Monthly Archives: December 2015
We have heard often, here and elsewhere, that chiropractic is neither effective nor safe. But now I found that it is not useless after all!!! It is an effective preventative measure against infections like the common cold and the flu.
You find this hard to believe? But it must be true!
It is the message given to chiropractors on this website:
Chiropractic care raises your body’s natural resistance to disease by removing serious interference to its proper function, vertebral subluxations. For that reason, it’s important to explain to clients that their lymphatic system is basically their body’s drainage system. Lymph is a clear fluid composed of immune cells and the greater lymphatic system is made up of a network of ducts and lymph nodes that help filter out viruses, bacteria, and other harmful elements. Remind your patients that when they go to a medical doctor and complain of a cold or the flu, the first thing he or she checks is their lymph glands, feeling for enlarged lymph nodes on the neck under the jaw. Enlarged nodes, or swollen glands as we often call them, are a sign that the lymphatic system is actively fighting an infection or imbalance.
Here’s where chiropractic care comes in: when the body is healthy and working correctly, the bad things your lymph nodes collects drains out through the lymph ducts, some of which are located along the spine and in the neck. But when the neck and spine are out of alignment from muscle tension, a musculoskeletal condition or other injury, those lymph ducts can become blocked and congested. Fortunately, chiropractic adjustments restore the neck and spine to proper alignment, taking pressure off of the congested lymph ducts. That allows the lymphatic system to start flowing and working correctly again, naturally decongesting and helping your body’s immune system to work properly in the fight against colds, flu, and illness.
It’s hard to quantify the health benefits of a strong immune system, but one recent study found that patients who had chiropractic adjustments had a 200-400% stronger immune system than those who weren’t adjusted. Another study published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research showed that regular chiropractic care resulted in a 15% average decrease in the incidence of colds and the flu. For that reason, regular chiropractic adjustment and lymphatic massage will help keep a patient’s immune system strong and functioning optimally, and even will help minimize the symptoms and speed recovery once a patient already comes down with the flu.
And you thought that chiropractors had all but given up the notion of ‘subluxation’? No, they haven’t!
Subluxations are real, alive and kicking!
The germ theory of disease is false!
Chiropractic adjustments are the only cure and prevention!
Immunisations are just poison in your body!
What, I have not convinced you? Then you are not a chiropractor, perhaps?
You say they make numerous such claims because it keeps them in clover? Oh, you are cynical – shame on you!
Recently I have focussed several posts on well-known homeopaths and proponents of homeopathy; they include 6 prominent defenders of this therapy:
Dr Peter Fisher, the Queen’s homeopath,
Dr Michael Dixon, GP, chair of the NHS Alliance, the College of Medicine and holder of many other posts,
Prof Michael Frass, intensive care physician at the University of Vienna,
Christian Boiron, general manager of Boiron, the world’s largest homeopathic manufacturer,
Christophe Merville, lead pharmacist at Boiron,
Dana Ullman, US homeopath and entrepreneur.
This inevitably begs the question what these people might have in common. After some consideration, I think, there are the following common denominators (you might see others; if so, please let me know):
- Most have conflicts of interest, yet try to hide this fact as best as they can, a circumstance which could be seen as less than honest.
- Most are quick of accusing critics of homeopathy of dishonesty and harbour conspiracy theories of various kinds.
- Most seem unable to think critically.
- They never criticise each other, not even for demonstrably wrong remarks or actions.
- Most use fallacious arguments regularly.
- Most rely on cherry-picking their evidence.
- Most display anti-scientific tendencies, yet rely on ‘cutting edge science’ as soon as they can interpret it in favour of homeopathy.
- They seem to be unable to learn in the light of new evidence.
- They seem never able to change their mind about things related to homeopathy.
- This gives them a distinct flair of fanaticism and arrogance.
- Most seem to have an odd attitude towards medical ethics.
- Most try to mislead the public by claiming things which are evidently not true.
The last point is, in my view, the most striking, important and disturbing issue. I ask myself what reasons these individuals have to tell untruths and whether ‘telling untruths’ is the same as ‘telling lies’. The first part of this question seems to be answered by the fact that most have powerful conflicts of interest; that is to say their livelihood depends on misleading the public about homeopathy. But are they lying or telling untruths?
This is a potentially important difference, I think.
An untruth is a statement which is false. By contrast, a lie is a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive. So, are the untruths issued by the above-named homeopaths lies or untruths?
I would not dare to decide on the answer of this question…but hope my readers have some suggestions.
Chiropractors and osteopaths have long tried to convince us that spinal manipulation and mobilisation are the best we can do when suffering from neck pain. But is this claim based on good evidence?
This recent update of a Cochrane review was aimed at assessing the effects of manipulation or mobilisation alone compared with those of an inactive control or another active treatment on pain, function, disability, patient satisfaction, quality of life and global perceived effect in adults experiencing neck pain with or without radicular symptoms and cervicogenic headache (CGH) at immediate- to long-term follow-up, and when appropriate, to assess the influence of treatment characteristics (i.e. technique, dosage), methodological quality, symptom duration and subtypes of neck disorder on treatment outcomes.
Review authors searched the following computerised databases to November 2014 to identify additional studies: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). They also searched ClinicalTrials.gov, checked references, searched citations and contacted study authors to find relevant studies.
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) undertaken to assess whether manipulation or mobilisation improves clinical outcomes for adults with acute/subacute/chronic neck pain were included in this assessment.
Two review authors independently selected studies, abstracted data, assessed risk of bias and applied Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methods (very low, low, moderate, high quality). The authors calculated pooled risk ratios (RRs) and standardised mean differences (SMDs).
Fifty-one trials with a total of 2920 participants could be included. The findings are diverse. Cervical manipulation versus inactive control: For subacute and chronic neck pain, a single manipulation (three trials, no meta-analysis, 154 participants, ranged from very low to low quality) relieved pain at immediate- but not short-term follow-up. Cervical manipulation versus another active treatment: For acute and chronic neck pain, multiple sessions of cervical manipulation (two trials, 446 participants, ranged from moderate to high quality) produced similar changes in pain, function, quality of life (QoL), global perceived effect (GPE) and patient satisfaction when compared with multiple sessions of cervical mobilisation at immediate-, short- and intermediate-term follow-up. For acute and subacute neck pain, multiple sessions of cervical manipulation were more effective than certain medications in improving pain and function at immediate- (one trial, 182 participants, moderate quality) and long-term follow-up (one trial, 181 participants, moderate quality). These findings are consistent for function at intermediate-term follow-up (one trial, 182 participants, moderate quality). For chronic CGH, multiple sessions of cervical manipulation (two trials, 125 participants, low quality) may be more effective than massage in improving pain and function at short/intermediate-term follow-up. Multiple sessions of cervical manipulation (one trial, 65 participants, very low quality) may be favoured over transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for pain reduction at short-term follow-up. For acute neck pain, multiple sessions of cervical manipulation (one trial, 20 participants, very low quality) may be more effective than thoracic manipulation in improving pain and function at short/intermediate-term follow-up. Thoracic manipulation versus inactive control: Three trials (150 participants) using a single session were assessed at immediate-, short- and intermediate-term follow-up. At short-term follow-up, manipulation improved pain in participants with acute and subacute neck pain (five trials, 346 participants, moderate quality, pooled SMD -1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.86 to -0.66) and improved function (four trials, 258 participants, moderate quality, pooled SMD -1.40, 95% CI -2.24 to -0.55) in participants with acute and chronic neck pain. A funnel plot of these data suggests publication bias. These findings were consistent at intermediate follow-up for pain/function/quality of life (one trial, 111 participants, low quality). Thoracic manipulation versus another active treatment: No studies provided sufficient data for statistical analyses. A single session of thoracic manipulation (one trial, 100 participants, moderate quality) was comparable with thoracic mobilisation for pain relief at immediate-term follow-up for chronic neck pain. Mobilisation versus inactive control: Mobilisation as a stand-alone intervention (two trials, 57 participants, ranged from very low to low quality) may not reduce pain more than an inactive control. Mobilisation versus another active treatment: For acute and subacute neck pain, anterior-posterior mobilisation (one trial, 95 participants, very low quality) may favour pain reduction over rotatory or transverse mobilisations at immediate-term follow-up. For chronic CGH with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction, multiple sessions of TMJ manual therapy (one trial, 38 participants, very low quality) may be more effective than cervical mobilisation in improving pain/function at immediate- and intermediate-term follow-up. For subacute and chronic neck pain, cervical mobilisation alone (four trials, 165 participants, ranged from low to very low quality) may not be different from ultrasound, TENS, acupuncture and massage in improving pain, function, QoL and participant satisfaction at immediate- and intermediate-term follow-up. Additionally, combining laser with manipulation may be superior to using manipulation or laser alone (one trial, 56 participants, very low quality).
Confused? So am I!
In my view, these analyses show that the quality of most studies is wanting and the evidence is weak – much weaker than chiropractors and osteopaths try to make us believe. It seems to me that no truly effective treatments for neck pain have been discovered and that therefore manipulation/mobilisation techniques are as good or as bad as most other options.
In such a situation, it might be prudent to first investigate the causes of neck pain in greater detail and subsequently determine the optimal therapies for each of them. Neck pain is a SYMPTOM, not a disease! And it is always best to treat the cause of a symptom rather than pretending we know the cause as chiropractors and osteopaths often do.
The authors of the Cochrane review seem to agree with this view at least to some extent. They conclude that although support can be found for use of thoracic manipulation versus control for neck pain, function and QoL, results for cervical manipulation and mobilisation versus control are few and diverse. Publication bias cannot be ruled out. Research designed to protect against various biases is needed. Findings suggest that manipulation and mobilisation present similar results for every outcome at immediate/short/intermediate-term follow-up. Multiple cervical manipulation sessions may provide better pain relief and functional improvement than certain medications at immediate/intermediate/long-term follow-up. Since the risk of rare but serious adverse events for manipulation exists, further high-quality research focusing on mobilisation and comparing mobilisation or manipulation versus other treatment options is needed to guide clinicians in their optimal treatment choices.
The call for further research is, of course, of no help for patients who are suffering from neck pain today. What would I recommend to them?
My advice is to be cautious:
- Consult your doctor and try to get a detailed diagnosis.
- See a physiotherapist and ask to be shown exercises aimed at reducing the pain and preventing future episodes.
- Do these exercises regularly, even when you have no pain.
- Make sure you do whatever else might be needed in terms of life-style changes (ergonomic work place, correct sleeping arrangements, etc.).
- If you are keen on seeing an alternative practitioner for manual therapy, consult a osteopath rather than a chiropractor; the former tend to employ techniques which are less risky than the latter.
- Avoid both chiropractors and long-term medication for neck pain.
Now, here is a surprise, at least for me it was one: I just came across a website [url deleted by Admin as potential phishing site] claiming that the estimated value of this blog is $21,928.77.
How on earth do they calculate this?
What does it mean?
How can you put a monetary value on a blog like mine?
I have to admit, I fail to know the answers to any of these questions. What I do know, however, is that, over the last few years, many complete strangers have assured me that my blog is ‘invaluable’. And comments like these are for me the sole reason for writing it.
If I did it for money, I would need quite a bit more than the above sum. When, a few years ago, I wrote a regular column and later blog for the Guardian, they paid me £ 250 for each article [if I remember correctly]. So, multiply the well over 500 posts on my blog by £ 250, and you arrive at an approximate value for it…something around £ 150 000.
Yes, I know, this is not realistic, in fact, it is barmy!
And therefore I prefer to attribute no monetary value to my blog and receive zero funds from anyone for my work here. People who occasionally tell me that it is invaluable is plenty of reward for me!
The authors of a recent paper inform us that Reiki is a Japanese system of energy healing that has been used for over 2 500 years. It involves the transfer of energy from the practitioner to the receiver, which promotes healing, and can be done by either contact or non-contact methods. Both the receiver and the practitioner may feel the energy in various forms (warmth, cold, tingling, vibration, pulsations and/or floating sensations). Reiki can also be self-administered if one is a Reiki practitioner. Reiki is mainly used to address stress, anxiety, and pain reduction while also promoting a sense of well-being and improving quality of life.
Such statements should make us weary: what is presented here as fact is nothing more than conjecture – and very, very implausible conjecture too. Anyone who writes stuff like this in the introduction of a scientific paper is, in my view, unlikely to be objective and could be well on the way to present some nasty piece of pseudo-science.
But I am, of course, pre-judging the issue; let’s have a quick look at the article itself.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 20-week structured self-Reiki program on stress reduction and relaxation in college students. Students were recruited from Stockton University and sessions were conducted in the privacy of their residence. Twenty students completed the entire study consisting of 20 weeks of self-Reiki done twice weekly. Each participant completed a Reiki Baseline Credibility Scale, a Reiki Expectancy Scale, and a Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) after acceptance into the study. The PSS was completed every four weeks once the interventions were initiated. A global assessment questionnaire was completed at the end of the study. Logs summarizing the outcome of each session were submitted at the end of the study.
With the exception of three participants, participants believed that Reiki is a credible technique for reducing stress levels. Except for two participants, participants agreed that Reiki would be effective in reducing stress levels. All participants experienced stress within the month prior to completing the initial PSS. There was a significant reduction in stress levels from pre-study to post-study. There was a correlation between self-rating of improvement and final PSS scores. With one exception, stress levels at 20 weeks did not return to pre-study stress levels.
The authors concluded that this study supports the hypothesis that the calming effect of Reiki may be achieved through the use of self-Reiki.
QED – my suspicions were fully confirmed. This study shows precisely nothing, and it certainly does not support any hypothesis regarding Reiki.
If we recruited 20 volunteers who were sufficiently gullible to believe that watching an ice-cube slowly melting in the kitchen sink, or anything else that we can think of, has profound effects on their vital energy, or chi, or karma, or anything else, we would almost certaily generate similar results.
My conclusion is therefore very different from those of the original authors: THIS STUDY SUPPORTS THE HYPOTHESIS THAT GULLIBLE PEOPLE CAN BE EASILY MISLEAD ABOUT BOGUS THERAPIES WITH PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC STUDIES BY IRRESPONSIBLE WOULD-BE SCIENTISTS.
