news for all who want to learn
Archive for October, 2009
The Opportunity Cost of Our Time
0936 days
Time is money... or is it more than that?
I always talk about bang for your buck with patients or people I am training. People can grasp that they want to get the most value for the paid dollars or for their time as they can. To be most effective in any one aspect, it only makes sense to focus the most on those aspects that will achieve the most sufficient results. Stephen Covey lists it has one of his 7 habits of Highly Effective People: “Do first things first.” What happens when we don’t do first things first?
What I did not realize was that there was an economic term for “bang for your buck,” which is “opportunity cost.” Opportunity cost is essentially what you have to give up in order to make anyone decision. In my personal life, having a job costs me the opportunities of having free time to read and spend time with friends. In chiropractic, the time I spend playing games costs me opportunities to learn new techniques or adjusting people. No choice is either right or wrong from person to person, but individually, each choice does bring us closer or farther away from our goals in life. Continue reading “The Opportunity Cost of Our Time” »
Chiropractic’s Branding Problem (…and What to DO About it)
2
Is this the best we can do?
A Critical Point in Chiropractic History:
It is no secret that Chiropractors only see 6-10% of the population while some 85% or more of people will experience back pain at some point in their life. Underutilization of chiropractic is not a result of chiropractic not working or failing to provide value to the health system. In fact, of all the therapies for low back pain, spinal manipulation is one of the few therapies (pretty much the only one alongside exercise) to show clinical utility. Chiropractic has also been shown to be cost-effective as chiropractors manage back pain cases more efficiently – keeping patients from becoming chronic back pain patients.
Chiropractors, if you haven’t learned by now, we’ve been fighting too long for a decreasing chunk of the healthcare pie in a system disproportionately focused on acute, reactionary care. While delivering the message of chiropractic for back and neck pain, we are still seeing the same 6-10% of the population with the same message. If we were a publicly traded company, Chiropractic would be bankrupt or at least receiving a bailout. Now, I don’t see a bailout coming our way anytime soon either. Ever since I started Chiropractic college, I’ve struggled to figure out why chiropractic is so underutilized by the general population. What has Chiropractic done wrong? More importantly, what can we do to reverse the trends? Continue reading “Chiropractic’s Branding Problem (…and What to DO About it)” »
Is the Mercury in Thiomersal Dangerous
2942 days
Is the Mercury in Thiomersal Dangerous?
Thiomersal is a preservative that is added to vaccines to prevent contamination. It contains roughly 49% mercury; therefore a vaccine containing the standard Thiomersal dosage of 50mcg contains 25mcg of mercury. For adults, there are thiomersal free and preservative free vaccines. Thiomersal-free has no thiomersal, while preservative free contains trace amounts, or about .3mcg per dose. Although childhood vaccines can no longer contain thiomersal (as of 1999), the government considers the trace amounts in preservative free versions acceptable, plus, any vaccine that was produced prior may be still be used (assuming its shelf date has not expired).
The FDA set the daily safe limit of mercury at 1.0mcg per kg of bodyweight per day to avoid neurological damage. However, paying attention to the weekly average tends to be a more accurate indicator.
The ultimate question of course is, “Is it Safe”? Continue reading “Is the Mercury in Thiomersal Dangerous” »
Student Loan Repayment Bill
4943 days
In a my previous article, “Understanding Loan Repayment Options”, I mentioned that the NHS loan repayment is currently not offered to chiropractors even though the Public health service loan indicated that the program was for all primary care providers (chiropractors, and some other providers such as physical therapists were denied because we were not specifically mentioned).
Today I became aware of a bill currently in committee, the Access to Frontline Health Care Act of 2009. This bill strives to amend the current bill from “eligible physicians” to “frontline providers”, as well as specifically designating chiropractors as a frontline provider. As a provider, chiropractors would receive a $50000 loan payment for serving 2 years in an under served area.
I urge all students and doctors alike to sign the chirovoice petition. Or better yet, write your own and send it to your senator!
Hi, My name is Christopher, and I’m a grainaholic.
1
Addicted to sweet wheat.
Hi, My name is Christopher, and I’m a grainaholic. True story. Luckily, I am also addicted to fruits and vegetables, to exercise, and to feeling good and being happy. I am thankful everyday for these things. The problem is the grains, meaning the pastas and breads, the candy, the cheese, and the dairy. They are not good for me. Luckily, I enjoy the “good’ things enough that I don’t fall off of the grain wagon very often, or is it on the wagon? You get the point.
Most people don’t understand how certain foods people eat, mainly the breads and pastas, are addictions, just like any drug addiction one might have. Most also don’t understand why breads and pastas are unhealthy. Yes, the list goes like this: marijuana, cocaine, heroine, and pasta and bread. The same nerve pathways that are lit up when people use these drugs are also lit up when eating foods especially high in calories and carbohydrate. The reason this occurs is because our body has evolved to crave these foods when available, satisfying a temporary need in the form of storing large amounts of energy in body fat. Historically, human beings didn’t have food markets with low priced carbohydrates and candy available 24 hours a day, everyday, for an entire lifetime. Thousands of years ago, we lived off of the land, hunting game and gathering fruits and vegetables. When food sources were low, it was necessary to eat the high calorie foods in large quantities because you never knew when you were going to get another meal. Our brains got smart and created this addiction pathway that caused us to “feel good” after consuming foods like this. The chronic diseases of Western civilization have proven that the human body needs more than just calories to sustain life.
Continue reading “Hi, My name is Christopher, and I’m a grainaholic.” »
Lutein and the cancer connection
2944 days
Is it only good for our eyes?
One of the major avenues of nutrition based research of the past couple decades has been antioxidants’ role in cancer formation. Although observational studies had been very promising, experimental studies continued to fail to find a correlation. Thus experimenters began searching deeper into the subject of antioxidants and came out with a possible solution, Lutein.
Lutein, a highly unstable xanthophyll, has been a rare case in that most experimental data has thus far shown some sort of link between it and cancer, especially in the realm of colon cancer. However, recent supplemental research trials have uncovered Lutein’s possible dangerous effects and have shown that we have only begun to scrape the surface of this potential link. Continue reading “Lutein and the cancer connection” »
Ross Amendment
0944 days
Ross amendment, protect our state provided rights! Begin listening at 3:55 until about 6:15.
Placebo Effect Seen on MRI
0945 days
MRI
In October’s issue of Science a study showed a physiological response to a placebo topical analgesia. This article addresses the study design and findings, and concludes with its relation to chiropractic.
The study contained a population of 13 subjects, who were told that they were part of a trial to test the efficacy of a new pain killer cream. First patients were exposed to a painful heat source on their arm, and then researchers applied the ‘control cream’ (which was the same cream as the supposed pain-reducing cream). The patients’ pain ratings were then recorded. Next, researchers repeated the experiment but this time with the pain reducing cream, however, after administering the cream they lowered the temperature of the heat source without informing the patient. Therefore, the patients felt less pain with the pain-reducing cream.
In the second phase of the study, researchers performed functional MRIs at the C5-C6 junction on the patient while exposing the arm to a painful heat stimulus. One part of the forearm was covered with the ‘control’ and the other with the ‘pain-reducing’ cream; each spot was exposed 25 times and at the same heat. The placebo effect took hold, and patients reported an average of 26% less pain in the analgesic arm.
Of course, proving the placebo effect is nothing new. What is amazing is that the fMRIs revealed that the ipsilateral dorsal horns lit up when the ‘control’ was exposed to the heat, but did not equally activate during the ‘pain-killer’ trials. Continue reading “Placebo Effect Seen on MRI” »
Professional Unification
1946 days
Better together?
The 2000′s has been a time of significant change for the chiropractic community. One of the more interesting to me is the increasing occurance of state chiropractic associations unifying. Just last month Virginia’s Virginia Chiropractic Association and the Virginia Chiropractic Society (which had a great Acronym, VSC!), unified, and more states are considering similiar moves.
My question to you. Do you feel that unification of straight and mixer chiropractic associations is a good idea, for either the state or national level? Please comment.
In my personal opinion, I think this is a great idea. I believe that our professions biggest enemy is ourselves, not MDs, the government, or insurance… gasp! I know our profession has its significant differences, but really we should provide a unified front for the community. Look at the AMA, they are an increadibly diverse group or individuals and opinions, and believe me they argue in house, but they speak to the population as a unified force. If as a profession we were to band together, I feel we would finally be able to exercise some power in government and insurance… one group of 70,000 is far more powerful than 4 groups of 18,ooo people.
What are your thoughts? or thots…
[poll id="4"]
ADHD and nutrition: finding an alternative treatment that works
2
What’s on the horizon for today’s ADHD youth?
(Flickr user: Broma)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affectes 3-7% of children in the United States. Interestingly, ADHD is more common in non-hispanic, English speaking kids, who have health insurance. With the exception of males, income has no significance on who gets ADHD and who does not.
Many parents are concerned about the longterm effects of ADHD drugs like Ritalin and are looking for alternative healthcare options. Direct medical costs for each ADHD individual is estimated at $1,574 per child leading parents of ADHD children to spend almost double for healthcare than what families without ADHD children spend. When food agencies are allowing health claims on sugary cereals like Fruit Loops, parents of ADHD kids are desperate for answers on not only what they can do for their children but who they can trust.
Debate on ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment
The diagnosis of ADHD has increased substantially over the past decade. This has led to debate as to whether the condition is really increasing or whether just the diagnosis is increasing. When big players like the pharmaceutical industry are involved, the public is becoming increasingly weary. Continue reading “ADHD and nutrition: finding an alternative treatment that works” »