As per usual, your redirect to chiro base, does not work without manipulation, then you find it is our old friend Stephen Barrett, not a real chiropractor talking about chiropractic, but one of the worlds most famous anti everything natural or non medical society approved hate mongers. It is a bit reminicent of the old meeting of the national medical convention in which one of the national presidents said that it was better to die under orthodox medical care than to get well under alternative care. Doc, all docs are indeed docs when so licensed or degreed, and deserve to be called doctors, including DCs, NDs, PhDs , DOs, ODs, DPMs, and MDs and the list goes on.
Point being that lifestyle is the single most important factor in most peoples health, Chiropractic and naturopathy recognized and were teaching that in the 1950s when the president of the California Medical Association was on bill boards above the freeways, cigarette in hand, with “a cigarette a day keeps the doctor away” sign below his smiling face. Somewhat karmicly that MD died of lung cancer.
There is an increasing tendency for MDs and DCs to share offices and clinics. I had hospital privilages twenty years ago, and found working with the doctors to be a much better situation. It really is time patients begin to come first and bickering and prejudice take a back seat. Unfortunately I moved and in other cities, chiropractors did not have hospital privilages at that time or even now. What would be good, is a little respect, honesty and willingness to work in a scientific manner togethar for the benefit of patients.
As you note, enemas have been used for thousands of years, with almost no negative effects, and you cannot find a single scientific article to explain why their use is suddenly out of fashion. I pointed out two to you yet you dont seem to be able to find them even knowing the year they were written, all you have to do is find the journal. Most medical schools have these journals if you are near a major city, so do some reading. It would be good for you, to try to increase your level of knowledge in this area. If you are near by, perhaps for a small fee I could guide you to the shelves where the books and journals are located in your medical school library. Enemas are not dangerous unless the nurse or doctor does not know what they are doing, and in our discussions, it is apparent that in this area your education is not really up to it, so if you don’t want to use them, that is understandable.
However, you should not be telling others who do know what they are doing, and are amply trained and knowledgable in the field what to do. Naturopaths and Chiropractors have education in this area, MDs usually do not. So I appreciate your offer for your profession to bow out of colon therapy and other areas in which you are not as well trained as chiropractors or naturopaths. However, I fear that you do not speak with the authority to bind your profession.
Chiropractors will “treat” anything for which they can get paid. True story: my mother was seeing a chiropractor for a back problem. One day she called to to cancel her appointment. The receptionist asked why so she lied & said she had diarrhea. The receptionist said hold on a minute. After a few minutes she got back on the phone & said “The doctor says the manipulation will take care of that too.” I still laugh about that. I guess when they find that bone & shove it the right way we won’t need Kaopectate anymore. My mother eventually had back surgery, saw a physical therapist for a while afterwards and her back has been great ever since (about 5 years now). I read a front page article in the Wall Street Journal about three or four years ago that was about how aggressive chiropractors were getting in “practice development” – what we call “drumming up business” in the business world. The WSJ reported that many – not all but many – chiropractors were telling people they should have a chiropractor as their primary care physician. AND that their children don’t need immunizations, kids just need spinal manipulations. I had an aunt, about 70 years old that went to a chiropractor against her MD’s advice. The chiropractor broke three of her ribs during the treatment. Now I’m not trying to knock chiropractors. I think some of them probably recognize the limitations of what they can do. And they probably can give a very nice relaxing massage. BUT THEY ARE NOT medical doctors! Anyone with a medical condition should go to a physician, orthopedist, or physical therapist if they really want to get well.
A chiropractor performs manipulations. If you believe in bacteria, microbes, and viruses as being causes of diseases (rather than spinal column irregularaties or some such), then chiropracty is not appropriate for a large class of problems. However, it is probably an appropriate *option* for muscle strains and back trouble (or neck trouble) of a variety of type. I treatments were occasionally slightly painful for me, but I was in pain when I started (or was in certain positions). Obviously, if I hadn’t had any complaints, I would not have gone. I got some help. I sort of went out of curiosity. I had been to rolfers before, and wanted to try something different. The “cracking” that the chirpractors do is rather unnerving, but didn’t hurt.
PLACEBO EFFECT
This is a toughie for even the most level-headed of sufferers.
The poor chiropractors see the entire world in terms of a single treatment modality, spinal manipulation. A well-trained physiotherapist can do precisely the same manipulations *when* *called* *for* but also has a host of other treatment modalities at his command: traction, heat, diathermy, exercise, electrical stimulation, etc. etc.
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.
An osteopathic medical school (there are only a few in the US) teaches a slightly different philosophy based on a roughly century and a half old belief in manual manipulation for the treatment of disease. This is a different type of manipulation than chiropractors use. In most osteopathic schools, science-based medicine is taught as well, and most DO’s no longer practice manipulation as treatment modality. There has also been a greater emphasis in the past on holistic medicine at these schools. That has changed a lot though. Now just about every medical school emphasizes the whole-person approach to diagnosis and treatment. So, the differences between the two traditions are disappearing.
