With the nation’s healthcare and insurance payment system in a state that desperately needs to be renovated and improved, the introduction of more chiropractor provider care could offer positive solutions. According to one recent report, cost savings, care improvements, reduced surgeries and less pharmaceutical drug use could all occur when a chiropractor takes the lead as a primary care physician in an insurance provider network.

Healthcare reform has been bantered about in Washington D.C. for many years. Politicians have voiced concerns and some have tried to do something about it. New administrations entering the White House promise to make changes, yet, over 40 million Americans remain uninsured. COBRA insurance rates for those who lose their jobs but want to continue coverage are astronomical with annual fees of over $4,000 for individuals and $12,000 for families. The cost of surgery and a hospital stay is so enormous that even a short stint in a medical facility could financially wipe out the average individual or family.

The question remains; where lies the solution? The answer might be found in putting chiropractors in charge of a person’s healthcare with programs directed at keeping people well and free from drugs or surgeries.

A recent study showed that when chiropractors are in charge of a person’s healthcare, and where complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) solutions are part of their healthcare network, that not only costs but also the number of clinical visits can be reduced significantly. Consider these results collected over a 7-year period that compared a CAM-oriented primary care physician (PCP) network versus conventional medicine alone.

• 60.2 percent decrease of in-hospital admissions.
• 59 percent fewer hospital days.
• 62 percent fewer outpatient surgeries and procedures.
• 85 percent fewer pharmaceutical costs.

The clinical and cost utilization information in the report was based on 70,274 member-months in an independent physician association (IPA) network with a chiropractor as the primary care physician. This study compared results with conventional medicine IPA performance for the same health maintenance organization product in the same area and over the same time frame.

Granted, this is only one study performed by one group of researchers. However, what is clearly demonstrated in this quite extensive survey conducted over a significant period of time is this: CAM-oriented programs that use a non-surgical/non-pharmaceutical approach show significant reductions in clinical visits and costs when compared with conventional medicine networks.

With these amounts of savings and improvements in healthcare available, shouldn’t politicians sit up and take notice? More people utilizing CAM services with chiropractors in charge might be just the items needed to put healthcare on the right track in the United States.
 
Source: Alternative Medicine Integrative Group. “Clinical Utilization and Cost Outcomes Form an Integrative Medicine Independent Physician Association: An Additional 3 Year Update.” May 2007. http://www.chiro.org/ChiroZine/ABSTRACTS/Clinical_Utilization_and_Cost_Outcomes.shtml

EARLY IN LIFE CHIROPRACTIC EXAMS IMPORTANT!

When should a child have their very first Chiropractic examination? The recommended answer to that would be as soon after birth as possible and then continue to have them adjusted right on through childhood.

A child is susceptible to spinal trauma from the birth process and all the way through their childhood when they take many spills and tumbles during the growing up process. All during this time the child’s spine is growing and developing at a rapid rate – about a 50% increase in length during their first year of life. This is equivalent to a 6-foot tall person growing to 9 feet in just 12 months.

One person who has received Chiropractic exams and adjustments since a very early stage of his life is actor Jonathan Lipnicki, now 17. Audiences of all ages know him from his roles in the Stuart Little movies and as a youngster in the movie Jerry McGuire .

Jonathan’s uncle is a chiropractor and gave him his first adjustment when he was just several months old. “It’s a good way to live,” he said. “You perform at your best, whether it’s academically or physically.” In encouraging early childhood Chiropractic he added, “If you want to perform at your ultimate best, if you want to be the best you can be in sports and in school, mentally and physically, Chiropractic is the way because everything has to do with your nervous system. And if you can clear up any subluxation (partial dislocations of vertebra) in there, you’ll be pretty much OK.”

The next question parents may ask is, “What types of childhood problems might be solved by a visit to a Chiropractor?” An article in Parents and Kids magazine made reference to the common reasons a child should be checked and likely helped. These include: a difficult birth, difficulty nursing, colic, reflux, trouble sleeping, ear infections, frequent colds and infections, allergies/asthma, behavioral problems (Attention Deficit Disorder), postural abnormality, head tilting, high shoulder or hip ailments.

Doctors of Chiropractic have been providing safe and effective care to children for nearly 100 years with published studies in Europe and the United States confirming the effectiveness of Chiropractic for this entire variety of childhood illnesses and structural irregularities. In fact, the scientific evidence continues to grow.

The Parents and Kids magazine article has one final important warning. “Nerve system stress left unaddressed impairs the child’s ability to function in a state of optimal health and well-being.” This can have an effect on the child’s health now and in the future. “Pain and malfunction may not show up for many years,” the article concludes. Parents would do well to have a child examined early for good health and to save potential later life problems.

Source: http://www.chiropracticresearch.org 2006, “Could Your Child Benefit from a Visit to a Chiropractor? and 2005 “Child Movie Star Big Supporter of Chiropractic.”

Why would a parent not take a child to see a chiropractor? The basic answer might come down to no information or incorrect information.

Here are three basic reasons why not: 1. They don’t know about Chiropractic, 2. They don’t know about the potential benefits of Chiropractic or, 3. They think that a Chiropractic adjustment might be too rough for a child and cause pain or damage.

Once a person finds out about Chiropractic and begins to understand its benefits, it is point number 3 that must be understood and dispelled, as apparently, some parents think that a Chiropractic adjustment will be “too rough” for their youngster.

Chiropractors understand that all bodies are different and tailor their adjustments and the amount of pressure required based on the individual they are treating. A big football playing man in his 20s, a little old woman in her 70s and a child of 10, will all be looked at and evaluated for their individual needs.

In this way, it could be said that a Chiropractic adjustment can be as individual as a handshake. A strong man shaking hands with another strong man will give him a lot more pressure than if the same man was shaking hands with his grandmother or the child. When parents realize this and bring their child in for an adjustment, the results can be quite remarkable. Consider this case of a 7-year-old girl.

This child had been suffering from asthma since the age of 4. By the time she came to see a chiropractor, she had been treated medically with 10 different medications. Attacks of coughs and wheezing were daily occurrences. Physical activity was almost out of the question. Emergency room visits sometimes reached 5 per year. A test of lung capacity revealed she was operating at about 50 percent of her lung capacity.

An exam by her chiropractor revealed subluxations (partial dislocations) in the vertebrae at the middle of her spine. An individual program was tailored to handle these restrictions. With just one adjustment, some of the tightness in her chest disappeared and her coughing was reduced. After just 4 weeks of treatment, she was able to put aside her inhaler and get back to participating in swimming and running sports. After 3 months, her lung capacity was just about normal and all medications were stopped.

Had her parents avoided taking her to a chiropractor because of a fear that an adjustment might be too rough and cause her pain, the child might well be on her way to a dozen more medications, further restrictions of activity and even worse breathing problems.

Is Chiropractic for children too? By all means. Miracles can occur each and every day in Chiropractic with the right adjustment, tailored to the individual’s size, age, shape and need.

Dynamic Chiropractic. “Chiropractic: As Individual as a Handshake.” July 2008. http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/26/14/12.html

A new study from Northwestern University shows that hospital errors are rampant when it comes to making sure that colon surgery patients are cancer free. Most hospitals come up short when checking the prescribed number of lymph nodes to make certain there is no further spread of the disease.

Lymph nodes are checked following surgery to determine if the cancer might have spread beyond the treated area. During the past decade, oncology organizations have strongly recommended that at least 12 nodes should be checked. This helps in the process of determining if the cancer might still be present, allows for further diagnoses regarding the stage of the disease and provides evidence that contributes to future patient treatment decisions.

The study to determine if a correct diagnosis was occurring was conducted by the Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the American College of Surgeons. Nearly 1,300 U.S. institutions were studied to see if hospitals were complying with the 12 node check recommendation.

Of these 1,300 surgical service providers, more than 60 percent failed to comply with the recommendation to examine 12 lymph nodes. This error is particularly alarming as colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. These results are now published in the

Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

“It’s disappointing that despite so much emphasis on this particular issue, so many hospitals still aren’t checking enough lymph nodes to ensure they diagnose the accurate state of cancer,” said Karl Bilimoirs, MD, the lead author and surgery resident at the Feinberg School. “Knowing the accurate stage of your disease affects your survival and treatment. That’s critical.”

An encouraging statistic from the study was that the lymph node checks have improved during the past decade. In 1996-97, only 15 percent of hospitals were doing the prescribed check. By 2004-2005, that number had risen to 38 percent. While this is an improvement, it still leaves about 65 percent of hospitals found to be not in compliance with the correct diagnosis techniques.

“Every surgeon has a story about a colon cancer patient where the pathology report showed only a few lymph nodes checked and no cancer was found,” said Dr. Bilimoria. “The surgeon asks the pathologist to check six or eight more nodes and one of those turns out to be positive for cancer. That completely changes the treatment plan.”

Armed with this information, a colon cancer patient can make certain that his or her hospital has not erred on the side of too few nodes checked. The patient should ask the surgeon if at least 12 have been checked and can ask for access to the full report of testing procedures to ensure hospital compliance. With 65 percent of all hospitals erring on the side of too few checks, this is vital information to know and use by a patient taking responsibility for a full recovery.

Source: Northwestern University. “Majority of Hospitals “Flunk” Colon Cancer.” September 2008.

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2008/09/bilimoriacancer.html

17

® WARNINGS STEPPED UP!

Two Wake Forest University doctors and professors have stepped to the forefront in expressing a heightened concern for the dangers of Avandia and similarly classed medications used to control type-2 diabetes. They warned against a significant increase in cardiovascular problems that can result from a continued use of this drug.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings against Avandia, but the two doctors think that the medical community needs to be even more aware of the problems presented by the Avandia class of drugs and really take this information to heart. In 2007, the FDA first issued a safety alert about Avandia and then later in the year required “black box warnings” for Avandia and similar drugs.

The doctors who sounded the latest alarm are Curt D. Furberg, M.D., PhD, professor of public health, and Sonal Singh, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “We strongly recommend restrictions in the use of thiazolidinediones (the class of drugs) and question the rationale for leaving rosiglitazone on the market,” they said. Avandia is a rosiglitazone drug. The thiazolidinedione drugs were originally approved based on their ability to reduce blood sugar.

The concerns expressed by the doctors stem from the findings of three separate studies: ACCORD, ADVANCE and the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Study. In ACCORD, those patients who received intensive treatment to control their blood sugar had more cardiovascular disease and higher death rates than persons given more standard treatment. In ADVANCE the control of blood sugars showed no effect or benefit from the drugs over standard treatment. In the VA study, the reduction of blood sugar levels produced low levels of consciousness or unconsciousness and was also found to predict future cardiovascular events. “The unfavorable findings from the three trials have not been fully realized by the medical community,” the doctors said.

Part of the risk in taking these drugs may stem from the fact that a reported 22 percent of diabetics already suffer from some form of heart disease. It is further noted that in elderly patients, over half will develop some form of congestive heart failure over a 10-year period. According to Drs. Singh and Furberg’s research they reported in an article 

 The following drugs in the thiazolidinediones class of anti-diabetic drugs that currently must display a “black box warning” are: Avandia (rosiglitazone), Actos (pioglitazone), Avandaryl (rosiglitazone and glimepride), Avandamet (rosiglitazone and metformin) and Duetact (pioglitazone and glimepride).

“Safer, cheaper and more effective treatment alternatives are available that do not carry these negative cardiovascular risks in patients with diabetes,” said Dr. Singh.

http://www1.wfubmc.edu/News/NewsARticle.htm?ArticleID=2432 and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Manufacturers of Some Diabetes Drugs to

Strengthen Warning on Heart Failure Risk.” August 2007. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01683.html and “FDA Issues Safety Alert on Avandia.”

May 2007. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01636.html

Diabetes Carein 2007, “Thiazolidinediones doubled the risk of congestive heart failure in patients with type-2 diabetes. The increased heart failure appears to be a class effect.”Source: Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “Class of Diabetes Drugs Carries Significant Cardiovascular Risks.” August 2008.

It was widely reported last November that the infant twins of actor Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly were erroneously injected with a massive dose of the blood thinner Heparin. Now, the full details of this catastrophe and how dangerously close to death the children came have been revealed by the family while appearing before a US House of Representatives hearing.

The twins, Thomas Boone and Zoë Grace, were only 11 days old when they developed a staph infection that placed them on a continuous intravenous drip of antibiotics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. All treatment was proceeding smoothly until the point when the IV needed to be changed. Standard procedure at this point includes cleaning the IV line with 10 units of the blood thinner Hep-Lock to keep the medication flowing freely. In error, the twins each received a massive overdoses of 10,000 units of Heparin, which is 1,000 times the normal dose for babies.

The effect of the drug on these young bodies was to begin turning their blood to a water-like consistency. This is why after a short time, one of the children was seen to be bleeding through a foot puncture where blood had been drawn earlier.

Still, this did not raise an alarm. The IV drip continued. The next time the IV was changed, a second massive dose of Heparin was administered. It was not long after this that serious troubles for the twins really began, along with a totally frightful day for the parents.

When the error was discovered, the drug Protamin was injected in the children to counteract the Heparin, but did not take effect immediately. During the next few hours, the babies bled from many of the places they had skin punctures.

At one point, Quaid said that a doctor was working to put a clamp on a bleeding umbilical cord of his son when blood suddenly shot out at a height of some 6 feet and splattered against a hospital wall. All the while the children were screaming in pain, the parents were afraid for their children’s lives and were dreading long-term damage. Fortunately, both children did survive, are doing well and the possibility for long-term problems seems negligible.

What is so unfortunate about this entire ordeal is that it did not need to happen. About 1 year before, a similar mixup had occurred in an Indianapolis hospital where three children had died and three were injured. Drug maker Baxter Healthcare Corporation was involved there as well. The apparent mix-up in Indiana was very similar to the one Quaid described. The package labeling of Hep-Lock and Heparin were so similar in color and description that it was easy for hospital staff to confuse the two.

At that time, Baxter did send out warnings to hospitals about the possible problem but did nothing else for about 7 months when it finally requested a label change with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. About the time of the Quaid incident the label changing was beginning to happen. However, Baxter never did anything by way of a product recall to get this potentially dangerous situation handled. Knowing the risks, it simply allowed the product to be sold, distributed and used with only the warning letter sent to alert hospitals to the potential problem.

The Quaids have filed a legal suit against Baxter. The company has filed to dismiss the suit claiming preemption.

Their argument is that since the FDA gave approval to Heparin and allowed it onto the market, the government has provided the “seal of approval” to sell it. Quaid described this approval as a drug company’s “get out of jail free card” and denies a citizen’s right to sue. The company chooses to operate in this fashion even though they know that an estimated 7,000 Americans die each year as a result of medication error and blood thinners are one of the main culprits.

ource: The U.S. House of Representatives. “Testimony of Dennis and Kimberly Quaid Before the Committee on

A new study from Northwestern University shows that hospital errors are rampant when it comes to making sure that colon surgery patients are cancer free. Most hospitals come up short when checking the prescribed number of lymph nodes to make certain there is no further spread of the disease.

Lymph nodes are checked following surgery to determine if the cancer might have spread beyond the treated area. During the past decade, oncology organizations have strongly recommended that at least 12 nodes should be checked. This helps in the process of determining if the cancer might still be present, allows for further diagnoses regarding the stage of the disease and provides evidence that contributes to future patient treatment decisions.

The study to determine if a correct diagnosis was occurring was conducted by the Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the American College of Surgeons. Nearly 1,300 U.S. institutions were studied to see if hospitals were complying with the 12 node check recommendation.

Of these 1,300 surgical service providers, more than 60 percent failed to comply with the recommendation to examine 12 lymph nodes. This error is particularly alarming as colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. These results are now published in the 

Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

An encouraging statistic from the study was that the lymph node checks have improved during the past decade. In 1996-97, only 15 percent of hospitals were doing the prescribed check. By 2004-2005, that number had risen to 38 percent. While this is an improvement, it still leaves about 65 percent of hospitals found to be not in compliance with the correct diagnosis techniques.

“Every surgeon has a story about a colon cancer patient where the pathology report showed only a few lymph nodes checked and no cancer was found,” said Dr. Bilimoria. “The surgeon asks the pathologist to check six or eight more nodes and one of those turns out to be positive for cancer. That completely changes the treatment plan.”

Armed with this information, a colon cancer patient can make certain that his or her hospital has not erred on the side of too few nodes checked. The patient should ask the surgeon if at least 12 have been checked and can ask for access to the full report of testing procedures to ensure hospital compliance. With 65 percent of all hospitals erring on the side of too few checks, this is vital information to know and use by a patient taking responsibility for a full recovery.

Source: Northwestern University. “Majority of Hospitals “Flunk” Colon Cancer.” September 2008.

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2008/09/bilimoriacancer.html

The apparent dangers of high blood pressure and the frequent recommendation of prescription drugs to reduce the problem create a seemingly constant flood of both media warnings and advertising. Now, the results of a recent study could shed an entirely different light on the source of the problem.

A study recently concluded in Chicago found that a one-time Chiropractic adjustment could produce a quite dramatic blood pressure reduction. The decrease in pressure was equal to a person taking two blood pressure reducing drugs at the same time.

Fifty persons were selected for the study. The requirements to participate were a high blood pressure condition and a misalignment of the Atlas vertebra. The Atlas is the top vertebra, the highest one in the body, located at the top of the neck.

George Bakris, MD, is the director of the hypertension (high blood pressure) center at the University of Chicago Medical Center and served as the lead author of the study. He pointed out that the Atlas, unlike the rest of the vertebrae in the body, relies only on soft tissue (muscles and ligaments) to hold it in place. For this reason, displacement can occur without pain, so misalignment often goes undetected and untreated.

Patients for the study were all treated by a Chicago area Doctor of Chiropractic. Prior to treatment he performed a variety of tests, including X-rays, to determine the exact adjustment needed for each patient. The subjects were then divided into two groups. Half received an actual adjustment while the other half received a very similar “sham adjustment.”

Each participant was fully assessed after their alignment and at the end of 8 weeks.

The study authors said those receiving the actual adjustment had their blood pressure lowered by the amount of someone taking two different blood pressure-lowering drugs at the same time. The reduction continued through the 8 week period of the test. No significant heart rate change was noted in this group.

Why blood pressure changes occurred to this degree was beyond the scope of the study. “The mechanism as to why this improvement in blood pressure occurs is unknown and cannot be determined by this study,” they said. More study is needed to see exactly how a misaligned Atlas might cause hypertension. Also, more work is needed to see if an incorrectly aligned Atlas is an additional risk factor for the development of hypertension

.”

Results of a study in the

25 subjects were diagnosed with PMS after completing a questionnaire and daily symptoms were assessed. 16 women received Chiropractic adjustments and soft tissue therapy, 2-3 times per week before menstruation, over three cycles. The remaining nine women were given a placebo treatment; a spring-loaded tool, which was wound down for minimal force. After one complete cycle passed, which no treatments were given, the groups switched treatment.

Symptom levels were measured daily and were evaluated by comparing the level of PMS symptoms to levels following the Chiropractic treatment and placebo treatment cycles.

According to the results following treatment, the score dropped from the average score of .05 to .00001; and when the treatment phase was compared to the placebo, the score dropped to .006.

Results showed that there was a significant improvement of symptoms following Chiropractic adjustments and soft tissue therapy; and it was also noted that, following this same treatment, the symptoms were improved more so than subjects who received the placebo treatment.

Researchers concluded that the results and symptoms associated with PMS can be reduced by Chiropractic treatment, consisting of adjustments and soft tissue therapy.

November/December 1999, Vol 22, No. 9; www.harcourthealth.com.

Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics  concluded that Chiropractic care iseffective in treating the  symptoms associated with Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS.)SOURCE: “A randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial on the efficacy of chiropractic on premenstrual syndrome,” Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics Online,

Seniors who exercise regularly and enjoy an active lifestyle can have a direct and positive effect on their own life expectancy. Even though it is previously known that exercise programs produced positive results, a recent study now shows that seniors who are active in their daily routines get positive benefits from being in action. The results of the study were published in the

Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers from the National Institute on Aging located in Bethesda, Maryland, studied the daily energy expenditure of a group of 302 high-functioning, community-dwelling seniors ranging from the age to 70 to 82. Their tracking measures were quite sophisticated in that they measured energy expenditure in terms of hydrogen and oxygen eliminated from the body as carbon dioxide. By measuring energy expenditure they were able to categorize the activity level of the individual.

All 302 participants were followed on average for a period of just over 6 years. During the time of the study, 55 participants died – 18.2% of the group. The researchers then compared the activity levels of all participants to see if there was a correlation between death rates and activity levels.

The study results showed that individuals with higher levels of activity energy expenditure were indeed associated with a lower risk of death. This information was achieved by categorizing participants into three activity groups. They ultimately determined that the risk of death for the group with the highest activity level was only 12.1%. The risk of death increased to 17.6% for those in the middle energy level. Worst off was the bottom activity level where the risk of death vaulted to 24.7%.

“Our study suggests that any activity energy expenditure in older adults can help lower mortality risks,” said the study authors who operated under the guidance of study leader Todd M. Manini, Ph.D. Exercise programs for seniors and getting out and taking walks are certainly well advised activities for persons of all ages, but especially seniors. Also, staying active around the home or with yard work and daily activities is advised, too, and verified by the results of this study. “Simply expending energy through any activity may  influence survivalin older adults,” said the researchers.