I don’t want to just assume they’re wrong so I have to ask – what affect do TV and computers have on the liver (except for my tendency to eat junk food when using either)? Reply
ROFL with the computers and TV effecting the liver. Should I make a liver shaped aluminum foil hat? That way I can protect my liver both from harmful toxins and UFOs and the CIA’s mind control satellites in one fell swoop! Reply
Michael Kingsford Gray said: “Isn’t Neurophen “Big Pharma”?” Emmm…you’d have thought so! However, its manufacturer, Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (UK) Limited, promotes woo on their nurofen.co.uk website. About homeopathy, they say: “Shown to work, for adults, children and plants! But does homeopathy work? Well, research shows that a homeopathic effect does exist. Many adults, children, animals and even plants have been successfully treated with homeopathy. And studies at Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital have shown homeopathy to be effective in the treatment of hay fever.” This link is not to some peer reviewed reputable scientific article, but to a BBC story! On chiropractic, they claim: …chiropractic therapy can also help conditions such as: * Hip problems * Head, neck, chest pain * Headaches and migraines * Wrist, ankle, knee, elbow problems * Asthma * Menstrual disorders * Indigestion and constipation Asthma?! Of course, it’ll come as no surprise that the link on the page is to the British Chiropractic Association. So, are Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare Big Pharma or Big Quacka? Reply
Thought you might be interested in this link: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/PepticUlcerDisease/1612 There are many reasons to mock the chiropractic world recently but the example you give of their warning about the risks associated with NSAID use isnt one of them. If you want to be taken seriously as a critical voice you should be a bit more selective in your choice of target. Regards Osteopodder Reply
Of course some medicines have side effects and some are serious! But do you really think the chiropractors put those warnings there just in case someone forgets to read the information leaflet that comes with every proper medicine? Is this a public service chiropractors are providing free of charge? No, they’re there to plant the idea in a customer’s head that they should eschew conventional medicine in favour of their brand of woo. Reply
Do most people read those little leaflets which come with packs of Neurofen etc? I’d be very surprised if they do, most people just neck ’em and wait for the effect to kick in. I dont know the stats but it would interesting to know the proportion of the public who are aware of NSAID risk. It seems rather desperate to criticise any health care provider for informing the public of evidence informed levels of risk. You mention in your blog that chiropractors are “not too keen on proper, evidence and science-based medicine”, but these risk factors come from large and methodologically strong “science-based” studies, you cant complain on the one hand that chiropractic is not evidence based and on the other complain when they use good evidence as part of their patient management/education. It’s also worth mentioning that the much publicised risk of VBI damage via cervical manipulation (1 in 1 – 2,000,000) is far less than the risk of death due to NSAID use (15.3 deaths per 100,000 in Spain, according to the link i posted above). Regards Osteopodder Reply
@Ostepodder Yes in this one point you are correct. NSAID do have side effects and can cause harm. However you are missing the whole point, and that is that Chiropractic therapy is made up rubbish that does not work. Can you provide some robust evidence that it is proven to work and how it might help say Asthma as claimed above? Reply
@cvb Im not missing any point at all. I made the point i intended to make and it wasnt related to whether or not asthma can be “cured” by chiropractic. I was purely saying that their highlighting the risk of NSAID use was appropriate. I dont have any evidence for chiropractic working for asthma since as you well know, there isnt any (so why ask?). Chiropractic seems to work for low back pain and there’s a fair bit of evidence out there of fair quality. Dont twist what im saying about one thing and apply it to something else just to shit stir. If you want an open conversation about evidence and efficacy of manual therapy then lets do it, if you just want to stand there pointing and shouting then talk to someone else. Reply
It seems that Nuerofen is a recent sponsor – the Back Show promo for earlier in the year stated that the main sponsor was a company called AmatsuHealth – japanese medicine. Rumour has it that they pulled out and the event organisers fell on nurofen’s offer of £££££ in order to save the show. The BCA and other chiro organisers do not arrange the funding sponsors so it seems a tad petty to ridicule them for decisions they had no control over. Reply
AmatsuHealth is still a sponsor but the contradiction is still there: many chiropractors appear to eschew conventional medicine and drugs, but have chosen to sit alongside a major pharmaceutical company at this show. I have no idea how they square that, but that’s their problem. Reply
Lady says to pharmacist: “Why does my prescription medication have 40 side effects?” Pharmacist replies: “Cause that’s all we’ve documented so far.” Prescription drugs, surgery, pain killers, etc, just numb your pain and don’t do anything to fix the problem, yet they are responsible for 106,000 deaths per year. Records form insurance and court cases have constantly shown that chiropractic is the safest portal of entry health care available to the public today. Although no healthcare procedures are 100% safe, chiropractic stands on its record of safety and effectiveness unmatched in healthcare. Reply
There are well-established reporting systems (for both patients and health professionals) for pharmaceuticals so that side effects can be monitored to ensure public safety. Which is much more than can be said about chiropractic. Reply