chiropractic
Chiropractic is a therapy that has been in search for an indication ever since it was invented some 120 years ago. So far, this search seems to have been unsuccessful.
Perhaps it could be promoted as a means of enhancing athletic performance?
That would be excellent news for chiropractic cash-flow!
The authors of this study wanted to analyse the acute effects of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) on performance and autonomic modulation. A total of 37 male recreational athletes who had never received SMT were assigned to a sham (n = 19) or actual SMT group (n = 18). Study endpoints included autonomic modulation (heart rate variability), handgrip strength, jumping ability and cycling performance (8-minute time trial [TT]). Differences in custom effects between interventions were determined using magnitude-based inferences.
A significant and very likely lower value of a marker of sympathetic modulation, the stress score, was observed in response to actual compared to sham SMT (p = 0.007; effect size [ES] = -0.97). A trend towards a significant and likely lower sympathetic:parasympathetic ratio (p = 0.055; ES = -0.96) and a likely higher natural logarithm of the root-mean-square differences of successive heartbeat intervals ([LnRMSSD], p = 0.12; ES = 0.36) was also found with actual SMT. Moreover, a significantly lower mean power output was observed during the TT with actual compared with sham SMT (p = 0.035; ES = -0.28). Non-significant (p > 0.05) and unclear or likely trivial differences (ES < 0.2) were found for the rest of endpoints, including handgrip strength, heart rate during the TT, and jump loss thereafter.
A single pre-exercise SMT session induced an acute shift towards parasympathetic dominance and slightly impaired performance in recreational healthy athletes.
Ooops!
The search was unsuccessful yet again!
SMT impaired performance; this might not convince athletes to become fans of chiropractic.
What indication should the desperate chiros try next?
Any suggestions?
This study was aimed at evaluating group-level and individual-level change in health-related quality of life among persons with chronic low back pain or neck pain receiving chiropractic care in the United States.
A 3-month longitudinal study was conducted of 2,024 patients with chronic low back pain or neck pain receiving care from 125 chiropractic clinics at 6 locations throughout the US. Ninety-one percent of the sample completed the baseline and 3-month follow-up survey (n = 1,835). Average age was 49, 74% females, and most of the sample had a college degree, were non-Hispanic White, worked full-time, and had an annual income of $60,000 or more. Group-level and individual-level changes on the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) v2.0 profile measure were evaluated: 6 multi-item scales (physical functioning, pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, social health, emotional distress) and physical and mental health summary scores.
Within group t-tests indicated significant group-level change for all scores except for emotional distress, and these changes represented small improvements in health. From 13% (physical functioning) to 30% (PROMIS-29 Mental Health Summary Score) got better from baseline to 3 months later.
The authors concluded that chiropractic care was associated with significant group-level improvement in health-related quality of life over time, especially in pain. But only a minority of the individuals in the sample got significantly better (“responders”). This study suggests some benefits of chiropractic on functioning and well-being of patients with low back pain or neck pain.
These conclusions are worded carefully to avoid any statement of cause and effect. But I nevertheless feel that the authors strongly imply that chiropractic caused the observed outcomes. This is perhaps most obvious when they state that this study suggests some benefits of chiropractic on functioning and well-being of patients with low back pain or neck pain.
To me, it is obvious that this is wrong. The data are just as consistent with the opposite conclusion. There was no control group. It is therefore conceivable that the patients would have improved more and/or faster, if they had never consulted a chiropractor. The devil’s advocate therefore concludes this: the results of this study suggest that chiropractic has significant detrimental effects on functioning and well-being of patients with low back pain or neck pain.
Try to prove me wrong!
PS
I am concerned that a leading journal (Spine) publishes such rubbish.
On 29 August, I published a post discussing a case report of a patient who had suffered multiple unilateral pre-retinal haemorrhages immediately following chiropractic neck manipulation suggesting that chiropractic spinal adjustments can not only affect the carotid artery, but also could lead to pre-retinal haemorrhages. Two days ago (over one month after my blog-post), the story was reported in the Daily Mail. They (originally) quoted me both in their on-line and print version as follows: “Edzard Ernst, an expert in alternative medicine, said chiropractic treatments were too dangerous and not sufficiently effective to be recommended for any condition.”
I think this is a statement that does not really relate well to the story. Crucially, it is a sentence that I do not identify with.
So, why did I say it?
The answer is simple: I didn’t!
What happened is this:
The ‘science correspondent’ of the Mail emailed me asking whether she could speak to me. I replied that I am currently in Brittany and that it would be better to send me questions which I promised to answer swiftly. She then send a press-release about the above-mentioned case report and asked for a quote. The paragraph I swiftly sent her read as follows:
“Chiropractors frequently manipulate patients’ neck in such a way that the joints are taken beyond their physiological range of motion. This can lead to all sorts of problems, sometimes even death. This new report suggests that chiropractic neck manipulations can also damage the eyes. As the ensuing problems tend to be temporary, it is likely that such eye-damage occurs often after chiropractic treatments. Chiropractic neck manipulations are not convincingly effective for any condition; as they can cause a lot of harm, their risk/benefit balance is clearly negative. In other words, we should not use or recommend them.”
The science correspondent thanked me and replied that my quote was too long and had to be shortened; would I be happy, she asked, with the following text:
“Edzard Ernst, an expert in the study of alternative medicine and former professor at the University of Exeter, said: ‘Chiropractors frequently manipulate patients’ neck in such a way that the joints are taken beyond their physiological range of motion.
‘The ensuing problems tend to be temporary but it is likely that this kind of eye damage occurs often after chiropractic treatments.
‘Chiropractic neck manipulations are not convincingly effective for any condition as they can cause a lot of harm. Therefore we should not use or recommend them.’ ”
I made a slight alteration (exchanging ‘the ensuing problems’ for ‘the ensuing eye-problems’) and replied that this was fine by me.
When I saw what was eventually published (the nonsense printed in bold above), I was baffled and irritated. Therefore I instantly complained to the science correspondent. She apologised saying that my quote had been “paraphrased from [my] full quote, probably for reasons of space during the production process”. She also changed the quote in the on-line version to what it says currently.
I replied: “of course, I accept your apology personal, as I knew it was not your doing. nevertheless, I find it totally unacceptable that someone at the DM can just go ahead and change direct quotes. you say he/she paraphrased me; I disagree! the published sentence has an entirely different meaning. this is not journalism! I want an apology from the person who is responsible.”
The science correspondent then promised to take care of it; but, so far, nothing has happened.
One could easily view this episode as trivial. However, I believe that decent journalism should stick to the rules. And one of the most fundamental one is that journalists cannot put words into people’s mouths just because it fits their story-line (Boris Johnson did this when he was a journalist, and look what a formidable mess he is now creating!). If we let journalists get away with such behaviour, we cannot have trust in journalism. And if we cannot trust journalism, it has lost its purpose.
So, should I continue insisting on an adequate apology from the person responsible or not?
What do you think?
Do musculoskeletal conditions contribute to chronic non-musculoskeletal conditions? The authors of a new paper – inspired by chiropractic thinking, it seems – think so. Their meta-analysis was aimed to investigate whether the most common musculoskeletal conditions, namely neck or back pain or osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, contribute to the development of chronic disease.
The authors searched several electronic databases for cohort studies reporting adjusted estimates of the association between baseline neck or back pain or osteoarthritis of the knee or hip and subsequent diagnosis of a chronic disease (cardiovascular disease , cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease or obesity).
There were 13 cohort studies following 3,086,612 people. In the primary meta-analysis of adjusted estimates, osteoarthritis (n= 8 studies) and back pain (n= 2) were the exposures and cardiovascular disease (n=8), cancer (n= 1) and diabetes (n= 1) were the outcomes. Pooled adjusted estimates from these 10 studies showed that people with a musculoskeletal condition have a 17% increase in the rate of developing a chronic disease compared to people without a musculoskeletal condition.
The authors concluded that musculoskeletal conditions may increase the risk of chronic disease. In particular, osteoarthritis appears to increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Prevention and early
treatment of musculoskeletal conditions and targeting associated chronic disease risk factors in people with long
standing musculoskeletal conditions may play a role in preventing other chronic diseases. However, a greater
understanding about why musculoskeletal conditions may increase the risk of chronic disease is needed.
For the most part, this paper reads as if the authors are trying to establish a causal relationship between musculoskeletal problems and systemic diseases at all costs. Even their aim (to investigate whether the most common musculoskeletal conditions, namely neck or back pain or osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, contribute to the development of chronic disease) clearly points in that direction. And certainly, their conclusion that musculoskeletal conditions may increase the risk of chronic disease confirms this suspicion.
In their discussion, they do concede that causality is not proven: While our review question ultimately sought to assess a causal connection between common musculoskeletal conditions and chronic disease, we cannot draw strong conclusions due to poor adjustment, the analysis methods employed by the included studies, and a lack of studies investigating conditions other than OA and cardiovascular disease…We did not find studies that satisfied all of Bradford Hill’s suggested criteria for casual inference (e.g. none estimated dose–response effects) nor did we find studies that used contemporary causal inference methods for observational data (e.g. a structured identification approach for selection of confounding variables or assessment of the effects of unmeasured or residual confounders. As such, we are unable to infer a strong causal connection between musculoskeletal conditions and chronic diseases.
In all honesty, I would see this a little differently: If their review question ultimately sought to assess a causal connection between common musculoskeletal conditions and chronic disease, it was quite simply daft and unscientific. All they could ever hope is to establish associations. Whether these are causal or not is an entirely different issue which is not answerable on the basis of the data they searched for.
An example might make this clearer: people who have yellow stains on their 2nd and 3rd finger often get lung cancer. The yellow fingers are associated with cancer, yet the link is not causal. The association is due to the fact that smoking stains the fingers and causes cancer. What the authors of this new article seem to suggest is that, if we cut off the stained fingers of smokers, we might reduce the cancer risk. This is clearly silly to the extreme.
So, how might the association between musculoskeletal problems and systemic diseases come about? Of course, the authors might be correct and it might be causal. This would delight chiropractors because DD Palmer, their founding father, said that 95% of all diseases are caused by subluxation of the spine, the rest by subluxations of other joints. But there are several other and more likely explanations for this association. For instance, many people with a systemic disease might have had subclinical problems for years. These problems would prevent them from pursuing a healthy life-style which, in turn, resulted is musculoskeletal problems. If this is so, musculoskeletal conditions would not increase the risk of chronic disease, but chronic diseases would lead to musculoskeletal problems.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not claiming that this reverse causality is the truth; I am simply saying that it is one of several possibilities that need to be considered. The fact that the authors failed to do so, is remarkable and suggests that they were bent on demonstrating what they put in their conclusion. And that, to me, is an unfailing sign of poor science.
In previous posts, I have been scathing about chiropractors (DCs) treating children; for instance here:
- Despite calling themselves ‘doctors’, they are nothing of the sort.
- DCs are not adequately educated or trained to treat children.
- They nevertheless often do so, presumably because this constitutes a significant part of their income.
- Even if they felt confident to be adequately trained, we need to remember that their therapeutic repertoire is wholly useless for treating sick children effectively and responsibly.
- Therefore, harm to children is almost inevitable.
- To this, we must add the risk of incompetent advice from DCs – just think of immunisations.
Now we have more data on this subject. This new study investigated the effectiveness of adding manipulative therapy to other conservative care for spinal pain in a school-based cohort of Danish children aged 9–15 years.
The design was a two-arm pragmatic randomised controlled trial, nested in a longitudinal open cohort study in Danish public schools. 238 children from 13 public schools were included. A text message system and clinical examinations were used for data collection. Interventions included either (1) advice, exercises and soft-tissue treatment or (2) advice, exercises and soft-tissue treatment plus manipulative therapy. The primary outcome was number of recurrences of spinal pain. Secondary outcomes were duration of spinal pain, change in pain intensity and Global Perceived Effect.
No significant difference was found between groups in the primary outcomes of the control group and intervention group. Children in the group receiving manipulative therapy reported a higher Global Perceived Effect. No adverse events were reported.
The authors – well-known proponents of chiropractic (who declared no conflicts of interest) – concluded that adding manipulative therapy to other conservative care in school children with spinal pain did not result in fewer recurrent episodes. The choice of treatment—if any—for spinal pain in children therefore relies on personal preferences, and could include conservative care with and without manipulative therapy. Participants in this trial may differ from a normal care-seeking population.
The study seems fine, but what a conclusion!!!
After demonstrating that chiropractic manipulation is useless, the authors state that the treatment of kids with back pain could include conservative care with and without manipulative therapy. This is more than a little odd, in my view, and seems to suggest that chiropractors live on a different planet from those of us who can think rationally.
Central retinal artery occlusion, nystagmus, Wallenberg syndrome, ophthalmoplegia, Horner syndrome, loss of vision, diplopia, and ptosis are all amongst the eye-related problems that have been associated with chiropractic upper spinal manipulations. Often the damage leaves a permanent deficit – happily, not in this instance.
US ophthalmologists published the case of a 59-year-old Caucasian female who presented with the acute, painless constant appearance of three spots in her vision immediately after a chiropractor performed cervical spinal manipulation using the high-velocity, low-amplitude technique. The patient described the spots as “tadpoles” that were constantly present in her vision. She noted the first spot while driving home immediately following a chiropractor neck adjustment, and became more aware that there were two additional spots the following day.
Slit lamp examination of the right eye demonstrated multiple unilateral pre-retinal haemorrhages with three present inferiorly along with a haemorrhage over the optic nerve and a shallow, incomplete posterior vitreous detachment. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) demonstrated the pre-retinal location of the haemorrhage.
These haemorrhages resolved within two months.
The specialists concluded that chiropractor neck manipulation has previously been reported leading to complications related to the carotid artery and arterial plaques. This presents the first case of multiple unilateral pre-retinal haemorrhages immediately following chiropractic neck manipulation. This suggests that chiropractor spinal adjustment can not only affect the carotid artery, but also could lead to pre-retinal haemorrhages.
In the discussion section of their paper, the authors stated: Upper spinal manipulation with the HVLA technique involves high velocity, low-amplitude thrusts on the cervical spine administered posteriorly. No other aetiology of the pre-retinal haemorrhages was found on work-up (no leukemic retinopathy, hypertension, diabetes, or retinal tear). The temporal association immediately while driving home from the chiropractic procedure makes other causes less likely, although we cannot exclude Valsalva retinopathy or progressive posterior vitreous detachment. Given the lack of any retinal vessel abnormalities or plaques along with the temporal association, we postulate that the chiropractor neck manipulation itself induced vitreo-retinal traction that likely led to pre-retinal haemorrhages which were self-limited. It is also possible that the HVLA technique could have mechanically assisted with induction of a posterior vitreous detachment.
If the authors are correct, one has to wonder: how often do such problems occur in patients who simply do not bother to report them, or doctors who do not correctly diagnose them?
On this blog, I have ad nauseam discussed the fact that many SCAM-practitioners are advising their patients against vaccinations, e. g.:
- Andrew Wakefield, Donald Trump, SCAM, and the anti-vaccination cult
- More on vaccination scepticism, and the plea for a no-fault vaccination injury compensation scheme
- Naturopaths’ counselling against vaccinations could be criminally negligent
- HOMEOPATHS AGAINST VACCINATION: “The decision to vaccinate and how you implement that decision is yours and yours alone”
- Governments take action to prevent vaccination-rates from falling
- Use of alternative medicine is associated with low vaccination rates
- Integrative medicine physicians tend to harbour anti-vaccination views
- Vaccination: chiropractors “espouse views which aren’t evidence based”
- Faith-healing as an alternative to vaccination?
- Recommending homeoprophylaxis is unethical, irresponsible and possibly even criminal
- Chiropractors are undermining public health
- CAM use is risk factor for the failure to immunise children
- Let’s be blunt: homeopathy is bogus – but homeoprophylaxis is worse, much worse!
- Are mothers being taught by homeopaths to become anti-vaxers?
- Some naturopaths are clearly a danger to public health
The reason why I mention this subject yet again is the alarming news reported in numerous places (for instance in this article) that measles outbreaks are now being reported from most parts of the world.
The number of cases in Europe is at a record high of more than 41,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned. Halfway through the year, 2018 is already the worst year on record for measles in Europe in a decade. So far, at least 37 patients have died of the infection in 2018.
“Following the decade’s lowest number of cases in 2016, we are seeing a dramatic increase in infections and extended outbreaks,” Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said in a statement. “Seven countries in the region have seen over 1,000 infections in children and adults this year (France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine).”
In the U.S., where measles were thought to be eradicated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 107 measles cases as of the middle of July this year. “This partial setback demonstrates that every person who is not immune remains vulnerable no matter where they live, and every country must keep pushing to increase coverage and close immunity gaps,” WHO’s Dr. Nedret Emiroglu said. 95 percent of the population must have received at least two doses of measles vaccine to achive herd immunity and prevent outbreaks. Some parts of Europe have reached that target, while others are even below 70 percent.
And why are many parts below the 95% threshold?
Ask your local SCAM-provider, I suggest.
Kinesiology tape KT is fashionable, it seems. Gullible consumers proudly wear it as decorative ornaments to attract attention and show how very cool they are.
Am I too cynical?
Perhaps.
But does KT really do anything more?
A new trial might tell us.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether adding kinesiology tape (KT) to spinal manipulation (SM) can provide any extra effect in athletes with chronic non-specific low back pain (CNLBP).
Forty-two athletes (21males, 21females) with CNLBP were randomized into two groups of SM (n = 21) and SM plus KT (n = 21). Pain intensity, functional disability level and trunk flexor-extensor muscles endurance were assessed by Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), Oswestry pain and disability index (ODI), McQuade test, and unsupported trunk holding test, respectively. The tests were done before and immediately, one day, one week, and one month after the interventions and compared between the two groups.
After treatments, pain intensity and disability level decreased and endurance of trunk flexor-extensor muscles increased significantly in both groups. Repeated measures analysis, however, showed that there was no significant difference between the groups in any of the evaluations.
The authors, physiotherapists from Iran, concluded that the findings of the present study showed that adding KT to SM does not appear to have a significant extra effect on pain, disability and muscle endurance in athletes with CNLBP. However, more studies are needed to examine the therapeutic effects of KT in treating these patients.
Regular readers of my blog will be able to predict what I have to say about this study design: A+B versus B is not a meaningful test of anything. I used to claim that it cannot possibly produce a negative result – and yet, here it seems to have done exactly that!
How come?
The way I see it, there are two possibilities to explain this:
- the KT has a mildly negative effect on CNLBP; thus the expected positive placebo-effect was neutralised to result in a null-effect overall;
- the study was under-powered such that the true inter-group difference could not manifest itself.
I think the second possibility is more likely, but it does really not matter at all. Because the only lesson we can learn from this trial is this: inadequate study designs will hardly ever generate anything worthwhile.
And this is, I think, a lesson that would be valuable for many researchers.
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Reference
Comparing spinal manipulation with and without Kinesio Taping® in the treatment of chronic low back pain.
It is no secret to regular readers of this blog that chiropractic’s effectiveness is unproven for every condition it is currently being promoted for – perhaps with two exceptions: neck pain and back pain. Here we have some encouraging data, but also lots of negative evidence. A new US study falls into the latter category; I am sure chiropractors will not like it, but it does deserve a mention.
This study evaluated the comparative effectiveness of usual care with or without chiropractic care for patients with chronic recurrent musculoskeletal back and neck pain. It was designed as a prospective cohort study using propensity score-matched controls.
Using retrospective electronic health record data, the researchers developed a propensity score model predicting likelihood of chiropractic referral. Eligible patients with back or neck pain were then contacted upon referral for chiropractic care and enrolled in a prospective study. For each referred patient, two propensity score-matched non-referred patients were contacted and enrolled. We followed the participants prospectively for 6 months. The main outcomes included pain severity, interference, and symptom bothersomeness. Secondary outcomes included expenditures for pain-related health care.
Both groups’ (N = 70 referred, 139 non-referred) pain scores improved significantly over the first 3 months, with less change between months 3 and 6. No significant between-group difference was observed. After controlling for variances in baseline costs, total costs during the 6-month post-enrollment follow-up were significantly higher on average in the non-referred versus referred group. Adjusting for differences in age, gender, and Charlson comorbidity index attenuated this finding, which was no longer statistically significant (p = .072).
The authors concluded by stating this: we found no statistically significant difference between the two groups in either patient-reported or economic outcomes. As clinical outcomes were similar, and the provision of chiropractic care did not increase costs, making chiropractic services available provided an additional viable option for patients who prefer this type of care, at no additional expense.
This comes from some of the most-renowned experts in back pain research, and it is certainly an elaborate piece of investigation. Yet, I find the conclusions unreasonable.
Essentially, the authors found that chiropractic has no clinical or economical advantage over other approaches currently used for neck and back pain. So, they say that it a ‘viable option’.
I find this odd and cannot quite follow the logic. In my view, it lacks critical thinking and an attempt to produce progress. If it is true that all treatments were similarly (in)effective – which I can well believe – we still should identify those that have the least potential for harm. That could be exercise, massage therapy or some other modality – but I don’t think it would be chiropractic care.
References
Elder C, DeBar L, Ritenbaugh C, Dickerson J, Vollmer WM, Deyo RA, Johnson ES, Haas M.
J Gen Intern Med. 2018 Jun 25. doi: 10.1007/s11606-018-4539-y. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 29943109
Chiropractors will never cease to amuse and amaze me. Today, I received this comment to a recent post of mine; its author is a chiropractor by the name of SD White (I never met the man [surely it’s a man] and don’t know where he’s from):
Someone is suffering from a love of credentials (small penis?) and a sour disposition who has zero actual information about a profession of which he is not a member. So this is how you choose to spend your days? What a royal disappointment you must be to family, friends, and others with your extremely disjointed and disgruntled opinions. Which no one requested. Rating: 1/10
This type of hilarity encouraged me to write a post about chiropractic which fulfils some of SD White’s criteria: no one requested it, and it has zero actual information. But I hope it adds to the hilarity chiropractic so often creates.
The article it refers to is entitled ‘Chiropractic in global health and well being’. When I read such a headline, my BS-detectors starts running amok, and my BS-corrector automatically springs into action.
In the following, I will show you some excerpts from this paper – first in its original version and subsequently in the version altered by my BS-corrector.
ENJOY
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The abstract:
The World Federation of Chiropractic supports the involvement of chiropractors in public health initiatives, particularly as it relates to musculoskeletal health. Three topics within public health have been identified that call for a renewed professional focus. These include healthy ageing; opioid misuse; and women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health. The World Federation of Chiropractic aims to enable chiropractors to proactively participate in health promotion and prevention activities in these areas, through information dissemination and coordinated partnerships. Importantly, this work will align the chiropractic profession with the priorities of the World Health Organization. Successful engagement will support the role of chiropractors as valued partners within the broader healthcare system and contribute to the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve.
Passage from the paper:
The WFC’s Public Health Committee has committed to an expanded agenda that focuses on three new priority areas of public health: healthy ageing; opioid overuse and misuse; and women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health. These were chosen for their alignment with WHO priorities, and the chiropractic profession’s ability to uniquely contribute to each through the lens of musculoskeletal health. The goal is to enhance the ability for chiropractors to actively engage in health promotion activities in alignment with WHO priority areas and pursue collaborative work to increase global attention on these important public health issues. As a first step, the WFC will focus on providing key strategies that chiropractors in primary care settings can focus on bridging their work in primary care and population health. The WFC has developed position statements and proposed public health strategies for each priority area, as described below.
The conclusion
The WFC commits to promoting and facilitating public health strategies for chiropractors to implement in practice. Healthy ageing, opioid misuse, and supporting women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health are priority areas of initial focus. This work builds on the shared goal of primary care and population health, through the prevention of illness, promoting health, improving patient care, and addressing contextual factors in a collaborative and evidence-based manner. Future work in public health for the chiropractic profession should also focus on broader roles such as community engagement and the creation of sustainable systems, engaging key stakeholders locally and globally.
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VERISON BY BS-CORRECTOR
The abstract:
The World Federation of Chiropractic supports the involvement of chiropractors in fleecing the public, particularly as it relates to musculoskeletal health. Three topics within chiropractic wealth have been identified that call for a boost in our cash flow. These include healthy ageing; opioid misuse; and women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health. The World Federation of Chiropractic aims to enable chiropractors to proactively participate in misinforming the public in these areas, through coordinated partnerships with anyone who can be fooled. Importantly, this work will be camouflaged such that it seemingly aligns the chiropractic profession with the priorities of the World Health Organization. Successful engagement will support the wealth of chiropractors within the broader healthcare system but will contribute little to the health and wellbeing of the communities they pretend to serve.
Passage from the paper:
The WFC’s Public Health Committee has committed to an expanded agenda that focuses on three new priority areas for generating chiropractic wealth: healthy ageing; opioid overuse and misuse; and women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health. These were chosen even though there is no good evidence to show that chiropractic might meaningfully contribute to any of them. The goal is to enhance the ability of chiropractors to actively engage in wealth creation activities in alignment with their financial aspirations. As a first step, the WFC will focus on providing key strategies that chiropractors in primary care settings can focus on for misleading the public. The WFC has developed position statements and proposed wealth strategies for each priority area, as described below.
The conclusion
The WFC commits to promoting and facilitating wealth strategies for chiropractors to implement in practice. Healthy ageing, opioid misuse, and supporting women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health are priority areas of initial focus. This work builds on many years of misleading the public into believing that chiropractors do more good than harm in any of these areas. Future work in generating wealth for the chiropractic profession should also focus on broader roles such as community engagement and the creation of sustainable systems, exploiting key stakeholders locally and globally.
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Yes, I know, my BS-corrector is very harsh, impolite and sarcastic. You must forgive it, please. I nevertheless hope this is a small contribution – not to chiropractic, but to its hilarity.
