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HEALTHBEAT SHOW NOTES .... Episode #40 - Recorded April 14, 2006

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of HealthBeat, Chiropractic OnLine Today’s Health, News and informational Podcast.

In this week’s news:  We’ll Look At –

• Self Perspective and Obesity

• Teenagers and Migraine Headaches

• Negative Manipulation Study

• Update to Senate bill S.1955

• Lumbar Muscles and Spinal Lordosis

• Chiropractors Needed as Examiners

• And Finally, Chiropractic Corner discusses Joint Physiology with Dr. Tyler Cymet

For HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

Welcome to HealthBeat Podcast #40, recorded April 14, 2006.  HealthBeat is Chiropractic OnLine Today’s radio program, providing current news and commentary about Chiropractic and Health.

This week’s Episode is sponsored by DaVinci Laboratories.  Please surf to our web site at ChiropracticRadio.com and click on the DaVinci link for your Health and Nutritional needs.

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Finally, Chiropractic OnLine Today has always provided our news and education content for free and plan on continuing this policy.  However, we do request that if you are enjoying these podcasts, that you surf to ChiropracticRadio.com and consider clicking on our PayPal link to make a donation to keep these Podcasts airing.  We thank everyone for their continued support.

And Now for some news ….

Self Perspective and Obesity

According to the DrKoop.com Web Site - Many obese Americans don't consider themselves obese, a new study finds.

The study included 104 white and black men and women, ages 45 to 64, who were asked to report their weight in pounds; categorize themselves as either underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese; and estimate how much they would need to weigh in order to be considered obese.

Based on the participants' body mass index (BMI), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found there were 31 normal weight people, 40 overweight people and 33 obese people in the study group.

About 90 percent of the normal weight people and 85 percent of the overweight and obese people accurately self-reported their own weight and height.

However, just 15 percent of obese people correctly considered themselves to be obese, compared with the 71 percent of normal-weight individuals and 73 percent of overweight people who classified themselves correctly.

The researchers said their findings have important implications, because obese adults who don't consider themselves obese are unlikely to heed public health messages about the dangers of obesity. Denial and misperception may be two factors that influence why obese people don't consider themselves to be obese, the study author suggested.

As always, COTs Healthbeat recommends discussing any dietary modifications with a  qualified healthcare professional.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to this article - http://www.drkoop.com/newsdetail/93/531932.html

Teenagers and Migraine Headaches

While migraine headaches are common in teen-agers, they are substantially under-treated, concludes a study of nearly 19,000 12-to-19-year-olds.

The study found that over a one-year period, 5 percent of boys and close to 8 percent of girls had frequent migraines.

"Migraine in children has rarely been studied, and the findings revealed that boys are nearly as likely as girls to experience migraines. Previous studies in adults have shown that females were generally much more susceptible," study author Paul Winner said in a prepared statement.

About 60 percent of the teens who suffered migraines used only over-the-counter drugs to treat their symptoms; 17 percent used prescription medications; and 22 percent used both over-the-counter and prescription drugs.

Chiropractic and other conservative healthcare treatments provide alternatives to the use of drug therapy.

To see if you are a candidate for Chiropractic care, please contact your Doctor of Chiropractic and schedule a full examination.  Please surf to our parent web site, at www.Chiro-Online.com for a link to our Referral Directory.

http://www.drkoop.com/newsdetail/93/531834.html

Negative Manipulation Study

A recent study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine did not lay out a pretty picture for the use of manipulative therapy.  However, fortunately, more rationale minds and authors have begun to argue effective counterpoints.

The FCER’s Dr. Anthony L. Rosner, PhD, stated the following:

This study is so far from what would be considered a methodical and robust systematic review without bias as to render it highly suspect if not meaningless. Its methods of analyses have not been validated but rather reveal the authors' own carelessness and outright distortion of the literature which it cites.

Many of its glaring defects are ones that the authors attempt to criticize in other work. It fails to grasp how the hypotheses and methods of analysis in the reviews that it cites are bound to deliver differing conclusions, such that Ernst and Canter go out of their way to criticize the positive findings of a single chiropractic author while overlooking their own consistently negative findings for chiropractic (which appear in no less than 25% of the reviews that they include in their discussion). Finally, the authors fail to recognize the major flaws in several of the primary sources of data which comprise the systematic reviews under scrutiny in this research.

There is a multiplicity of issues surrounding the Ernst and Canter review which substantially undercut any prompt and uncritical acceptance of its conclusions. These include

1.    the failure of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to consider subgroups of patients receiving treatment,

2.    the design flaws of a large number of the randomized controlled trials which comprised the systematic reviews addressed in this report,

3.    the failure to consider that modern evidence-based medicine is based upon clinical observation as well as randomized clinical trials,

4.    the failure to adequately address the relative risks of other treatments available in conventional medicine for the conditions discussed in this review, and

5.    numerous revelations of bias of one of the authors [Ernst] which have been amply demonstrated and refuted elsewhere.

Under these circumstances, Ernst and Canter's study can be greeted only with the most extreme skepticism. In lacking many of the elements required for a meaningful presentation of the evidence required for supporting treatment alternatives, it should not at this time be considered to be worthy of guiding a clinical decision. As such, the glaring weaknesses of the report only serve to undermine the public's confidence in science as a means to inform health policy.

For more information, surf to the www.FCER.org

Update to Senate bill S.1955

As COT’s Healthbeat has been reporting over the last few episodes, the US Congress is considering passage of Senate Bill s.1955.  In short, if passed, this bill, also known as the “Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act,” attempts to expand health care access and reduce insurance costs through the creation of small business health plans.

If passed, the bill would take the unprecedented path of preempting state insurance laws. As a result, insurance companies and small business owners, rather than locally elected policymakers, would decide the benefits that consumers should have when they purchase health care. States would have no recourse to protect residents and they would lose their incentives to enact consumer protection laws in the future.

Recently, The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) House of Delegates declared a “state of emergency” within the profession and has committed to using "all available resources" to battle this bill that could prove “disastrous” to chiropractors and their patients.

The historic action—approved by the HOD during a special meeting March 26 in Washington, D.C.—underscores the ACA’s commitment to defeating S. 1955, proposed legislation that would deregulate the health insurance market and gut state patient protection laws.

For more information, listeners are urged to go back and hear our interview with the ACA’ Dr. Lewis Bazakos in episode #39.

http://www.acatoday.org

Lumbar Muscles and Spinal Lordosis

A study published in the European Spine Journal looked at the strength of abdominal muscle and back extensors or their balances as being commonly mentioned as major indicators of potential low back pain (LBP).

The goal of the study was to investigate the relationship between trunk muscle strength and lumbar lordosis, and sacral angle in patients who did not show significant abnormal findings on their simple lateral radiograph.

The study concluded that an imbalance in trunk muscle strength can influence significantly the lordotic curve of lumbar spine and might be one risk factor for potential low back pain.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to this study published in the April 2006 edition of the European Spine Journal - http://springerlink.metapress.com/(vc3ut02en3piahml4ogjat55)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,3,23;journal,2,104;linkingpublicationresults,1:101557,1

Chiropractors Needed as Examiners

The National Registry of Certified Examiners is currently looking for Chiropractors to participate in a survey that will help define the role of the medical examiner.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is in the process of identifying 5,000 medical examiners who currently perform physical examinations for CMV drivers.

The target deadline for identifying the 5,000 participants is June 15, 2006. The survey must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget OMB), so a timeframe for distributing the survey has not yet been determined.

If you are interested in participating, or to learn more information, surf to our Show Notes for a link to the Survey Request form - http://www.nrcme.fmcsa.dot.gov/survey_request.aspx

As always, please surf to our Podcast Show Notes at ChiropractiRadio.com for a full listing of web references mentioned in today’s show.

And remember - COT’s Healthbeat always recommends discussing any nutritional or exercise lifestyle modifications with a qualified healthcare professional.

Chiropractic Corner – The May 2002 edition of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association had a study by Dr. Tyler Cymet entitled Joint cracking and popping.  The study looked at the physiology behind the articular release that occurs at times during a manipulative procedure. 

Dr. Cymet describes the event and states that not all noise that emanates from a joint signifies articular release.  The study presents a hypothesis aobut the noise that frequently does accompany the articular release and the potential relationship to arthritic conditions.

Following is an interview with Dr. Cymet.  To download this study, surf to our Show Notes.

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Finally, I leave you with the following quote:

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies." 
- Groucho Marx

For Chiropractic OnLine Today’s HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

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