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Chiropractic: A Whole New World of Hurt

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Chiropractic:A Whole New World of Hurt10/10/21047 pagesKristen SchrammCFB 3333Fall 2014T ___ O ___ R ___ A ___ W ___ C ___ Q ___0It all starts with a sore back. Your friend swears by the local chiropractor, and you think that at this point he couldn’t make it any worse, right? Wrong. It is this mindset that has lead to countless injuries caused by the quackery of chiropractors. Due to the misleading mass media that chiropractic has gained a large portion of the general population does not understand the risks, and the less than adequate qualifications of most chiropractors. Chiropractic is one of the most widespread and publicly accepted forms of pseudosciencein our society today. This ever popular field relies on testimonials and bogus information instead of formal scientific logic and testing to explain its practices. Medical professionals have tried, and are still trying, to disprove the dysfunctional chiropractic views for the betterment of their patients, but they have not been completely successful due to the persuasive messages and unrealistic promises that chiropractic makes. Their failure has resulted in a bitter relationship between both parties. This strained relationship, though unfortunate, creates a large amount of useful data in comparing the two points of view, and ultimately recognizing the dangers of chiropractic. With chiropractors claiming to be able to replace modern medicine practices with fewer consequences, it is important to realize the accuracy of their claims, and most importantly understand the risks.Chiropractic has come to develop into different styles and disciplines, but the main principles behind have not changed much since the birth of the profession in 1895. These principles are centered around what is called ‘the theory of subluxation’, or just subluxation. Subluxation is described as “misalignments of the spine that interferes with nerve signals from the brain”(Carroll). Chiropractors believe that these misalignments, more specifically the disconnect of the nerve signals caused by the misalignments, are the cause of all problems in the 1human body, physical as well as psychological. The way that chiropractors treat these misalignments is through spinal manipulations. Spinal manipulations can be generally described by “applying thrusts of varying speed and forces to spinal joints that are causing dysfunction and related pain” (Spine-Health). The applied thrusts, or pressure, applied during a manipulation can either be done with a machine or by the chiropractor’s hands. It is these unnatural thrusting or sometimes twisting motions that can be dangerous for the patient. With just a basic understanding of chiropractic treatment it is already easy to imagine how it could be at least physically damaging to a patient.In order to gain a full understanding of the dangers involved with chiropractic practices itis important to discuss the false premises in which the profession began. D.D. Palmer was the man who first presented the idea of subluxation and ultimately formed the profession of chiropractic. Palmer was no stranger to pseudoscience when he stumbled upon chiropractic. He considered himself a ‘magnetic healer’ by trade, and often compared himself to Jesus and other unattainable role-models. Palmer based his beliefs on a single situation where he cracked the back of a janitor at his grocery store in Des Moines, Iowa. That janitor then claimed to be healed of being deaf from Palmers minor spinal manipulation. Now this may have been purely a coincidence, or maybe not even a true story, but nevertheless it gave birth to a man’s ideas that would long be put to use in the world of pseudoscience. From D.D. Palmers story it can be said that chiropractic started from a non-medical point of view with questionable origins.The quackery history lesson doesn’t end there. After the death of D.D. Palmer in 1913 hisson B.J. Palmer took over the family business, and even took it to the next level. Unlike his father, B.J. saw the value in investing in advertising for their product. Starting in 1922 B.J. beganbuying multiple radio and television stations that’s sole objective was to discuss, and spread the 2news of chiropractic. Soon, not only was Palmer’s school full of students, but chiropractic practices were showing up among unaffiliated groups. He then used this to his advantage and invented a machine that was supposed to use temperature to find the spine misalignments on a patient. These machines cost close to the amount a house at the time, and B.J. was selling them for around 15 times what they cost to make. It was later established that his machine was just a very expensive piece of junk. Through the work of B.J. Palmer chiropractic went from questionable origins to full on scam. I feel that offering a small amount of history on what chiropractic was built helps to understand how chiropractic today could be dangerous to its patients.The dangers that chiropractic presents to its patients comes in many different forms and on multiple levels. On an individual basis chiropractic manipulations can cause strokes, spinal fractures, chronic pain, and nerve compressions. All of these conditions have countless symptoms that accompany them and can be life changing. Although not all the conditions are, most of them are caused by spinal manipulations in the neck. On a second level, chiropractic can be damaging on a societal level. Societal damaging conditions are ideas that are popularized and practiced that, even if not intentionally, cause harm to individuals. An example of this taking place with chiropractic is the rejection of modern medicine in the form of refusing to vaccinate. The chiropractic community will always have a way to try and cover that these conditions are a very real danger, but in the end the scientific and medical evidence overpowers the persuasive power of pseudoscience.One of the most devastating, and common individual injuries that is seen in chiropractic is the onset of a stroke. When you think about it a stroke may not make a lot a sense, but doctors have studied countless cases and come up with the mechanism and situation as to how a 3chiropractic manipulation could cause someone to have a stroke afterward. The name of this mechanism is vertebral artery dissection, and it is caused by the blockage of arteries in the neck brought on by sudden movement. There have been multiple studies that have taken place


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