Is Chiropractic Really Safe?

Question: My neck was stiff and out of place and I was thinking of going to a chiropractor. Having never been to a chiropractor, I did a bit of online research about chiropractic and found there was a fair amount of dissension concerning its effectiveness. Can you offer any guidance?

Answer: Some in the medical profession are still attacking chiropractic doctors, and so one searching out chiropractic as a health care modality may be confused as they read conflicting reports. One strategy in battle is, “If you can’t win, at least confuse.” In my estimation, this is a strategy being used in an ongoing conflict between allopathic doctors and those who choose to use natural means for healing.

Personally I have chosen natural means, which I define as “health care modalities which work in conjunction with your body’s own healing powers.” This is my primary approach to health care.  One question that must be answered is, “Did God make the body “mechanistic” or “vitalistic”?" (i.e. are we a mechanical entity, or an energy based entity). Our book, Restoring Health Care as a Ministry has an entire chapter (Chapter 5) devoted to answering this question.

The answer you choose determines the kind of health care practitioner you use as your primary care physician. If you believe that the processes of the body cannot be explained in simply mechanical terms and that the individual organs and systems do not function on their own but are inseparable parts of an intricately related single entity, you can move to a health care modality that is outstanding in its effectiveness and can allow you to walk in divine health to age 100 and beyond.

Those that believe in natural and spiritual healing believe “that the body will heal itself if given the right tools to work with.” These tools include a heart filled with faith, hope and love, great nutrition (live foods), intense exercise and keeping the body cleansed of toxins.

Is chiropractic safe? One way to get a feel for which is safer, chiropractic or medical doctors, is to consider what their malpractice insurance costs are. Medical malpractice insurance cost for MD’s can range anywhere between $20,000 and $100,000 per year, whereas chiropractic malpractice insurance costs anywhere from $100 to $2500 per year. Click here for additional information.

Studies show cost-effectiveness and health benefits of chiropractic care. Volumes of independent studies provide conclusive evidence that chiropractic care leads to better health outcomes, higher patient satisfaction with their care and lower costs when compared to traditional health care providers. The following is a summary of studies on the subject, and is available online here:

• A health insurance plan with a chiropractic benefit had lower costs than a plan without it.   A study reported in the American Medical Association's journal found health plans that included a chiropractic benefit had 31 percent fewer back surgeries and 15 percent lower per capita hospital costs. The study compared 700,000 health plan members with chiropractic benefits to 1 million members without chiropractic benefits in California, and showed that overall health care expenditures were lower in the group with chiropractic coverage. Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, October 2004.
   
• Doctors of chiropractic serving as primary care physicians led to better clinical and cost outcomes. When doctors of chiropractic served as primary care physicians in an Illinois health maintenance organization (HMO), the results were substantially improved clinical and cost outcomes when compared to medical doctor care. The doctors of chiropractic, who emphasized preventive and wellness care, showed a 43 percent reduction in patient hospital admissions, a 58 percent reduction in hospital days, a 43 percent reduction in outpatient surgeries and procedures, and a 51 percent reduction in pharmaceutical costs. The study spanned four years and included 21,743 patient months.  Source: Journal of Manipulative and Physiologic Therapeutics, June 2004.
   
• Immediate access to chiropractic care after an injury results in the most effective outcome, medically and financially. A peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, January 2004, stated: “...We found that patients who were seen by chiropractors during the initial episode of care were less likely to have a surgery, and had a shorter average duration of the initial episode.”
   
• Additional cost effective studies can be viewed here.
   
• Statistics on annual deaths due to allopathic doctors is available here.

Two Outstanding Networks of Chiropractors Which I Highly Recommend

Maximized Living Group: These are chiropractors who x-ray the spine, and then do adjustments to restore proper curvature and also provide you daily exercises which assist in the process. Since 70% of the messages from the brain to an organ in the body can be cut off by slight misalignments in the spinal column, many organs are not receiving full messages from the brain, and are functioning at a fraction of their capacity. This is remedied by this particular chiropractic approach. Their website has a search feature which allows you to put in your zip code and find such a certified chiropractor in your community.

They offer 5 Health Essentials of Maximized Living, which has been found to put even cancer into remission as is testified by their co-founder, Dr. Charles Majors, in his book, The Cancer Killers. He was healed of four immense tumors in his skull, and now helps lead others in taking the five essentials steps toward maximized living. On page 50 of this book, he mentions the fact that researchers discovered that in the 1918 Flu Epidemic, the death rate of chiropractic patients was one fortieth that of non-chiropractic patients. Patti and Mark Virkler have both been very blessed by health improvements, weight loss, spinal curve correction and physical symptoms disappearing by utilizing the services of a Maximized Living Chiropractor.

Active Release Technique Practitioners: These certified natural health professionals (many of whom are chiropractors) break adhesions in muscles thus restoring flexibility to your body. Patti and Mark Virkler have both been super blessed with restored flexibility through a chiropractor who ministered Active Release Technique to them. Find a certified ART practitioner in your vicinity by clicking here. If there are none in your area, then ask your local chiropractor to review the Maximized Living and ART websites and consider becoming certified and listed by them.