EDMONTON - Chiropractic health care is a beneficial and effective treatment option that provides thousands of Albertans with relief from pain and dysfunction said the Alberta College and Association of Chiropractors (ACAC) today in response to a call for limits to be placed on vertebral adjustment (also termed manipulation) of the neck.
"In comparison with many other common health care interventions, chiropractic adjustment is one of the safest and lowest risk options," said ACAC president, Dr. Clark Mills. "Side effects from chiropractic adjustment are typically minor and resolve quickly."
The most recent research into neck adjustment further supports the safety record. The results of a collaborative and multidisciplinary six-year study by the Bone and Joint Task Force on Neck Pain and its Associated Disorders into the causes, prognosis and treatment of neck pain were published in the peer-reviewed journal Spine in January 2008. The study concludes that Vertebral Basilar Artery (VBA) stroke is a very rare event in the population. The research indicates clearly that the risk of VBA stroke associated with a visit to a chiropractor's office appears to be no different from the risk of VBA stroke following a visit to a physician's office.
The study concludes that this type of stroke commonly begins with neck pain and/or headache which causes the patient to seek care from their chiropractor or family physician before the stroke fully develops.
Similarly, a British study of more than 19,000 chiropractic patients encompassing over 50,000 cervical spine manipulations published in October 2007 in Spine found "no reports of serious adverse events."
In Canada, a study conducted by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) states, "The evidence to date indicates that the risk associated with chiropractic manipulation of the neck is both small and inaccurately estimated. The estimated level of risk is smaller than that associated with many commonly used diagnostic tests or prescription drugs." The study was published in 2001 in the medical journal Stroke.
"The call for a limit on adjustment of the neck is unfounded and based on anecdotal reports," said Dr. Mills. "The body of published, peer-reviewed research internationally clearly supports the safety of this health care practice."
Chiropractic is a regulated health profession in Alberta. Chiropractors deliver health services under a legislated scope of practice. In Canada, chiropractors require a minimum of seven years of post-secondary education: three years at an undergraduate university level including science pre-requisites followed by an additional four years of specialized training at an accredited chiropractic college.
For further information please contact: Deb Manz, CEO, Alberta College and Association of Chiropractors
11203 - 70 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, T5B 1T1
(780) 420-0932
Vitamin A deficiencies in Africa, technology bringing us closer to quantum computing, and reports that plastic bags can be decomposed in three months, all have the topic of scientific breakthroughs in common (according to search results). If the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had its way, based on a report I blogged about nearly 9 years ago today, we may not be reading about these breakthroughs, as well as others.
It was June 20, 1999, when I authored the first post announcing the beginning of a Planet Chiropractic News Service. It wasn't much of a post by today's standards, but it was the first official archived post announcing the service. Only days later, on Friday, June 25, 1999, there was something more right up our alley to report on. At that time, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection had announced the launching of a consumer education campaign, as a result of their growing concerns regarding 20 million Americans looking to the Internet for health information.
According to the article, the FTC's consumer education program was recommending that consumers interested in gaining medical advice online begin with US Government owned web sites, that provided links to reputable sources of information. Frankly at the time, I was surprised that more people were not in an uproar over the campaign. That article became one of the driving forces that motivated me to continue moving forward, and publish fresh chiropractic news content daily. It's been over 3825 days, and I'm happy to still be moving, and see how things have changed (or remained the same).
In the initial campaign, FDA officials reportedly recommended that consumers should stay away from sites that used phrases like "scientific breakthrough" or included impressive sounding terminology to disguise a lack of scientific proof. They also warned consumers stay away from sites that claimed the government or other groups had conspired to suppress a product. Seen any websites like that in the search indexes lately?
Fast-forward nine years later and there are about 536,000 results indexed in Google (in June 1999 Google was in its infancy, and it had just secured a round of funding from Sequoia capital and another firm) for the term: scientific breakthrough. Websites in the index include many dot-coms (such as Reuters and CNN), dot-orgs (like the International Food Policy Research Institute), newspapers (like the UK's Independent, The Guardian, and the New York Times), news magazines (like Time), and even dot-gov domains (scroll through the search results to see which ones).
In 2008 it almost seems ludicrous that a federal entity would suggest consumers what keywords not to be using when performing searches online. Or maybe it's not, they may still be doing so, for all I know. I honestly haven't been paying as much attention as I had back in 1999. I'm too busy blogging about curing cancer. :)