Chiropractic: good or bad?

With pain in back, shoulders and neck

Who is bothered with prolonged symptoms due to pain in the back, shoulders or neck, will sooner or later be advised by a chiropractor visit. This 'bone crackers' practice in many countries recognized by the law profession, but falling in Netherlands and Belgium in the corner of alternative medicine. Does that chiropractic is good or bad? 

Like many chiropractic is also (perhaps better known among English-speaking miscegenation "chiropractic") from the United States. The U.S. magnetic healer Daniel David Palmer discovered the late nineteenth century that he could cure people of various diseases by their spine to treat. Today the World Federation of Chiropractics as follows:

"A chiropractor is concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system and its effects on the functioning of the nervous systemand general health. There is an emphasis on manual therapy including spinal manipulation and correction. "

For the short run a chiropractor for two things: the spine and nervous system. Many health problems find their cause and there by that to tackle the problems solved.

Recognized profession

In countries like the United States, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand and the Scandinavian countries is a recognized profession and chiropractic chiropractors have the same status as doctors and dentists. Unlike the Netherlands and Belgium, where chiropractors are seen as alternative healers.Occasionally cross the discussion about the dangers of chiropractic on the head, even in countries where a recognized profession.

Kill

The Dutch Chiropractic Association claims that chiropractic is extremely safe. According to the Association against Quackery fall in the United States and Canada annually "hundreds or perhaps thousands of unreported deaths due to chiropractic."The Association is particularly concerned about the damage to arteries with cerebral infarction and death caused by the tear at the neck of patients.

Zembla

That fits in with the broadcast of the investigative journalism program Zembla , 17 January 2010. It told a man to have suffered a stroke after treatment by a chiropractor. Edzard Ernst , the first professor of alternative medicine in the world, is not surprised and council in the chiropractic program at all times strictly off.

Press Council

Zemlya was also after this broadcast rapped over the knuckles by the Press Council: the VARA program had wrongly failed to consider the Dutch Chiropractic Association about their research questions. And the trade association would have preferred a more balanced image to the viewer want to give.

Experiences

Who on the Internet to experiences of patients and scans on forums such Viva, Good Question! or just GezondheidsNet arrives, read almost only positive stories about chiropractic. Yet there are those who suggest the likelihood that the artery that provides blood to the brains - the vertebral artery and vein shocker - during treatment may be damaged.

Figures

How great the risk is difficult to determine. The Association against Quackery, the figure is higher estimate than chiropractors themselves, but the chance that the wrong is always there, like all medical procedures. Precisely therefore recommends a Professor Edzard Ernst chiropraxiebehandeling off: clearing headache did not appear to weigh against the risk of a stroke.

Risks

At the same time a medical treatment should always be a balancing of risks. Each treatment brings danger with it, every drug has side effects. And where an omelette without breaking simply chips. For example, in hospitals, where nearly two thousand patients die annually as a result of errors that could have been avoided.