Spinal manipulation is one of the most ancient forms of treatment for musculoskeletal complaints, primarily for back pain and neck pain.
In 1992, Robert Anderson, MD, PhD, DC, was the Director of Manual Medicine at the San Francisco Spine Institute, as well as Professor of Anthropology at Mills College in Oakland, California.
At that time [..]
The Morning Shower
The typical morning shower is neither 100% cold water nor 100% hot water, but rather a balance of the two. The perfect shower water temperature is a balance of hot and cold water.
While enjoying the perfect shower, if suddenly the hot water is turned drastically higher, the brain perceives:
Ouch! The [..]
Decision Making Standards of Care
Considering Trauma, Disease, Degenerative Changes, Anomalies, and Biomechanics
Weighing Risks Associated with Ionizing Radiation
History has recorded chiropractic-like providers for millennia. In his 1992 book (1), Scott Haldeman, DC, PhD, MD (neurologist, University of California, Irvine), includes a chapter titled “Spinal Manipulation Before Chiropractic.” Written by anthropologist Robert Anderson, MD, [..]
In 1976, the first issue of the journal Spine was published. In this inaugural issue was a pioneering article by low back pain specialist Alf Nachemson, MD, titled (1):
The Lumbar Spine, An Orthopedic Challenge
In this article, without credible evidence, Dr. Nachemson states:
“Irrespective of treatment given, 70% of [back pain] patients get well [..]
Analogies that are often used by chiropractors include:
If one walks on the edge of their shoe, the shoe sole will wear out at the weight-bearing portion quicker than other parts of the sole.
If an automobile wheel alignment is not optimal, then the excessively stressed wheel will wear out quicker than the other wheels. [..]
Pain and the treatment of pain is the biggest health problem in America. In her book, A Nation in Pain, Healing Our Biggest Health Problem, Judy Foreman documents that approximately 50% of American adults suffer from chronic pain (1). A conservative estimate of the direct costs and lost productivity resulting from this pain is up [..]
In the October 31, 2019 issue of the financial-political magazine Forbes, there is a brief article recommending the reading of a book on sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker. The author of the article is John Doerr, a venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins. Mr. Doerr prefaces his review by noting that “Leaders from the worlds of [..]
The Management of Spine Pain Syndromes Through the Understanding and Treatment of the Spine as a Single Functioning Unit
It is convenient to divide and discuss the human spinal column into four regions:
Cervical spine (neck)
Thoracic spine (middle back)
Lumbar spine (low back)
Pelvis (the base of the spinal column)
Although this classification is [..]
In biomechanics, there is a rule that notes that the regions of the body that have the greatest mobility have the least stability; and reduced stability is coupled with greater injury and stress risk. Joints that have multiple planes of motion are particularly prone to increased stress and injury risk.
The jaw not only open [..]
In October 2016, a former model died from a stroke, and the media attributed her injury to neck manipulation.
Rebuttals to this manipulation/stroke claim were a combination of both offense and defense. An edited version of one such rebuttal is presented here:
Earlier this year the British Medical Journal published a study noting that medical [..]