About Chiropractic Adjusting, a.k.a. Spinal Manipulation
The proper differential diagnosis of somatic vs. visceral dysfunction represents a challenge for both the medical and chiropractic physician. The afferent convergence mechanisms, which can create signs and symptoms that are virtually indistinguishable with respect to their somatic vs. visceral etiologies, need to be appreciated by all portal-of-entry health care providers, to insure timely referral of patients to the health specialist appropriate to their condition.
Instrument Adjusting, a.k.a. Mechanically-assisted Adjustments
This page gathers articles discussing the use of mechanically-assisted instrument adjusting. If you find any other articles that discuss instrument or drop-table adjusting, would you please contact me?
The Problem with Placebos/Shams
One obvious problem common to studies of physical-type treatments in general is an inadequate placebo treatment in the control or sham group. It is not inadequate in the classical sense of lacking a control group but inadequate in the sense that the sham control may be introducing a second active treatment in the supposed inert placebo intervention. This page discusses the “problem with placebos” in previous chiropractic research projects.
Chiropractic Care for Children?
Is Chiropractic care for children a controversial topic? Point–of–view (POV) pieces, like the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine article cited below, may be viewed as a sound basis for more research, or as a “call to arms” for those who consider chiropractic an unsupported “fringe” therapy. This page is devoted to reviewing the literature supporting the benefits and need for chiropractic care for children.
The Case Reports Section
Review many other case studies describing the impact of chiropractic in the new and improved Case Reports section.
Somatic Dysfunction and the Phenomenon of Visceral Disease Simulation: A Probable Explanation for the Apparent Effectiveness of Somatic Therapy in Patients Presumed to be Suffering from True Visceral Disease
J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1995; 18 (6): 379–397
The proper differential diagnosis of somatic vs. visceral dysfunction represents a challenge for both the medical and chiropractic physician. The afferent convergence mechanisms, which can create signs and symptoms that are virtually indistinguishable with respect to their somatic vs. visceral etiologies, need to be appreciated by all portal-of-entry health care providers, to insure timely referral of patients to the health specialist appropriate to their condition. Furthermore, it is not unreasonable that this somatic visceral-disease mimicry could very well account for the “cures” of presumed organ disease that have been observed over the years in response to various somatic therapies (e.g., spinal manipulation, acupuncture, Rolfing, Qi Gong, etc.) and may represent a common phenomenon that has led to “holistic” health care claims on the part of such clinical disciplines.
