Chiropractic care: Risky or not?

  Chiropractic is often accused of being harmful, that benefits out weigh the risk, and that we are sub-class doctors.  I'm going to address the harmful accusation, which in turn addresses the benefit/cost ratio.

We are all familiar with insurance.  Most of us have it.  When we sign up for insurance, regardless of the type, we have to pay a premium of some sort.  Most of us are aware that the premium is not the same for everyone.  The insurance company determines who are at a high risk, those people the insurance company will be paying lots of money for, and those who will be low risk, the people who won't be using much of the insurers money but will be putting money into the insurer's pockets.  Low risk individuals typically pay a lower rate than the high risk individuals.  The rates are a fairly good measure of risk assessment.

So I went looking for rates to compare.  Felt like a super sleuth, minus the trench coat and wide rimmed hat.  It was really hard finding a site that would give me quotes without being a doctor of some sort but I came across another blog of a chiropractor who did the math for me.  I looked at his malpractice rates and the rates of the other doctors compared to his on his blog and he was paying way less per year.  The post was from a little over two years ago but I was able to find some articles about the high rate of malpractice insurance as well as the average cost of insurance for the medical profession. For a chiropractor the average chiropractic malpractice insurance rates was around $1500 per year while for the medical doctor it was $10,000-$20,000 per year (This is influenced by where and what they practice).

Well like all criminal drama's say "follow the money."  Cheaper average rates means there are fewer malpractice cases files against chiropractors.  Which means the average chiropractor is in fact safer than the propaganda would have you believe.

Chiropractic and infant care

I know I used to think of chiropractic care involving some big guy applying lots of force on the back getting it to go snap, crackle and pop. When I heard of people taking their infants to chiropractors I still had that image only a smaller force was applied. I was wrong. Not only was I wrong about the forces applied during pediatric chiropractics but I also thought the wee ones didn't need care. They have young and fresh spine in their little bodies why how on earth could they need them.

I wasn't really thinking the whole thing through. Birth is a traumatic yet wonderful experience. I look forward to having children of my own someday and both my wife and I are excited about it. Delivery just isn't the kindest thing on the neck of a new born though. The skeleton of infants are not fully hardened at birth, add to that that muscle needs to be built up fully and you have a body that can be easily be thrown out of alignment. I have a friend who told me they were having troubles getting their child to sleep through the night. I believe the term colicky was used. They took their kid to a chiropractor and after a single adjustment the problem was solved.

The amazing thing about pediatric care from a chiropractor is the amount of force needed for an adjustment. In children not much is needed. The amount of pressure applied to an infant is the same amount of force you apply when gently poking your own hand with a finger. Not much at all but the bone just slides back into place. As a chiropractor I can specialize, just like medical students can, and I may choose to specialize in pediatrics. I can't think of a more rewarding area to be in.

The important thing to remember is that Chiropractic care maintains proper nervous system function which is essential for prober development, growth, and health. Children growth fast which probably makes them ideal candidates for chiropractic care.

A little hope...

A few posts ago I made mention about a woman who got the flu vaccine and experienced a tragic side effect. Her name is Desiree Jennings. I was reading through my e-mails and I catching up on some of the newsletters I signed up for. One news letter again pointed out the tragic events in Desiree's life. I decided I would see what was going on in her life and I googled her and found a story about her recovery process. I know I am a chiropractic student and I know that the recovery method was not chiropractic but I think we should rejoice in any person's recovery regardless of our school of thought. As you will read in that article Desiree is regaining much of her motor control and the prospects of a near complete/full recovery are good. All it will take is time which I'm sure she now feels she has plenty.

The thing that is important about health care is hope. We need it. No one wants to go to a doctor to find they have no hope. We don't want to live our lives on pills for the rest of our lives. We don't want to have to live with chronic symptoms. We live in a system that gives us just that here in the states. It is a system that has too many doctors holding the book cases as absolutes and remaining inflexible. and it isn't just medical doctors who lack the ability to innovate. We need to unite together in the health care field so we can better serve those looking for hope.

The united states is going through a so called "health care" reform. Don't let the wording fool you though it isn't really a reform of health care service but rather a reform in health care costs. We want the same service, we just want it cheaper. At least that is what we are saying. Change will come from the reform, but it may not be exactly what we all are hoping for.

I look at the tumult and thing to myself "why the heck did I jump into this field now? What is going to be left of it for me when I get done with school?" I don't know what the future holds but I know that what I am doing is valid and is helpful. I know chiropractic can help people. I've been under care now for a few weeks and I have noticed that I am sleeping better at nights. I assume so because I don't feel tired in the middle of the day and I haven't changed my sleep schedule. It works for me it can work for others and I am excited to see what other benefits I will reap from my care. All I know for sure is I have high hopes for what is to come.

GPA, Chiropractic School, and standardizing

Last week in school we had a discussion about standardizing the requirements for getting into school. I was surprised at how many people we against some standardization. The rational was that there are more slots available in chiropractic schools than there are applicants therefore until we have more applicants than slots we shouldn't standardize. I think that is a big mistake.

First off most of the medical community feels chiropractic is somewhat of a joke. In my undergrad work I rubbed elbows a lot with the pre-med students and the sentiment among them was something like this "If I don't make it into medical school I can always become a chiropractor." That is a scary thought. Chiropractic is seen as the bottom of the barrel. Chiropractic and Medicine need to play nice together in the school yard. We need to see that we complement each other and are not necessarily at odds with each other. We can't play nice until we respect each other and the med-students don't respect someone who can get into a health profession program with a GPA of 2.0 - 2.5.

There has been talk of bumping up the required GPA to get into school to a 3.0 and I whole heartily agree. It gives us more clout when we have a higher minimum among the med-students. One might ask what does it matter when the med-students are only students. It matters cause they will become the doctors we chiropractic students are going to have to work along side with. I have faith in chiropractic and what it can do for people but we still have to play with the doctors of the medical community. The standardization of school requirements is only the beginning of course. The chiropractic community needs to show our merit to the medical community and be able to share our message with the rest of the world not just other chiropractors.

A universal truth, midterms, and halloween

Well I'm half-way through my midterms. More studying to do but there is a bit of pressure off the system now. Also I've copies of my x-rays that my intern took. It is way cool, definitely halloween material. Here at Life Chiropractic College West Halloween is a big deal. There are pumpkin carving contests and costume contests and so on and so on.

I've meet with my intern three times and I feel really great. I had some lower and mid back pain as well as tension headaches. I have really bad posture (something my x-rays show in the neck) and I just attributed everything to that. Well after my first adjustment my dull aching lower and mid back ache was gone and my headaches are following suite. Three separate complaints and all are being taken care of in a natural holistic way.

I've been hearing the term "cold laser" being thrown around here on campus and I'm still not sure what it looks like. All I know is that the interns carry it around in a plastic box. Anyway my intern used it today. surprised me really. It was cold, as the name suggests, but it was really penetrating. He only had the cold laser on me for a little bit but I could feel it really deep. It was also a very focused cold and that may be why it felt so deep because I was aware of the depth and not the area.

Again today we spoke of the wonder of the human body. There is a universal truth among the health care fields. The truth is that the human body is a wonderful self healing organism. There is no dispute among the professions about the self healing nature of the body. Our body has the final say about whether or not the healing process is going to take. Chiropractor and Medical doctors just have different ways of aiding the process. Most of us know how the medical model works but few of us know how the chiropractic model works. The reason for the chiropractic method being unknown to the general public is because of the chiropractors. We tend to preach to ourselves about how cool chiropractic is, but we kind of miss everyone else.

Well I want to share a little about chiropractic here. Chiropractic helps allow the body to respond with the natural healing processes at its disposal. Our body's know what it needs. Like keeping a car properly tuned allows for the best performance of the vehicle chiropractic can help maintain the body in good health. Chiropractic is concerned with the functionality of the body. Instead of treating symptoms (IE pain) we treat the cause of the symptoms. There are a lot of interesting idea's in the philosophy of chiropractic but really the the core of it is the body takes care of its self and chiropractors try to aid in maximizing the process.

Midterms, dystonia, and graphic design

First off I'm in the thick of my midterms. I've finished with two of the four this week and I'll take the last two tomorrow. I'm feeling good so far and I am positive I shall keep up the good work. I have another bit of good new (regarding graphic design) that I shall share after this sad story.

Many of you may know of the dystonia case that has come to light in the news as of late. If not you can youtube it and see the devastating effects of the disorder. A young woman has been crippled because of it. The cause seems to be the seasonal flu shot she received this year. If you watch the video you'll see that her muscles contract at the wrong times and she can barely talk. The odd thing about it is this: when she walks backwards or runs forward her symptoms disappear. Her muscles fire in coordination she can speak proper and so forth. She states that her life has been devastated from what has happened. I'm a rare breed among chiropractors. I have a degree in biology so I'm supportive of things such as immunizations. What has happened to this woman really made me stop and think.

Vaccinations do work. It works on principles of biology. The only man controlled portion of it is the preparation of the vaccine. The immune response and the long lasting effects come from the body. Something happened that triggered, in my opinion, an autoimmune response against the nerve centers of the brain responsible for the proper functionality of her skeletal muscles. Sadly there is no known cure for this disorder. Sadder still we have members of my profession screaming and yelling making us look like lunatics. Chiropractors have said that H1N1 is a conspiracy, that this woman could be cured with an adjustment, and other statements of that sort.. Those statements are unfounded. While the woman may benefit from chiropractic care her condition, if it is not due to nervous interference, is not within the realm of chiropractic care. You don't go to a dentist to get your eye sight checked. There is a place for all things and a good doctor know his limits.

I do believe their his hope for this case (if not this particular case then ones like it in the future) because of some simple observations I have noted. Because proper coordination of the muscle returns when she runs or walks backwards that means not all control centers over the muscle has been destroyed. If we can find a means to reroute the control through those centers it could be possible for cases like her's to be reversed to some degree. I'm not sure right now if this is possible which is why this maybe a hope for the future. Also I've not read up on dystonia (not enough free time in my schedule right now) so I could be way off base. The second thing we can do is change how we administer vaccines. The chances of this occurring, as stated on the news blurb on youtube, are close to one in a million. While those odds a really low it is still a possibility and a devastating one. If we can find a way to screen individuals before they get a vaccine to determine if they are at risk for such devastating side effects we can hopefully prevent those from occurring. I know nothing is perfect but it doesn't mean we should sit idly by because we've got acceptable odds. Some day the odds may no longer be acceptable. As for this woman my heart and prayers go out to her. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEN5KGwNGeo here is the link to the video, don't read the comments if you wish to avoid vulgarity)

Now for the other bit of happy news, my wife is applying to school to get her degree in graphic design. She's a free spirit of sort and school isn't her cup of tea so to speak but she has decided that she will apply for this program and that will be that for her. I'm proud of her and her big step.

Vitamin D

Yesterday at school we had a guest speaker talk to us about vitamin D and its role in combating osteoporosis. We need calcium for good bone density but without vitamin D out bones can't properly absorb the vitamin D. As a doctor of guest speaker told us how much sunlight a day would help our bodies, about 10-15 mins a day several times a week, during the afternoon. UVB is the light that allows our bodies to make vitamin D. Also of note sunscreen of SPF15 or higher and cloud cover block UVB rays negating the beneficial effects of the sunlight just don't get burned. For those of us who feel we should supplement our diet with vitamin D make sure it is vitamin D 3 about 2000mg of it. You might need more but you'd need to take a test to determine how much. The last little tid bit I have to help with developing good bone is weight bearing exercises. In the body we either use it or lose it and that applies to bone. Take care of yourself and your body will take care of you.

Firsts...

So today I had my first mid-term. It was in cell physiology and I passed it. It was a brutal test, only a little more than half of the class passed and there was only one, just barely, A. The professor takes pride in being difficult. He cares about what kind of student is turned out from school. I'm happy with my grade for a first exam and I am looking forward to trying and getting a higher grade the next time around. I have a lot of exams next week and I am getting ready for them. I anticipate that I will be doing very well on them.

Today was also my first chiropractic adjustment by my intern. My intern is a great guy and he really seems to know his stuff. I had some discomfort and with the adjustment it is now non-existent. The real test is time. If he did things right then I should be free from the discomfort and not need him for my complaint. I'll keep seeing him of course cause I want to have my nervous system checked out and maintained while going to school. My intern told me he was going to adjust my back, but failed to mention or I suppose I failed to catch, that he was going to adjust my neck. He warned me about the back because it was near the kidneys and some people have complained about some minor pain after the adjustment. It wasn't painful but if he hadn't warned me what he was doing I probably would have yelped. I get startled pretty easily, you can ask my wife who on numerous occasions has scared me so bad that I couldn't breath properly. My lacking of breathing was very funny for her so much so she had trouble breathing due to laughter. The adjustment was quick and powerful. I guess the best way to describe it would be like your best friend sneaking up behind you and giving you a hard shove. The neck adjustment really caught me off guard.

He was checking my neck, I just thought as a post adjustment exam, and then he twisted my head at on odd angle. I had seen the TV shows and I barely had time to register that my head was going to be twisted off like a bottle cap from my neck. In that same instant I realized I had to let my guard down so my intern could do his job and he gave my head a good twist and released a plethora of pops from my neck. The slight headache that had been niggling at the back of my head was gone. Fantastic part was TV was still fiction and my neck was not snapped. This may have to do with the fact that my intern is a chiropractic intern and not a green beret's apprentice.

Golf, Chiropractors, and measurments

I know I have been neglecting the blog for a couple of days but mid-terms are here and I've been studying. I don't feel super prepared (as this is my first test and I never feel prepared on the first one) but I'm hoping my biology degree will be of some use to me. I guess this is where the rubber meets the pavement so to speak. Also I should be getting my first adjustment by my intern tomorrow. I'm so looking forward to that. I can feel some stiffness in my spine that may be causing interference so I'll know tomorrow and get it fixed if it is.

Most doctors and business men seem to be drawn to the fascinating world of golf. I have my own set of clubs doing what they do best. Collecting dust in some storage space. We were talking today about good golfers and how they are like good chiropractors. Good golfers care about their score. A bad day for the pros is par (for me that is the game of the year award). They keep score to tell how well they are doing and if they are improving. I do have to state that while my score was not fantastic at least it was consistent, consistently just under double par. Now you know why the clubs are gathering dust. Good chiropractors should also take measurements and be able to show to their patients what is going on.

When we step on to that dreaded bathroom scale we aren't really surprised that our new holiday diet of eating three thanksgiving dinners in one sitting didn't result in the loss of five pounds. We can see that we failed to meet our goal. Likewise we can see we are losing weight when we curb the fourth and fifth slice of pie and exercise. When we have a chiropractor that uses subjective measurements, like giving us our weight by lifting us, we have to take his word we are losing weight. Of course their is a scary thing about taking measurements. All of a sudden we now become responsible for what we are doing. I'm not at the stage of my education where I know what tools to use to measure improvement and being able to clearly demonstrate it to my patients but I promise to do so when I have my own practice. It only seems fair that I demonstrate what I am doing is working. Not only is it fair but it allows the patient to get the help they truly need. If I can't help them with I problem I need to refer them to someone who can. Well off I go to take my first exam. I hear weeping after this particular professor's exams is not uncommon. It would explain the people in the fetal position lining the hallway near his office...

Clay, paints, and a photoshoot

As a doctor of the nervous system I'll be interfacing with the system at the spine. We all know it is made up of a bunch of different bones and that these bones cannot be seen through the skin. As a student I have to get to know the bones by touch alone. So I practice with plastic models and real bone, real bone is way better to learn with cause the plastic feels all the same. I think it would be easier to develop X-ray glasses to look at the spine I work with rather than memorize which part of the plastic spine I have in my hands without looking. In my spinal anatomy class I was given a ball of clay and told to model it into a sacrum (the portion the tail bone is attached to). I'm not an artist but I think I did an alright job which is why you get to see a side by side shot of the plastic model next to my clay one. I've worked with clay before and that stuff wasn't really good. It was really sticky and more like working with caulking instead of clay. I can't really complain though because I'm going to Life Chiropractic College West and not Life Artists of the Spine College West. Regardless of the pseudo-clay I had to work with my wife was totally jealous that I was creating art. Funny thing is she was painting something way cooler than the clay model sacrum (and it will end up looking way better than my creation anyway). I love my wife. She's was also jealous of the coloring I've been doing for homework. Of course now after I write this it would seem I'm back in kindergarten all over again without the tasty paste. Fortunately the little nap stations have been upgraded to really nice furniture.

Part of being in Chiropractic school means I'll be practicing techniques on my fellow classmates before I help the general public. This means I have to get paired up with an intern who will be my doctor until he graduates nine months from now. I have to have a file open in case anything happens. I met with my intern for the first time last Wednesday after school. It was a long day (7am-7pm) for me. Part of the exam are X-rays. A full body one. I was wondering as I was dressing into the gown how many pictures they would take to get a full body exam and if I had any children after if they would be normal looking or have radical mutations. I don't remember how many shots they took but it was a lot. Thankfully when they took a shot of my pelvis they gave me a guard to protect myself with. It took every ounce of self restraint not to hold on tight to the led triangle and press it up against my groin to ward off any stray x-ray. I couldn't hold onto it cause my arms would get in the way of the picture. I'm looking forward to seeing those x-rays. After the films get developed and analyzed I'll get to go in for my first adjustment while being here at school and I am super excited for it. I'm still in one piece after all the pictures all my hair is where it should be and no weird growths. I'll have to wait a while to see if the triangle did its job right though. If it didn't I'm hoping for a three armed child with laser vision and the ability to regenerate.

Power of the body

One of the things I'm beginning to understand in chiropractic is the respect of life the founders of chiropractic had. It was their belief that the body's ability to heal itself would be able to take care of the body. When everything was in order with the nervous system the body was able to take care of itself. We know that interference with nerves occurs, the funny bone is the best example. The body is an amazing organism. It know where everything is supposed to go and it places it there. The body can ingest food, break it down, and make something new out of the components (typically new cells for maintenance of the body). So as a chiropractor we try and tap into that natural ability of the body and make sure everything is working proper in the system to let the body take care of itself. It is a pretty cool and innovative idea in my opinion. The human body is way cool.

Immunizations and such

Today we had quite the discussion, more like verbal warfare, over vaccinations particularly the H1N1 vaccine. I understand lots of people have differing opinions over vaccines. I for one am not getting the newest flu vaccine. I never have gotten the vaccine and I'll probably start getting them out of concern for my patients' well being when I go into practice. I can't be spreading the disease around to those how are susceptible now can I? While this choice of mine may put me in a minority among a minority (as far as I can tell many alternative health care providers oppose vaccines) it is a choice I feel to be a responsible one. Vaccines have done a lot of good. We have rid ourselves of detrimental and incapacitating diseases. In fact the only cure we currently have for rabies is the rabies vaccine itself. I think a lot of the controversy arise from a lack of in depth knowledge and out of context quotes.

I understand that there is a risk with vaccinations. I understand that disease, or in a very very very small chance, death may occur from getting a vaccination. I also know, if I recall correctly, that most deaths from vaccination actually are due to an allergic reaction to the media of the vaccine. I also understand that there are a whole slew of other conditions that may come from getting a vaccine. A very important thing I also know is that without vaccines we would still have many more diseases we would be competing with to survive. So to those who choose not to get vaccinated, including me for the newest flu shot, we owe those who do get the vaccines a thanks. Because those who take the vaccines help stop the spread of disease amongst the herd. So thanks for the herd immunity guys, I've got your back with some of the others.

Cost effective care

In a class today we spoke about two heath care ideas, a practice that is symptom relieving or one that is "curative", and the cost effectiveness of both. Going to get cured for a disease in the long run is more cost effective and it is something we all really know. In fact being cured is what we all really want anyways when we become ill. No one in their right mind goes to the doctor and says, "Hey I'm feeling awful Doc. I want you to make me feel better but I don't want you to cure me of the problem. I like my disease," yet we still have situations where we do just that. For high blood pressure we can get a nice little pill that will bring it down for us. The symptom is gone but only so long as the pill continues to get used. To top it off the body will eventually get used to the dose that is being prescribed for the high blood pressure and a new larger dosage will be required. The pill is not making the user better at all. In fact after a time if the individual ever goes off the pill their blood pressure doesn't stay decreased or even go back to what it was before the pill but is higher than what it was before they started taking medications. Now don't get me wrong here I'm not in any way saying medication is evil or unnecessary I'm only trying to point out that if we could "cure" the problem then we could be free of pills and high blood pressure which is going to save money in the long run. So lets start saving money and going for the "cure" whether it be through chiropractic or allopathic care it is something we all deserve. In the long run maintaining our health is much more cost effective than getting sick.

Chiropractic and Me

So here I go again starting yet another blog. Here is my Chiropractic Story. I'm a student in Hayward, CA at Life Chiropractic College West. I've taken my first steps down the pathway that will lead me to being a chiropractor. I was originally planning on being a dentist but found that was not the life for me. I started out being a skeptic that chiropractic could help at all but once I saw how it could help my wife after a serious injury I found myself changing my mind set about chiropractic. While it is a new world for me and I am excited to explore it the one thing I know right now about the profession I have chosen is that we are not back doctors rather we are doctors of the nervous system and we care about functionality. I guess bottom line is we care and I look forward to sharing my experiences of chiropractic school here.