Career Day Chiropractic

I wrote this handout for a recent career day I was asked to attend. The children were all very interested, and it was gratifying to see that many of them had seen a chiropractor for their health problems.

What Is A Chiropractor?

A chiropractor, or chiropractic doctor, is a primary care physician who uses spinal adjustments, nutrition and herbs and other methods to help your body heal from injuries or illness. Chiropractic is the second largest form of health care in the U.S., and chiropractors are the only doctors who have chosen not to prescribe drugs. They prefer to use all-natural methods that have been proven both through research and centuries of use.

Chiropractic doctors examine how their patients move and walk to help their patients get out of pain. They do physical exams to find problems before they become worse and to make sure their patients can play on a sports team or drive safely.

Chiropractic doctors also use laboratory tests, x-rays and other tests to diagnose their patients' problems. Many patients prefer chiropractic care because it is very safe and has few side effects.

A Chiropractic Education

The chiropractic doctor's education is very similar to a medical doctor's education. Both types of doctors usually have a bachelor's degree before they are admitted to chiropractic or medical school. And for the first two years, the education of a chiropractic doctor is identical to that of a medical doctor.

After the first two years, each type of doctor begins to focus on their core skills. While the medical doctor begins to learn about drugs and surgery, the chiropractic doctor begins to learn how to adjust the spine and other joints, and learns about nutrition in taking care of patients. Then the chiropractic doctor does an internship, where he begins treating patients under the supervision of an experienced doctor.

Chiropractic doctors love to help people. They get to see people go from being very sick or in pain to being healthy again. Most chiropractic doctors own their own practices or work in a small group with 1 or 2 other doctors. Some chiropractors are on staff at hospitals.

Many chiropractors get additional education to become specialists in certain fields or techniques. Chiropractic specialties include pediatrics (treating children), sports medicine, orthopedics (bone and joint problems), internal medicine, clinical nutrition and acupuncture.

Chiropractors may work long hours, and have to be “on call,” or constantly available to speak to patients. As primary care doctors, they will see patients for most of their lives. Helping patients live healthier lives is one of the chiropractic doctor's greatest rewards.

Zyprexa Boasts 28,500 Victims

Zyprexa Maker Eli Lilly Settles with 28,500 victims for $1.2 Billion to date: Since Zyprexa's introduction in 1996, Eli Lilly has paid out $1.2 Billion--yes, that's Billion--in settlement claims to a whopping 28,500 victims of the drug's major and life-threatening side effects including high blood sugar, weight gain and diabetes. But with annual sales of $4.2 Billion, $100 million a year in claim payouts doesn't worry Lilly. What does worry the drug company is the incriminating, image-tarnishing evidence used in these trials that has been made public despite lawyer protective orders and confidentiality agreements signed by victims.

Novartis to release banned drug in U.S.

Another one bites the dust: Australia's drug regulators have banned the Novartis drug Prexige because of severe liver-related side effects, including two deaths--possibly a third--and two transplants. Patients were advised to stop taking Prexige, a COX-2 inhibitor, immediately. Novartis said it would comply with the authority's decision but that it felt the benefits of Prexige still outweigh its risks. The drug isn't yet approved for use in the U.S. and Novartis says it still intends to apply to market Prexige here. However, Prexige is already facing an uphill battle because of the COX-2 taint; Prexige is only the latest in a series of COX-2 inhibitors to fall under post-market scrutiny. And the Australian's ban is another link in a chain of pain for Novartis, which had to withdraw its bowel drug Zelnorm in March.

Chiropractic Primary Care Better Than MD

I will guarantee you that you will not hear about the following research on any of the news channels. Nor will you read about it in the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Hartford Courant for that matter. But anyone who is not a chiropractic patient should know this. According to a recently-published, 7-year study, if your primary care physician is a chiropractor, you are less likely to need surgery; you are less likely to need drugs; and your health care will cost less. And it is not a small difference. Patients of primary care chiropractors required 85% fewer drugs. They had 60% fewer hospitalizations. If any of these patients did require hospitalization, their stay was reduced by 59%.Those are phenomenal numbers. And the study sample wasn't small. The study encompassed seven years and included more than 70,000 patient-months.

In a country that is searching for ways to reduce health care costs, you would think that this study would be Big News. Look at it this way:

If private and public health care policies encouraged the use of chiropractic doctors, rather than disparaging chiropractic care, the savings would amount to $112 Billion every year. And that's only in the savings resulting from decreased dependence on prescription drugs.And that is precisely why you won't see this reported in any major news outlet. Just take a look through any magazine, from Newsweek to Prevention, and count up the number of pages of drug ads. That alone pretty much tells you who controls the health news agenda -- and it isn't chiropractic.

The idea that chiropractic physicians should be primary care physicians is not exactly a new idea. In the first 60 years of our existence, that is exactly the role we filled throughout the country.

It has only been over the past 30-40 years that we have been pigeonholed into "back and neck" doctors. But the research is in and the facts are clear. If you want better primary care at lower cost--call your chiropractic physician today!