Chiropractic and High Blood Pressure

This is a very good video about a CBS News piece depicting chiropractic and reducing  high blood pressure.  Chiropractors have been saying for years that chiropractic care is good for much, much more than just back pain.  It is very refreshing to see some formal studies being done by the government and researchers.  Just think of all the money that could be saved if the reliance on hypertension medication could be reduced, not to mention the savings in indirect costs by not having to pay for the consequences of the side effects caused by the medication. 

The basic premise of chiropractic is that chiropractors help remove the interference on the nervous system which then allows the body to better regulate itself. 

If you don't have facebook, you can also look at this video on youtube which is very simular.

Try Chiropractic First - Avoid Costly, Risky Surgery

I read an article in last Wednesday’s San Jose Mercury News that spinal surgery is on the rise for Medicare patients. This was based on a Medicare study that showed spinal fusion surgeries are on the rise and they are often done unnecessary. The main reason state for the operation is for arthritis and aging or just plain old back pain. The focus of the article is that more spinal fusions are being done rather than simple decompression surgeries as in the past. The difference is that decompression costs about $20,000.00 and the fusion costs $80,000.00 plus it is riskier and more challenging leading to more complications, longer hospital stays and even death, the article goes on to say.
The really interesting thing is that the spinal fusion surgery is no more effective than the less costly surgery, and there is “no good evidence that the expensive one is being used appropriately in the majority of cases.” The study goes on to say that the cost to Medicare, just for the hospital charges for the three kinds of back surgery reviewed, is about $1.65 billion per year. The study analyzed 32,000 Medicare patients who had one of the three kinds of surgery in 2007.
When talking about complications the article stated that about 5 in 100 patients who had simple or complex fusions suffered major complications such as stroke compared to 2 in 100 with decompressions. The risk of death within 30 days after surgery was 6 in 1000 for complex fusions, 5 in 1000 for simple fusions and 3 in 1000 for decompressions.
The article also says that patients should ask their doctor about alternatives such as steroid injections or physical therapy.  No mention of chiropractic!!
What bothers me most about this article is that nowhere chiropractic is mentioned! This is outrageous since it has been shown over and over that chiropractic is the safest and most effective treatment for back pain and has the highest levels of patient satisfaction and has the least complications and is the most cost effective of conventional treatments. Additionally, the risk of death is between 3-6/1000 and 2-5/100 for serious complications such as a stroke. The most common complication is from chiropractic is occasionally some temporary soreness. How would like to go to your doctor and have him tell you that you had a 2-5% chance of having a stroke from this procedure and a 0.5% chance of dying!!! Would you not opt to try chiropractic first?

Let’s hope everyone reads this article and uses chiropractic as first choice rather than a last resort.

Expanding Chiropractic in Medicare

I just read an interesting article in Dynamic Chiropractic about expanding the role of chiropractic in Medicare.

The final report for the chiropractic demonstration project by the federal government has finally been released. The purpose of the study was to determine whether it was feasible to expanding chiropractic coverage in the Medicare program. The project was mandated under section 651 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003.

Medicare patients gave chiropractors high marks when rating their satisfaction with care. In a report from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from 2005 through 2007, 87% of patients surveyed gave their chiropractor a score of 8 or higher when asked to rate their satisfaction with care (1-10 scale), and 56% percent rated their chiropractor a perfect 10. Moreover, healthcare costs did not increase significantly with the addition of chiropractic services.

Other key findings in the report included:

· The most frequent reason for care favorable earlier experiences (59%) and insufficient relief of symptoms (39%).

· Clinical problems included back pain 78%, neck pain 50%, hip problems 38% and shoulder problems 32%.

· 60% of respondents indicated that they received “complete” relief of their symptoms or “a lot of relief of symptoms from chiropractic treatments.”

The conclusions are that Medicare is cost-effective and has a high patient satisfaction level and chiropractic benefits should be increased in the Medicare system. Hopefully, chiropractic will play a prominent role in the upcoming healthcare reforms just passed!!

The entire report can been reviewed at www.acatoday.org/pdf/demo_report.pdf