Letter: A gratuitous insult to chiropractors

[Sorry for the length of this, but I figured, why not print the whole thing instead of trying to edit it... my brief reply is at the end.]

While it is rare that we agree in context on much that you write, I have always tried to view your column as “just a different opinion” from mine, and tried to look at your point of view with detachment.  However, today you went over the line between opinion and outright bigotry.  I am sure that you will agree that bigotry is hatred or intolerance based on ignorance.  Generally this ignorance is despite obvious and copious amounts of literature that belie the belief of the bigot.

There was absolutely no reason to drag the chiropractic college controversy into your article.  It added nothing to it.  And if you feel that it did, certainly your first reference to it was adequate.  However, when you again had to put “schools of chiropractic and skull reading in our universities” in the same sentence in the last paragraph, you went far beyond your poor attempt to amuse or make a point.  Your profound disrespect for a complete profession of over 70,000 Doctors of Chiropractic Medicine and their multiple millions of patients should be a part of this article.  Surely in an editorial such as this you should be able to express your own opinion, but your profound bigotry and disrespect are appalling.

Had you ever in your lifetime made any serious attempt to educate yourself about Chiropractic Medicine instead of blindly believing the rantings of fanatics such as Stephen Barrett MD, who is so over the edge that judges will no longer allow him in their courtrooms as they find him “unreliable and bigoted.” you would have found a wealth of literature that renders your attack baseless.  Had you done any research you would have found that outside the Medical Union (AMA), who necessarily must protect the financial interests of the workers they represent, most family doctors, internists, orthopedists and neurosurgeons work hand in hand with chiropractic doctors every day of the week.  Chiropractic is covered in Medicare, Medicaid, Military, Veterans and Federal employees health insurance and in nearly every HMO and PPO across the country.  Millions of people use chiropractic yearly (and have for the past 103 years).  How is it that all of these people look at the literature and results and have no issue with chiropractic, but you do?

Perhaps you should review the National Committee for Quality Assurance Back Pain Recognition Program.  This watchdog agency for the federal government finds that spinal manipulation is not only an effective treatment for back pain, but that it should be included in all multidisciplinary approaches to back pain.  The Agency for Health Care Policy Research comes to the same conclusion.  Even the Annals of Internal Medicine notes the effectiveness for back pain treatment.  There is a public college of chiropractic medicine in the New York Suny College system (D’Youville). The state of Texas is seriously considering the addition.  Chiropractic Physicians teach in multiple colleges of medicine including Dartmouth (Head of Anatomy Department), University of Denver (Professor of Radiology), University of California ( Head of Neurology).  Ohio State University has a included chiropractic physicians in their research area.

Mr. Troxler, it is better to not insult a whole profession and their millions of patients than to show such ignorance and bigotry.  I understand that you may have some friends in the medical profession who fear chiropractic out of ignorance.  But this is not a good reason to ignore fact.  Most of these individuals are older people who do not keep up with literature and are educated by whichever drug sales person is in their office last.

I light of the recent series in the St. Petersburg Times, showing the drug overdose and misuse epidemic that society suffers from, I would think that any educated person would be frantically searching the internet for any non-drug answer to health problems especially one that advocates health and wellness over disease management and constant “drug for every occasion” answers.

While rants such as yours are good for business (invariably patient visits pick up after bigoted attacks), I would prefer no mention at all to teaching bigotry to others.  Perhaps you should come and visit our office and let us show you the happiness our patients show when they get relief from their pain NOW, not after weeks of drugs and disability, and others who avoid surgery and costly invasive intervention.  You can tell them chiropractic is right up there with skull reading, but they will respectfully disagree with you and smile at your ignorance.  Remember the old saying, “Five million men in the army and I’m the only one on the right foot?”  Perhaps you should reassess.

PS.  We all know that Dr. Hansen, who started the whole FSU controversy was just getting back at Senator Dennis Jones over the malpractice reform bill he refused to vote for, that would have taken away an injured person’s right to sue (Dr. Hansen had multiple malpractice suits himself).  The rest was just political manipulation by Governor Bush at the urging of the FMA (a union protecting the turf of it’s members).

Kathleen Hollstrom, RN, BSN

Howard here. Thank you for the e-mail. You are right -- the first reference was enough, since my point was that the Legislature was trying to ram that school down the university's throat, not what kind of particular school it was. No more "skull reading" cracks in this context, agreed. I will publish your letter to the web with this reply.

Comments

[Jim Johnson]

The writer uses too many auxillary verbs.

Way to go Kathleen. Challenge the bully.

[Paul T.]

Ms. Hollstrom is mistaken in heclaim that the NCQA is a "watchdog agency for the federal government". it is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. This is a blatant (but wrong) appeal to authority. You can put lipstick on a pig but, in the end, it is still a pig. You can throw around all of the phony platitudes you want, but chiropractic is still quackery.

[Paul T.]

Ms. Hollstrom is mistaken in the claim that the NCQA is a "watchdog agency for the federal government". it is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. This is a blatant (but wrong) appeal to authority. You can put lipstick on a pig but, in the end, it is still a pig. You can throw around all of the phony platitudes you want, but chiropractic is still quackery.

[Kay]

If chiropractic is quackery, traditional medicine is a scam.
I do understand, though, I used to be a skeptic also.
At 36 years old, I felt like I was 80. My whole arms would go numb by the end of the day. I went to six, yes six, medical doctors. I told each of them I thought it all started with a pinched nerve. They ignored me and tested me for everything else and refused any pain medication (even though I was getting worse every day). By the time the 6th doc ordered an MRI, I had a herniated disk in my neck. And degenerative disk disease. There was a 3 month wait for pain management! And they were setting me up for surgery.
I became so discouraged by all the horrible treatment at the hands of MDs, I reluctantly went to a recommended chiropractor. She has been a life saver and I never had surgery. My back isn't perfect, but I'm drug-free and my pain is managable.
By the way, DOs do manipulations also! Do you even know if your doctor is a MD or a DO?

[Paul T.]

Kay,

My son is a D.O. and he does not do manipulations, the younger generation of D.O.'s have abandoned the practice in favor of evidence based medicine. If you do indeed have degenerative disk disease, your chiropractor is not healing anything and might be causing more damage. You feel better, probably because you want to feel better. Chiropractic has been demonstrated to be nothing more than a panacea with no curative value.

[Michael]

So, Paul. Chiropractic is quackery? You might want to let the Journal of Hypertension know that, since they published a study that found that chiropractic manipulation was as effective as drugs for high blood pressure.

Courtesy of WebMD:
http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/news/20070316/chiropractic-cuts-blood-pressure

[Kay]

Paul,
Are you saying I WILLED my disk back into place because I WANTED to feel better? Give me a break.
It has been 4 years - where would I be right now if I had surgery instead? Let's see, a woman I work with did have back surgery (3 yrs ago) and STILL has to occasionally go to a chiropractor because she has days that she cannot get out of bed. I never miss work because of my back.
Tell me, then, what could an MD or DO even do for my degenerative disk disease? Drugs? Surgery? NO thanks. Drugs are dangerous and surgery is life threatening. Yeah, I'll take my chances with the doctor that kept me walking and working: my chiropractor.

[Kay]

One more thing Paul. DOs are the only general practice doctors that I like. If I knew who your son was, I would probably be happy to try him because I agree with their (DOs) general philosophies of medicine. But, I will not go to a doc that thinks it's ok to be insulting over MY decisions on treating my body. Thanks for pointing out some concern over my DDD. You have inspired me to do some research about it.

P.S. I have never met a surgeon who didn't recommend surgery. I have never met a mechanic who didn't recommend auto repairs.