Re: RE: Chiropractors

["Duncan Fletcher" <dfletche@gte.net>]

First let me apologize for sloppy writing - didn't read what I wrote.

But more important in this discussion is that from a chiropractic point of
view this (or the treatment of a host of other medical problems such as
asthma, allergies, etc.) is not unethical or quackery. This is mainstream
treatment. You will note that the site I posted on this subject was a
published paper purporting to support the validity of the treatment
published in a mainstream chiropractic journal. This stuff is taught in
chiropractic schools so it stands to reason there are a whole lot of
chiropractors are willing to treat this. Now I make one caveat - there are 2
types of chiropractic schools - so called 'mixed' schools and so called
'straight' schools. The later are far more ridgid in adhereing to the
original tenet of chiropractic that ALL disease results from blocked nerves
caused by subluxations in the spinal column that prevent the body from
healing itself. But I don't know the degree of difference between these 2
types of schools. The  real quackery comes from that basic theory underlying
chiropractic.

Again, that is not to say there is some value in chiropractic for some
problems. But it appears to be fairly minor. A recent study on back pain
comparing chiropractic against a group of patients given no treatment but
sent home with a book on appropriate exercise showed chiropractic with only
a small benefit over the read the book. There was also a control group given
sham chiropractic treatment - can't remember if the control group got was
the same group that got the exercise booklet. I also have not read the
study, but a press report on it - so take it for whats its worth.

And I think I have now beat this to death.

Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>

> Just to let you know, the sentence structure is what threw me off.
>
> > <<Chronic ear infections are one of the more common chiropractic
> > treatments.<<
>
> It sounded to me that the chiropracters were USING ear infections as
> treatment.
>
> I already teased Duncan privately about being an engineer with engineer's
> language
> skills!  And maybe my comprehensions skills are diminished from hanging
> around engineers all day, too.
>
> It's a shame that there are unscrupulous chiropractors out there
> that give the good chiropracters a bad rep.
>
> I'm glad you posted.
>
> Kathy
>