In general, chiropractic patients desire more from their doctors than musculoskeletal care, according to a study of 1316 consecutive patients attending 27 different chiropractic Sacro-Occipital Technique (SOT) clinics in the US, Europe and Australia.

The patients “completed a one-page survey on intake to assess reason for seeking care.” Results revealed that “more than 40% of chiropractic patient visits were initiated for the purposes of health enhancement and/or disease prevention.”

The study’s authors conclude that “although prudence dictates great caution when generalizing from this study, if confirmed by subsequent research among other similar cohorts, the present results may lend support to continued arguments of consumer demand for a more comprehensive paradigm of chiropractic care, beyond routine musculoskeletal complaints, that conceptualizes the systemic, nonspecific effects of the chiropractic encounter in much broader terms.”

Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association – September 2008;52:175-84.

http://www.jcca-online.org/

The widely-held perception that the influenza vaccination reduces overall mortality risk in the elderly does not withstand careful scrutiny, according to a new report. 

The vaccine does confer protection against specific strains of influenza, but its overall benefit appears to have been exaggerated by a number of observational studies.

The new study included more than 700 matched elderly subjects, half of whom had taken the vaccine and half of whom had not. After controlling for a wealth of variables that were largely not considered or simply not available in previous studies, scientists found that any such benefit “if present at all, was very small and statistically non-significant and may simply be a healthy-user artifact that they were unable to identify.”

“While such a reduction in all-cause mortality would have been impressive, these mortality benefits are likely implausible. Previous studies were likely measuring a benefit not directly attributable to the vaccine itself, but something specific to the individuals who were vaccinated — a healthy-user benefit or frailty bias,” explains study coauthor Dean T. Eurich, PhD.

“Over the last two decades in the United Sates, even while vaccination rates among the elderly have increased from 15% to 65%, there has been no commensurate decrease in hospital admissions or all-cause mortality. Further, only about 10% of winter-time deaths in the United States are attributable to influenza, thus to suggest that the vaccine can reduce 50 percent of deaths from all causes is implausible in our opinion.”

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine – September 2008;178:527-33.

http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/

A new case study provides additional evidence that chiropractic care may correct infertility.According to the report, “a 23 year old female presented for chiropractic care to improve her overall health, in the hope that she may ultimately be able to have a child. At the time of the physical exam there was a six week history of numbness and tingling in her left foot, and within a month the temporary bouts of numbness included both of her legs and feet. The patient was referred to a neurologist for consultation.”

“Examination protocols of Diversified Technique were utilized to detect and adjust vertebral subluxations for the first 2 ½ months of care and Toggle/Webster Technique protocols were used exclusively thereafter. Visits included thermography as an instrumentation procedure. The patient had her first natural menstrual cycle 3 ½ months into care and discovered she was pregnant 4 ½ months after initiation of chiropractic care. Ultrasound confirmed the pregnancy shortly after.”

“Marked resolution of the patient’s signs and symptoms was obtained concomitant with a reduction in subluxation findings at multiple levels. Further research is called for to evaluate the safety, cost, and effectiveness of chiropractic care in women’s health.”

Emotional stress makes seasonal allergy attacks more intense and longer lasting, according to findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston .
Jan Kiecolt-Glaser and Ronald Glaser recruited 28 men and women. All of the volunteers had a history of hay fever and seasonal allergies.
The volunteers spent two half-days in a research unit at the Ohio State University Medical Center. They were given skin prick tests after engaging in high-stress and low-stress activities. They then looked at allergic “wheals” that formed on the skin.
“The wheals on a person who was moderately anxious because of the experiment were 75 percent larger after the experiment, compared to that same person’s response on the day when they were not stressed,” comments Kiecolt-Glaser.
“But people who were highly anxious had wheals that were twice as big after they were stressed compared to their response when they were not stressed. Moreover, these same people were four times more likely to have a stronger reaction to the skin test one day later after the stress,” she adds.
This next-day change – labeled a “late-phase reaction” – is important because it signals an ongoing and strengthening response to the allergens, and even suggests that sufferers may react strongly to other stimuli that previously had not caused them to develop an allergic reaction.

APA – August 20, 2008 .

www.apa.org