Archive for category: KDT Blog

(NewsUSA) Dec 2016

There have been some high-profile stories of stroke after a visit to a chiropractor several days before to relieve neck pain.

The theory is being refuted by research done this year by a team of neurosurgeons at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center. They performed what they described as “a systematic review and meta-analysis of published data” to determine whether there’s a direct correlation between the manipulation performed by doctors of chiropractic — manual adjustments widely acknowledged to relieve muscle-related pain — and a condition called cervical artery dissection (CAD) in which a small tear opens in the artery walls of the neck.
That’s important since such a tear can result in a stroke should a blood clot form and later break free to block a blood vessel in the brain.

The team’s conclusion? “There is no convincing evidence to support a causal link between chiropractic manipulation and CAD.”
CAD is actually quite rare. It’s been estimated that it annually strikes only two to three people, per 100,000 of the population, and various epidemiologic studies through the years suggest that strokes can occur at an equal rate whether sufferers are under chiropractic or other medical care for the headaches and neck pain it often produces.
As for chiropractic care in general, it’s worth remembering that — after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged doctors last March to avoid prescribing potentially addictive prescription painkillers in the face of mounting deaths — a slew of health experts joined the chorus of those who’d already been praising chiropractic as a safe and effective treatment for neck, mid back, and lower back pain.

Perry J Green A. Man Ther Dec 2008

Abstract
Physiotherapeutic management of lumbar disorders often utilises specific segmental joint mobilisation techniques; however, there is only limited evidence of any neurophysiological effects and much of this has focused on the cervical spine and upper limbs. This study used a unilaterally applied lumbar spinal mobilisation technique and explored its effects on the peripheral NS (SNS) of the lower limbs. 45 normal healthy males were assigned to one of three experimental groups (control, placebo or treatment.
A unilaterally applied P-A mobilisation to the left L4/5 zygopophyseal joint). SNS activity was determined by recording skin conductance (SC) obtained from lower limb electrodes.
Results indicated that there was a significant change in SC from baseline levels (13.5%) that was specific to the side treated for the treatment group during the intervention period (compared to placebo and control conditions). This study provides preliminary evidence that a unilaterally applied P-A mobilisation technique performed at a rate of 2 Hz, to the left L4/5 lumbar zygopophyseal joint results in side-specific peripheral SNS changes in the lower limbs.

Spine J. 2016 Dec 6.

Behrend CJ Schönbach et al

BACKGROUND CONTEXT:
Determining pain intensity is largely dependent on the patient’s report.
PURPOSE:
To test the hypothesis that patients initially reporting 10/10 pain on visual analog scales (VAS) would experience symptom improvement to a degree similar to patients reporting milder pain.
RESULTS:
The proportion of patients with identifiable secondary gain was higher (P=0.001) than among those with submaximal pain. Patients whose pain scores improved dramatically (i.e. at least 4 points on VAS), tend to be older (p=0.001), to less often have secondary gain from their disease (p=0.007), and to have a negative current smoking status (p=0.002). Patients whose pain remained 10/10 during the course of treatment smoked more frequently (p=0.016).
CONCLUSIONS:
Our analysis supports the need to consider the influence of secondary gain on the patients’ reported VAS pain scores. Maximum pain seems to be a more acute phenomenon with some likelihood to significantly improve.

J Aging Letteri-Barbora et al Nov. 2016

Abstract
In developing countries the rise of obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders, such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, reflects the changes in lifestyle habits and wrong dietary choices. Dietary restriction (DR) regimens have been shown to extend health span and lifespan in many animal models including primates. Identifying biomarkers predictive of clinical benefits of treatment is one of the primary goals of precision medicine. To monitor the clinical outcomes of DR interventions in humans, several biomarkers are commonly adopted. However, a validated link between the behaviors of such biomarkers and DR effects is lacking at present time. Through a systematic analysis of human intervention studies, we evaluated the effect size of DR (i.e. calorie restriction, very low calorie diet, intermittent fasting, alternate day fasting) on health-related biomarkers. We found that DR is effective in reducing total and visceral adipose mass and improving inflammatory cytokines profile and adiponectin/leptin ratio. By analysing the levels of canonical biomarkers of healthy aging, we also validated the changes of insulin, IGF-1 and IGFBP-1,2 to monitor DR effects. Collectively, we developed a useful platform to evaluate the human responses to dietary regimens low in calories.