Based upon my 25 years of chiropractic practice of evaluating, diagnosing and providing treatment for over 15,000 patients, I am qualified to make the following statement:
The (deadly) truth about organized medicine is greater then all the lies, half-truths, and misconceptions propagated by organized medicine against the chiropractic health care profession.
The excellent safety record of chiropractic as a whole is well established in the scientific literature. So why then, is there a continuous chorus of (some not all) medical practitioners warning or persuading health care consumers (patients) about the exaggerated 'dangers' of chiropractic care.
On far to many occasions, I have had a new patient enter my office, in fear, believing this may be their last day on earth. But they had already tried the traditional medical practice of musculo-skeletal pain management. They endured the side-effects, the ever decreasing quality of life and well verifiable potential risk of fatality with the medical treatments and medications they received. So now, out of last resort and against what the medical practitioner warned, they sit in my exam room. As is the case, with a very high majority of my patients, they benefit from the treatment. But let me define 'benefit' further, as one or more of the following:
1. Decreased pain levels (measured from 0 to 10 on a pain analog scale)
2. Decreased duration of pain (measured from 0 to 100% of the day).
3. Increased flexibility, mobility and pain free daily living activities.
4. Decreased dependency on over the counter and prescription medications.
5. Increased productivity and work performance.
6. Early return to gainful (occupational) activities and decreased temporary total disability.
7. Decreased over-all medical expenses, testing and hospitalization.
There are other benefits confirmed by research concerning chiropractic that could be mentioned, but I will reserve them for another blog.
The bottom line, chiropractic is the most widely utilized and fastest growing form of drug-less, non-surgical health care. It has an excellent continuous record of patient safety, benefit outcomes and satisfaction rates in comparison to other types of medical care.
The facts, my opinions and statements addressed above, may not stop the few medical practitioners from continued dislike or fear mongering when considering chiropractic referral for their patient base. Are all doctors of chiropractic to be painted by the same brush or held accountable for an obscure few bad apple chiropractors? No, and neither should the few bad medical doctors be an example of medicine as a whole.
The truth is clear and facts do not lie. As a health care consumer, you have a choice. Chiropractic care should be part of that choice and remain a vital part of your health care consideration for over-all wellness achievement. Medical and chiropractic doctors should be increasingly working together for better individual, family and community health care.
Do I want to start a war with my medical colleagues? No, I just want to end it. Because ultimately, you the patient benefits. Dr. Press
“Medicine is now a high risk industry, like aviation.
But, the chance of dying in an aviation accident
is one in 2 million, while the risk of dying from a
medical accident is one in 200!”
––Dr. Leape of the Harvard Medical School of Public Health
B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000
C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171 (or 1 per 6 MDs)
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Health Human Services
(these are “conservative” estimates)
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