As a physical therapist, and one who took McKenzie’s courses when they were taught by McKenzie, I feel qualified to dispute this claim. Not that I’m against fostering self-care; I think this is absolutely essential if we health care professionals are to provide the best treatment. What I dispute is that McKenzie is “an effective alternative to traditional chiropractor treatment”. Let us dismiss consideration of the unethical chiropractors who simply crack backs and omit any self-care training. Mercifully, they are slowly losing favor among their own colleagues. But good, complete chiropractic care will include, besides manipulation, instruction in appropriate exercise – which could be the McKenzie extension bias and instruction in modification of movement habits. Good physical therapy should include this too – although all too often we physical therapists prefer the efficiency and revenue produced by grinding out patients on the passive modalities, e.g. hot packs, ultrasound, traction – the equivalent of the chiropractor’s manipulation (except that recent reports indicate that manipulation is more effective that other treatments in acute low back pain) and dispensing with the more time consuming functional training.
McKenzie was to spine rehabilitation what Freud was to psychology or Beethoven to music: they introduced ideas which, at the time, were considered bizarre but reformed the way we think about the subject. McKenzie took us away from the Williams Flexion era where all low back patients were taught to do full pelvic tilts and spend their time pulling their knees to their chests. He showed that restoring the normal inward curve of the lumbar spine (extension) decreased symptoms associated with excessive flexion associated with sitting and bending. His extension exercises remail very useful in the treatment of acute low back pain. Further, he put a strong emphasis on correction body mechanics. However like Freud and, as some, but not I, would say, Beethoven, he went too far. He teaches extension as a cure-nearly-all and if extension doesn’t work for you then you need to do mega-flexion. In truth, excessive, repetitive extension can result in microtrauma and avoidable degeneration of the spine. In my opinion, extension exercises should not be part on a spine patients ongoing, long term routine. Elimination the current pain – where McKenzie shows 80% success – is not the major battle. Avoiding joining the 60% who have another episode of severe pain within 2 years – the usual rate with back pain in general, is the sign of success. I feel that only with implementation of a neutral spine position stabilization program – with a strong emphasis on learning to maintain neutral spine position in daily activities is one likely to have success in the long term.
“Pediatric chiropractic care is often inconsistent with recommended medical guidelines,” writes a team of researchers led by Dr. Kathi J. Kemper of the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. The researchers base their conclusions on surveys from 90 doctors of chiropractic (DCs) in the Boston area. Chiropractic usually involves manipulating the spine and other joints to relieve pain and promote general health. But Kemper and colleagues report that for kids, treatment may be directed at specific illness. “Although most adults (85%) consult DCs for musculoskeletal conditions, children frequently visit DCs for respiratory problems, ear, nose and throat problems, and general preventive care,” report Kemper and her team.
A number of people have provided testimonials for the efficacy of their chiropractors, and I’d like to ask them what conditions they have which are being treated successfully by chiropractic, and what treatments are employed.
Soda and carbonated water from fountains like in restaurants are carbonated with CO2; we had a big canister of it in back which hooked right up to the machine. And yes, it is of course ridiculous that CO2 is a deadly poison, considering the amount in the air all the time. Any author who confuses that with CO, I would probably not listen to anyway. I can’t speak as to the carbonation causing loss of bone density, or if it is phosphoric acid in canned soda. It seems to me that if the phosphoric acid is used in the process but does not remain as an ingredient, than they would not have to list it, but then it wouldn’t have a significant effect anyway. No disrespect to chiropractors, but they don’t have medical training sufficient to be writing diet books.
PLACEBO EFFECT
Chiropractors do not treat or “cure” disease. If you’ve paid any attention to any of my posts you would understand that. The chiropractor in your family surely must be aware that vertebral subluxation can play a significant role in seizures. That is what he hopefully learned in school.
Chiropractors claim to be able to diagnose scoliosis in infants and children. They also claim to be able to treat it. What is the real evidence, how many studies have they done, and why are they so off-the-mark? Their self-promotions and attempts to convince school officials that they know what they are doing has really been more of a smoke screen for bad science masquerading as chiropractic care. Where did they learn about scoliosis, in their schools, or at the Singer courses?
Since it seems like everyone is talking about their CMD/CMQ experiences, I would like to put in my two cents. 
