Freedomain Radio

A few years ago, at the end of a great deal of blind searching, I was finally able to settle myself under the vague label of "Libertarian".  Ron Paul's campaign over the last year kicked off my true beginning of understanding Libertarian ideas.  The campaign ultimately led me to "Atlas Shrugged" and an accidental viewing of Stef's "The Ron Paul Revolution - A postmortem."  When I began the video, I was obviously a little flustered...Stef was talkin' shit about my boy!!!  By the end of the video, however, I finally understood and have been trying to catch up on the podcasts ever since.

I am also currently in Chiropractic school.  A profession that you may know, has dealt with a great deal of controversy.  These days, however, it definitely seems to be conforming quite well to the burden of scientific proof.  I was really excited to hear Stef talk about Nutrition, and I will be trying to find more of his theories on that...if anyone can direct me to a specific podcast, it would make my search a lot easier.

 Other than that I look forward to debating and discussing some of these issues with all of you, as I have been missing an outlet for my curiosity for some time.

Sincerely,
Spyro 
 

Welcome Spyro!

I'm glad that Stef was able to turn you around so quickly with the postmortem video. A friend of mine has recently started seeing a Chiropractor. It seems like it's tricky to find a good one, but she got a recommendation from someone who had already tried several others and is happy so far. As far as nutrition goes, I think many health problems are related to messing up the endocrine system, so I focus on keeping starch and sugar down to a fairly low level and getting a balance of healthy fats and adequate protein, not to mention fresh fruits and vegetables and vitamin supplements.

I don't recall Stef elaborating at length on nutrition issues, but he has discussed weight, health and appearance in a number of podcasts. Try the Philoso-Physician on the home page. Check out the chat, too. It can be loads of fun!

Hmm, well Ill try to answer as best I can with a little scattergun, let me know If this is what you were looking for.

Because Chiropractic, as a profession, is so young and they are constantly battling the AMA for treatment rights, it has only been in the last 25 years that Doctors of Chiropractic have gotten a stronghold in scientifically proving their necessity in the medical world.  The school I go to is smaller, and is known to be one of the most scientifically advanced programs.  For diagnosing Neuro/muscular/skeletal issues we use the most current diagnostic tools available (X-ray, CT, MRI) along with a technique called "Diversified." Diversified is typically the most recognized way for a Chiro. to diagnose and adjust patients, although there are other methods that have recently shown to be valuable when dealing with  certain patients (Elderly, children, etc). 

That being said there are still schools/doctors out there who subscribe to a more controversial methodology called "Applied Kinesiology."  Many of the doctors are very passionate about the technique but when it comes down to it, if you screw up a diagnoses, there is still no definitive scientific research that will protect your finances in court.  My school stays away from that technique.  They also seem to stay away from the teachings of D.D. Palmer, with the exception of identifying him as the first official Chiropractor.

A I said before, for me, the most astounding progress is being made in the science of nutrition.  Surgeons, osteopaths, dermatologists, endocrinologists, and others are going to be kicking themselves in the ass when they realize the importance of Nutrition...a subject most of them still consider "of very little consequence."   Chiropractic, unlike traditional medicine, is not simply gross memorization of symptoms and treatments, it is a more dynamic scope of the human body because its goal is to HEAL the patient instead of TREAT.  

Oh, and I'm not crazy. 

I think I'm going to like this place.
   

Subluxation has become a very generalized term these days.  Starting with DD Palmer a subluxation was thought to be a "Bone-out-of-place", and the job of the Chiropractor was to move it back into place.  It was also thought that, in a given joint, a bone could move so far out of place that it was actually impinging on the nerve (like holding your foot on a water hose) and causing pain to the part of the body that nerve supplied. Now due to technology, we know that this was is not really the physiological mechanism of the pain.  The treatments for the pain, however, have only slightly changed, because well..... they still relieve the pain.

These days a subluxation is more commonly referred to as a joint "fixation".  Fixation is kind of a chain events that happens around the joints, that if left untreated, can cause all sorts of problems. I'm a visual person, so I learned things by picturing scenarios.  The story goes something like this:  

I picture a guy who sits at a desk all day in an old chair.  Now due to stress, bad nutrition, moving boxes, sleeping in the wrong position, etc. the z-joint surfaces (not the inter-vertebral discs) in his low back begin to compress against each other and loose some function (and therefore its ability to receive proper nutrients).  This causes sensory fibers inside the joint to signal the brain "Hey this isn't right."  So to maintain proper function in the body, the brain tightens the muscles around the fixated joint and loosens the muscles around the surrounding joints to compensate for the loss of motion.  This continued fixation causes the affected joint and its nerves to deteriorate further until the man begins to feel the pain and stiffness.

When we "pop/crack" a joint, the noise you hear is actually the sound of CO2 rushing into the joint from the surrounding tissue, and the joint itself has actually cavitated (think about pulling 2 small suction cups apart).  After a few treatments, and maybe some adjustments in lifestyle, the joint is now able to receive all of its essentials.

 So there's my kind of barbaric description of the most recent research.  I hope it isn't to jumbled up. 

Your skepticism is extremely common.  It usually only takes a little pain induced desperation for a skeptic to come hobbling into the office, and often they will become a regular patient.

As far as children are concerned, I can't really speak on it with much authority.  One of our professors is a specialist in pediatric Chiropractic, so I know they exist and work on the same general principles as an average DC.

When it comes to Subluxation/fixation, as I said, most of the biological/scientific mechanisms are generally accepted, which is why insurance companies now cover a great deal of Chiropractic treatments.  The real reason Chiropractic was approached with such hesitance is that there was no truly accurate way to measure someone's pain level before and after treatment, because pain is subjective to each individual.  This means, unless Chiropractors could prove beyond a doubt that the alleviation of pain is physiological.... the possibility exists that it is mental!  So we had to prove ourselves!!  Now that the physiological mechanisms are being proven, and we now have more accurate ways to measure pain and improvement, there really is no reason you should hesitate if you or someone you know is in pain.  

Even if you are still hesitant, and we were to place all the scientific evidence aside... consider this: for most of the neuromuscular pain Chiropractors have shown success treating, traditional medicine has two options:

1) pain medication, which simply covers up pain and more importantly the condition causing the pain

2) surgery....yikes!

 The bottom line is if you have: Low back pain (general or associated with pregnancy), cervicogenic headaches, whiplash, Locked low back, herniated disc, stiff neck, hip pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, etc....... then a reputable Chiro. should be at the top of your list!

Sure,

Pediatric manipulation is not really something we have jumped into yet, so I can't really answer your question.  I can say the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association has a great website for parents and doctors.  There is a study under the 'Parents' section that covers the safety and effectiveness of the practice.  It sounds like you are specifically interested in the pediatric treatment, so this should be a helpful resource. Here is the page:   http://www.icpa4kids.com/

About your question, "Do you believe spine manipulations can cure more than just back pain?"  I know there have been some results when adjusting a patient with Migraine headaches, but the evidence for such treatments on other diseases is still nil.  The claims that "all problems with the body can be cured by spinal manipulation" remains outdated and unproven... so I wont be subscribing to the idea in my practice.  I would, however, be willing to place loads more belief in nutritional treatments when dealing with certain diseases.

As to the credibility... Studies have shown that simple pain questionnaires, charting patient progress over a given period of time, are a very reliable way to measure outcomes and effectiveness of treatment.  In fact, Insurance companies use these questionnaires as a guideline to decide weather or not they feel a particular treatment is effective enough.

If you want more information on the hardcore, scientific studies behind nutrition, joint fixation, and other treatments let me know...I can at least point you in the right direction.  The meat of it is condensed into our texts, but the Chiropractic journals are constantly coming out with updated studies.

Is there a specific aspect of Chiropractic that has you concerned?  You seem to have more interest than most... on top of some pre-existing knowledge... am I missing something?

Most of the pseudo-science is being stomped out as noisily as possible.  I can recommend at least 2 great texts where a large portion of the evidence has been condensed from the peer reviewed journals.  The best of the 2 is called "The Foundations of Chiropractic: Subluxation" by a guy named Gatterman.  You can find it on Amazon.  It is much more 'user friendly' than the other book and explains itself in a much more organized and readable manner.

If you want others, just let me know.