Don’t “Believe” In Chiropractic? That’s Okay. You Don’t Have To. Here’s Why…

Source: unmotherlyinsights.com

For years, chiropractors have been treating back pain patients as well as, if not superior to, other health care professions.

In fact, all of the guidelines published around the world have recommended manipulative care as an initial or first step for the treatment of low back pain and more recently, for neck pain.

So why are there still some people who say things like, “I don’t believe in chiropractic,” “I’m not sure if that works,” “if my MD recommends it, maybe I’ll think about it.”

Almost everyone has (or will have) to deal with a sore back that demands some form of health care service. Statistics indicate low back pain affects over 80% of the general population at some time in their lives.

Of that number, about 25% seek chiropractic care initially.

So, let’s look at “the evidence” or research that supports chiropractic care.  Are those who seek chiropractic care truly satisfied?  You be the judge!

1) Consumer Reports May 2009 Consumer Reports Lists Chiropractic Patients As Most Satisfied Consumer Reports ~ May 2009

A study in the May issue of Consumer Reports shows hands-on therapies were tops among treatments for relief of back pain. The study, which surveyed more than 14,000 consumers, was conducted by the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. The report states that, “eighty-eight percent of those who tried chiropractic manipulation said it helped a lot, and 59 percent were ‘completely’ or ‘very’ satisfied with their chiropractor.”

2) Military Medicine June, 2006 Chiropractic Services in the Canadian Armed Forces: A Pilot Project Military Medicine 2006 (Jun);   171 (6):   572-576

This article reports on satisfaction associated with the introduction of chiropractic services within a military hospital, through a Canadian Armed Forces Pilot Project. A 27-item survey was distributed that inquired about demographic information and satisfaction with chiropractic services to 102 military personnel presenting for on-site chiropractic services at the Archie McCallum Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The majority of military personnel (94.2%) and referring physicians (80.0%) expressed satisfaction with chiropractic services.

3) Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics July, 2006 Factors Associated With Patient Satisfaction With Chiropractic Care: Survey and Review of the Literature J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2006 (Jul);   29 (6):   455-462    

The results here generally confirm the findings elsewhere in the literature. Of the 23% of the adult population who have ever visited a chiropractor, overall rates of satisfaction are once again found to be quite high (83% satisfied or better) and the number dissatisfied is quite low (less than 10% dissatisfied or very dissatisfied). This is remarkable given the fact that much of the financial burden of the care is borne by patients, and the preponderance of care is for difficult chronic problems of back and neck.

4)  Symptomatic Outcomes and Perceived Satisfaction Levels of Chiropractic Patients with a Primary Diagnosis Involving Acute Neck Pain J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2006 (May);   29 (4):   288-296  

A total of 115 patients were contacted, of whom 94 became study participants, resulting in 60 women (64%) and 34 men. The mean age was 39.6 years (SD, 15.7). The mean number of visits was 24.5 (SD, 21.2). Pain levels improved significantly from a mean of 7.6 (median, 8.0) before treatment to 1.9 (median, 2.0) after treatment (P < .0001). The overall patient satisfaction rate was 94%.

5)  Patient Satisfaction With Chiropractic Physicians In An Independent Physicians’ Association .  J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2001 (Nov);  24 (9):   556-559

Various aspects of chiropractic care were given a rating of “excellent” by the following percentage of respondents: Length of time to get an appointment (84.9%); convenience of the office (57.7%); access to the office by telephone (77.3%); length of wait at the office (75.7%); time spent with the provider (74.3%); explanation of what was done during the visit (72.8%); technical skills of the chiropractor (83.3%); and the personal manner of the chiropractor (92.4%). The visit overall was rated as excellent by 83.3% of responders, and 95.5% stated they would definitely recommend the provider to others.

6)  Patient Satisfaction With Chiropractic Care in Los Angeles AHSR FHSR Annu Meet Abstr Book 1994;   11:11    

        This RAND Corporation Study found for overall care, 92% of the patients choose chiropractic care as either excellent or the best . Although the ratings on all the items are high, the highest ratings were given to the more personal qualities of the practitioner: courtesy, politeness, and respect shown to the patient (92%); interest shown in the patient as a person (91%); willingness to listen (89%); ability to put the patient at ease (89%). These results support those of previous studies on chiropractic suggesting the high satisfaction with chiropractic care is a result more of the personal health encounter than the therapeutic outcome. They also suggest other providers could learn much from the interpersonal art of chiropractors.

7)  Patient Satisfaction With the Chiropractic Clinical Encounter: Report From a Practice-based Research Program Journal of the Neuromusculoskeletal System 2001:   9 (4):   109-117

       The majority of patients were highly satisfied with their care; 85.0% reported that their chiropractor always listened carefully; 85.3% that the DC explained things understandably; 88.2% that the DC showed respect for what they had to say; and 75.6% that he/she involved them in decisions as much as they wanted. The median proportion of patients, per DC, with a chief complaint who said their doctor always spent enough time with them was 82% (IQR: 19%) and 82.3% reported that their chiropractors never recommended more visits than necessary.

8) Patient Evaluations of Low Back Pain Care From Family Physicians and Chiropractors . West J Med 1989 (Mar);   150 (3):   351-355 ~ FULL TEXT    

        Patients of chiropractors were three times as likely as patients of family physicians to report that they were very satisfied with the care they received for low back pain (66% versus 22%, respectively). Compared with patients of family physicians, patients of chiropractors were much more likely to have been satisfied with the amount of information they were given, to have perceived that their provider was concerned about them, and to have felt that their provider was comfortable and confident dealing with their problem.

Many Medical Doctors Recommending Chiropractic Care For Back Pain Relief

Harvard Study: Low Back Pain Patients Significantly More Satisfied With Chiropractic Than Conventional Medical Care.   At the 17th annual North American Spine Society meeting, three medical doctors defended Chiropractic by citing a Harvard study that found low back pain patients were significantly more satisfied with Chiropractic treatments compared to conventional medical care. After researching […]

Wellness/Prevention: What’s For Breakfast?

Eating foods at breakfast that have a low glycemic index may help prevent a spike in blood sugar throughout the morning and after the next meal of the day. These breakfast foods can also increase feelings of satiety and fullness and may make people less likely to overeat throughout the day. The glycemic index ranks […]

Ending Pain And Staying Healthy Is A Surprisingly Small Thing…

 

Here’s something interesting.  Do you know how much money American Airlines saved in 1987 by eliminating ONE olive from each salad they served in first class?

        You’ll never guess.
 

$40,000!
 

        Amazing, isn’t it?  And if you translate that amount to today’s dollars – it would be a lot more!

        You want to know what else is interesting and quite amazing?  If you do, listen to this:  It is estimated that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, which basically means three quarters of this country does not drink anywhere near enough H20.

        And check this out – it is also estimated that in 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak it is often mistaken for hunger.  And even mild dehydration can slow down your metabolism by as much as 3%.  And there’s more…

        One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters in a University of Washington study.  But that’s not all!  Lack of water is the number one trigger for daytime fatigue.  A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen.

        As a quick aside related to computers – in 2006 one in eight people showed signs of being addicted to the internet!  Can you imagine?

        BACK TO WATER… SOME ESTIMATES SAY DRINKING FIVE GLASSES A DAY CAN DECREASE THE RISK OF COLON CANCER BY 45%, SLASH BREAST CANCER BY 79% AND DECREASE YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING BLADDER CANCER BY 50%.

        So what’s the point of all these interesting facts?  Is all this just to get you to drink more water?  Hardly…

        Listen… although it’s obvious you should be drinking plenty of water – the REAL take home message here is: small things done consistently over a long period of time can have a major impact on your health and life.

        Let’s face it.  One olive is not a big thing.  But removing just one from the in-flight salad meant $40,000 over the course of a year.  Just 5 glasses of water a day might save you from one of those deadly conditions listed above.

        And here’s something else you may find important – regular Chiropractic care may have a BIG impact on your life.  How, you ask?  If you came to us in pain and we helped you… it might stop your original condition from coming back.  And not only that – just one visit per month may help you live a healthier, more pain-free life… in many ways.

        Those olives and glasses of water add up and have a huge impact over time.  So do Chiropractic treatments, even though they may be tough to actually measure.

        Here’s one more interesting fact if you’d like to lose weight: Banging your head against the wall burns 150 calories an hour!  Yeah… you’re right… there’s probably a better way… 🙂

 

Can This Economy Cause Back Pain?

 

 

The headline to this may seem strange to you.  After all, what does the economy have to do with your back?

According to the Johns Hopkins Health Alerts, quite a bit.

        The Health Alert entitled, “Back Pain and Osteoporosis Special Report The Mind Body Connection,” reads “A growing number of studies affirm that the mind-body connection also plays a role in back pain, both in setting off an initial ‘back pain attack’ and in contributing to ongoing chronic pain.”

The Health Alert went on to say psychological distress increases the risk of developing back pain, followed by a slow recovery.

This is what’s very interesting:  One study found “catastrophizing”  increased the risk of getting back pain.

This, the writer explained, is largely due to the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism.  During this stress response, your body produces chemicals to make you hyper-alert.  This causes muscles to tense up and can even go into spasm.

It is important to understand this today, because every time you turn on the television, someone is reminding you our economy is a catastrophe; the worst economic times since the great depression… and that we may be on the verge of total collapse. This is not to say the situation is not bad; but, “catastrophizing” may be giving you a life of aches and pains.

There are many thing you can do to stop the cycle.  Breathing exercises, stretching, meditation and exercise will all help.

        CHIROPRACTIC CARE CAN OFTEN BE A GREAT STRESS REDUCER AND A TIME TO JUST RELAX AND GET AWAY FROM IT ALL.

The bottom line is:  There may be nothing YOU can personally do to change our economy, so it makes no sense to constantly stress over it and get sick.

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Meet Our Doctors at Allied Health Group

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Dr. Jeffrey Dickhut DC Originally from Port Byron, IL, Dr. Dickhut is the Clinic Director of Allied Health Group. He began his schooling at the University of Illinois before realizing his love for natural health care. He then moved onto Palmer College of Chiropractic and received his Doctorate of Chiropractic in 2002. He and his […]

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  In the mid 1980’s, a political event spurred a change of the medical community’s outward disrespect of chiropractor when the AMA (American Medical Association) was sued for anti-trust violations and the chiropractor won! For the first time, the public, open anti-chiropractic slander that appeared on billboards, in magazine articles, and in TV/radio advertisements was […]

It’s ALL about TIME

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Less Stress if Active

Weekly Health Update Week of: Monday, May 14th, 2012 Courtesy of: Jeffrey Dickhut, D.C. (309) 268-9000 “When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough.” ~Donald Trump

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Mental Attitude: Less Distress If Active! Researchers found that older adults who experienced any level of psychological distress were more likely to experience physical functional limitations than those who did not. Psychological distress scores indicated that 8.4% of all older adult participants experienced some level of psychological distress and older adults who experienced even a moderate level of psychological distress were the most likely group to experience a functional limitation — almost seven times more likely than those who did not report any psychological distress! Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, April 2012 Health Alert: Super Markets and Waist Size. People who shop at discount supermarkets or in supermarkets in areas with poorly educated consumers have higher than normal body mass indices (BMI) and waist circumferences. According to the study’s author, Basile Chaix, “A public health strategy to reduce excess weight may be to intervene on specific supermarkets to change food purchasing behavior, as supermarkets are where dietary preferences are materialized into definite purchased foods.” PLoS One, April 2012 Diet: Red Wine & Fruit For Fat. Piceatannol is a compound found in red wine, grapes, blueberries and passion fruit. It’s able to block cellular processes that allow fat cells to develop, opening a door to a potential method to control obesity. Journal of Biological Chemistry, April 2012 Exercise: Regular Walking Regimen. Cancer patients can literally take a step-by-step approach to combat fatigue following surgical treatment. This fatigue doesn’t go away with sleep, affects daily activities (doing your personal hygiene in the morning, getting up and getting dressed, going from the bedroom to breakfast, etc.) and can also lead to anxiety and depression. Patients who underwent an operation as part of their cancer treatment and then started a regular walking regimen experienced less fatigue than cancer survivors who did not do the walking program. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, April 2012 Chiropractic: Keep Your Blood Flowing. Patients with atherosclerosis are associated with increased disk degeneration and subjective low back pain. Atherosclerosis slows blood flow to the disk complex, which, in turn, leads to degeneration. Spine, 1997 Wellness/Prevention: Cancer Is A Preventable Disease! Only 5-10% of cancer cases are due to genetic defects. The other 90-95% of cancer cases are due to environmental and lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol consumption, poor diet, obesity, infectious agents, environmental pollution and radiation. Pharmaceutical Research, September 2008