Brilliant Life Chiropractic

Chiropractic Care Validated - Again!

2010-01-28T18:20:00.001-08:00

STUDY EXPERT VALIDATES CHIROPRACTIC STANDARD OF CARE

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

DR. MATT PAGANO – 860-307-7523

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, January 28, 2010

“The most recent research (Neck Pain Task Force Report of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010, a United Nations & WHO sanctioned study) indicates neck manipulation is safe and effective form of health care” according to Matt Pagano, DC chiropractic profession spokesperson.

Respected researcher and epidemiologist J. David Cassidy, DC, PhD, DrMedSc, testified as a key witness last week at the hearings before the Connecticut Chiropractic Board of Examiners in Hartford, Connecticut on Informed Consent. Speaking as an expert witness and consultant to the International Chiropractors Association (ICA), but with the support of all of the chiropractic organizations (American Chiropractic Association, Association of Chiropractic Colleges, Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, Life West, New York College of Chiropractic, Parker College of Chiropractic, Palmer College of Chiropractic, University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic) involved in the hearing process, Dr. Cassidy addressed key facts and issues on the basis of the existing science and research record, to which he has been a significant contributor on the issue before the Board. The objective of his testimony was to bring the discussion on an emotional issue back to the science and the objective research record.

Dr. Cassidy joined an extensive list of witnesses representing the chiropractic profession, including William J. Lauretti, DC, James J. Lehman, DC, MBA, J. Clay McDonald, DC, JD, MBA, Gerard W. Clum, DC, Stephen M. Perle, DC, MS, and Gina Carucci, DC, MS, DICCP, who appeared on behalf of the Connecticut Chiropractic Association (CCA) and George Curry, DC, FICA, who appeared on behalf of the Connecticut Chiropractic Council (CCC).

“The chiropractic profession unequivocally supports a patient’s right to be informed of the material benefits and risks of any type of healthcare treatment – not just chiropractic. Legislation or regulatory mandates governing informed consent should apply to all healthcare providers and all treatments in equal measure. A new law, regulation or mandate, however, highlighting one specific treatment by a specific health care profession that carries with it an extremely rare association, with no causal link identified in the research, is simply not good public health policy. It would set an unnecessary precedent for all health care providers, procedures and products that would be virtually impossible to implement”, said Pagano.

The existing informed consent standards in Connecticut allow for the best opportunity for shared decision making between a patient and their health care provider. Further, the chiropractic organizations participating in the hearing process all believe informed consent is more than a piece of paper; it is a process. It should occur in the context of a discussion between a doctor and a patient, and it should be appropriately documented.

In a finding highly relevant to the issue before the Connecticut Board of Chiropractic Examiners, the study demonstrated that patients suffering from headache and neck pain are no more likely to suffer from a stroke following a visit to a chiropractor than they are after a visit to a family medical physician. Therefore this implies that there are factors other than the type of care provided by doctors of chiropractic. It’s important to note that millions of patients safely benefit from chiropractic care every year—they are able to return to their normal activities and enjoy a better quality of life.

Dr. Cassidy was an investigator with The Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force on Neck Pain & It’s Associated Disorders of the World Health Organization (WHO). The work of this international task force whose study affirms the safety and benefits of chiropractic care for people with neck pain - a condition which is frequently treated by doctors of chiropractic was released February 2008. The Bone and Joint Decade Task Force on Neck Pain and its Associated Disorders initiated this new population-based, case-control and case-crossover study, which appeared in the Feb. 15, 2008, edition of the journal Spine.

The study—which analyzed nine-years’ worth of data from a population of 110 million person-years—concluded that vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stroke is a very rare event and that the risk of VBA stroke associated with a visit to a chiropractor’s office appears to be no different than the risk of VBA stroke following a visit to the office of a primary care medical physician.

The study goes on to say that any observed association between a VBA stroke and chiropractic manipulation, as well as its apparent association with PCP visits, is likely due to patients with an undiagnosed vertebral artery dissection seeking care for neck pain and headache prior to their stroke.

Over the years, popular media has all too often sensationalized the association between chiropractic cervical manipulation and cerebral vascular accidents—even though the evidence would strongly indicate that this is an incorrect assertion. The organizations representing the chiropractic profession believe this most recent evidence should help to dispel any myths on this issue, as well as provide more data to support the safety and effectiveness of chiropractic procedures.

As a profession, doctors of chiropractic remain committed to expanding the research and clinical understanding of VBA injuries, because even one cerebral vascular incident that could have been prevented or detected early is one too many.

What's with chiropractors and this holistic thing?

2009-08-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

I had someone come into the office yesterday to propose a business arrangement. He stayed after the meeting for a short time, and asked me this question:

"What is it with you chiropractors and this holistic thing?"

I thought it was a great question. It's a question that I'm certain many of you out there have had, and not necessarily in relation to chiropractic. What is it with this holistic thing? Why is it important to me? Why should I care?

My answer went something like this:

"Well, M___, what you have to understand first off is that our current state of health is a product of every single experience we have ever had in our life. That means that every physical experience, every chemical toxin, every piece of food, and every emotional upset that we have had contributes to our health. When you understand this piece of information it empowers you to look at all aspects of your life and how they are contributing to your health. Holistic health is about taking responsibility for all of those aspects and then doing something about them. That means eating right, avoiding chemical toxins, managing emotions well, and getting adjusted so everything else is connected and works well."

He said, "But what about Linda McCartney? She led a holistic life and she died of cancer! If anyone should not have died of cancer, it should have been her."

"Well, I have two comments about that. One, if you see a contradiction, like she should not have died of cancer and she did, you have to check your premises, because one of them is wrong. Contradictions don't exist. Two, I don't really know much about Linda McCartney, but I have several suppositions that I'd like to suggest that might explain this. It is possible that she did live a very holistic lifestyle in all the ways that most people think would contribute to health, and she still might have missed something. I don't know. It is also possible that because of her lifestyle she lived much longer than she otherwise might have. It is also possible that she was exposed to something early on in her life that she had still not fully accounted for. Perhaps there was an emotional stress that she was unwilling to unable to look at."

"My grandfather," he countered, "lived to 82 and smoked two packs a day!"

"I would ask this question: How long might he have lived if he hadn't smoked? And also, if he knew, deep down in his heart and soul that it was fulfilling some need in him, then it's likely that he wouldn't have had as much damage from those cigarettes as someone else who feels guilty about it because of the media pressure. In France they have lower rates of lung cancer but higher rates of smoking."

"What about genetics?" he said, "haven't they found a gene for cancer?"

"Genetics," I replied, "are not the end all of what determines health. They are environmentally triggered, as the new science of epigenetics is showing us. Twin studies have shown that while one twin might die of a genetic disease that they both have, the other may heal. It has happened. The gene for that disease was gone when they looked for it after the first twin died! Genes provide us with possibilities, and it is up to us to help express what we want to express. We are not limited by our genes."

Holism is not a fad. Holistic health is about taking responsibility for every aspect of your health, from the food you eat, to the exercise you get, or don't, to the toxins in your environment, to the spiritual connection you have with yourself, to getting adjusted. It's about honoring natural laws of life, that say mothers do have the ability to birth a baby, that the body can heal, that emotions are meant to be felt, and that sometimes, the perfect response from your body is to spike a fever.

But it's up to you.

How does chiropractic fit into it? Chiropractic is used to connect you with the power inside that regulates and controls EVERY single function in your body. Your body moves more smoothly, organs function more appropriately, clarity of thought is improved, sleep quality goes up, and people can heal!

How much healthier could you be if you got adjusted?

Ups and Downs of Blood Pressure

2009-08-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

The following is from an email written by a fabulous chiropractor who has got the big idea. It's a fabulous look at blood pressure and why lowering our blood pressure isn't always the goal of the body, so why should it be ours?

"There have been several studies over the years (two recently, including one at the University of Chicago Medical School) that talk about the chiropractic adjustment’s ability to lower blood pressure in hypertensive patients. You might think that as a chiropractor these kinds of studies make me very happy. While I am happy that chiropractic is getting some positive press, I am actually quite disturbed by these kinds of studies that show chiropractic to be a treatment (alternative or otherwise) for any kind of dis-ease. The problem I have with these studies is that there is an underlying assumption that the particular symptom being focused upon (i.e., high blood pressure) is something gone WRONG in that person. You may be thinking, “But high blood pressure IS something gone wrong!” This is where we need to talk about the words NORMAL and AVERAGE.

"Is it possible that the reason someone has a blood pressure outside the AVERAGE is that the Innate Intelligence of the body is trying to accomplish something by raising or lowering it? What if, as a person gets older and is less active, his leg muscles lose some of their strength and ability to contract normally, making it harder for his heart to pump blood against gravity and fully oxygenate his brain? Might the Innate Intelligence of his body RAISE his blood pressure above AVERAGE to ensure normal oxygenation of his brain? Might taking medicines to artificially LOWER his blood pressure actually decrease the amount of oxygen to his brain and cause mental problems such as Alzheimer’s disease or something similar? On a related note, might his Innate Intelligence lay down a greater than AVERAGE amount of cholesterol in his arteries in order to more easily and efficiently raise his blood pressure in response to his increased need for oxygen? Decreased blood flow to any specific area of your body may cause an overall increase in your blood pressure in the same way.

"The truth is that there are really only three reasons why you might have a blood pressure that is outside of the AVERAGE range.

1) Your focus and/or lifestyle choices keep your body and mind in a survival state that requires a higher than AVERAGE blood pressure to survive the day. This is a correct response.

2) Your Innate Intelligence is CORRECTLY attempting to compensate for a specific problem somewhere in your body and may need to raise or lower it (this may also be due to a lifestyle choice).

3) Your Innate Intelligence is unable to fully comprehend and/or respond to what your body needs due to a decreased brain-body connection (i.e., subluxation) and has therefore incorrectly altered your blood pressure.

In the cases where people’s blood pressures decrease after their adjustments, they obviously just needed a clearer neurological connection so that their Innate Intelligence could more accurately regulate their blood pressure. The adjustments gave them that clearer connection. An interesting finding in many of these studies was that several subjects actually had an increase in their blood pressure occur after chiropractic care. This baffled the researchers, but if we understand again that a clear neurological connection is required in order for Innate Intelligence to correctly raise your blood pressure if necessary (see #1 and #2 above), then it is very easy to see that once these people were reconnected by an adjustment, the CORRECT response in their blood pressure occurred automatically!

Basically what it all comes down to is this. You have an amazing Inborn Wisdom that knows exactly what your blood pressure needs to be in every moment. This is your NORMAL blood pressure whether it is the AVERAGE for the population or not. But in order for you to maintain YOUR normal blood pressure, you MUST have a healthy lifestyle, a positive mental focus and above all, a clear neurological connection! Seeing your chiropractor regularly allows you to know you are neurologically clear and TRUST that your Innate Intelligence is always doing the right thing in order to keep you functioning, adapting, healing and growing perfectly. Then you can relax and celebrate all that you are and all that you can yet be!"

(Paul again)

The best part about this is how this philosophy of health and life actually explains perfectly how the blood pressure of some of the participants in the studies could go up!

Flu Vaccination - Some studies

2009-07-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

For the second post of Brilliant Life, I'm looking at some flu vaccination information here. It is widely touted that during flu season, one should get vaccinated against it. There are several reasons why this might not be the best idea. I am referencing this website for this information. Dr. Tenpenny is a doctor who is trying to spread information about vaccination so people can make informed decisions before simply doing what people tell them is best.

First of all, flu shots don't work that well. Several studies of healthy children, those with asthma, adults and even the elderly finds that they are not particularly effective in preventing the flu. Besides which, there are known carcinogens and allergens in the shot. Your body does not get sick because it gets exposed to the flu, it gets sick because you don't have the immunity to deal with it. Studies have shown that putting live virus down people's noses only got them sick about 1/3 of the time. That means it has more to do with the host than the presence of the virus.

Secondly, the swine flu vaccine shot has squalene in it. This is a chemical that caused hindquarter paralysis in every rat that was injected with it. Now, I'm sure the dosage is different, but I can tell you this much, they aren't putting that in me or my kids. Squalene has also been linked with arthritis, lupus, and other auto-immune diseases.

Lastly, your body was designed to be healthy. Taking care of yourself is your best prevention from getting any kind of flu, as well as dealing with it once it happens. Get adjusted, eat well, drink lots of water, and keep a deliberate positive focus on what you want.

Welcome to BLC!

2009-05-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

In our continuing efforts to educate everyone on how to live a brilliant life, we have decided to start a blog. We will use this blog as a way to post important studies in health that we discover so we can share them with everyone.

Additionally, we will use the blog to provide links from the newsletter so that people don't have to wade through the entire thing. We are all busy and have so much to do that we don't always want to read everything that comes our way. We know. So please visit us often, and we'll keep this updated as often as possible.

Thanks!