal adjustments can help certain conditions. The question is, are those conditions frequent enough to support the profession. Most people who do not have a specific medical contition will get better over time. Hand holding, in all its various forms, relieves pain quite well. I once nursed a cat that had eaten a poisonous lizard. The cat stopped breathing many times over the course of several hours, but started up again when I petted it. Prior to scientific medicine, this is pretty much what all doctors did.

[Trust but Verify]

The friend of a husband of mine

Ahem, make that: The husband of a friend of mine.

OMG, LOL!

[pt17]

Chriporactors need to be taken out of medicine.

Apparently so do some "expert" medical doctors, none of whom could do anything more for my back pain than extract money from my wallet. One of those chiropractors, who you want taken out, fixed the problem in two visits for not a whole lot of money. I would agree that there are some number of chiropractors who scam people, but then again, the are certainly some doctors doing the same thing (i.e., I am going to charge you big dollars for not being able to fix you.)

[Indrid Cold]

I suppose the neurologists just wanted to spread the blame a little, after the JAMA article which stated that modern medicine accidentally kills a couple hundred thousand people a year.

[justshutupandtakeit]

I have been to them and have received great help with back problems. If the alternative is them or MDs who load you up on mindnumbing pain pills or surgery, I will take the chiros ever time.

However, you are never cured so unless it is a specific and manipulatible injury I never go as long as they wish.

Mine is one of the best in Chicago and he does not go for herbs and such just the adjustments which he makes only after examination of X-rays. But he can spot the problem just by a visual exam in most cases. Just puts his finger on a spot and says does this hurt here.

However, I have been to those who don't have a clue and don't help.

[gas_dr]

I am happy that you are better. I believe that there may be some need for chiropractors in low back pain, and should be used at the direction of a physician. Nonetheless, there is NO scientific evidence to support the chiropractors claim that they are effective at treating systemic disease. However, they will tell you that they can...

[proud_2_B_texasgal]

my neurologist/neurosurgeon and my chiropractor work together in adjoining offices.

went to neurologist, did mri, discussed all the possibilities. he believes in trying to treat with the least invasive first, then progressing to pain blocks, with surgery as a last resort (that's why i love my neurologist) ...

sent me to the chiropractor .. and so far, no surgery required...

THAT's how they should work together.

[Sir Gawain]

Chriporactors need to be taken out of medicine.

And I've read stories about surgeons leaving scapels and other things inside a patient. I guess that means doctors should be taken out of medicine too.

[Imagine]

No, of course not. I don't recommend falling down stairs to adjust ones spine -- I hope you weren't suggesting that was my advice. However, the point is that spinal maladjustments DO cause pain and that adjustment, if properly done, may bring relief and healing. The question is proper adjustment. Now consider, Nurosurgeons do NOT adjust, just cut. Chiropractors adjust, not cut. So, based on the dictum, simple solution first, go Chiro.