By Dr. George E. Logothetis, D.C.
America Has Finally Discovered The Difference Between Health care And Sick Care.
The past decade has marked an incredible increase in how our country has utilized alternative health care. In 1990 researchers estimated that over 425 million visits were made to alternative health care providers. These numbers far exceed the amount of visits to traditional medical doctors and are increasing every year. In fact a survey conducted in 1994 indicated that over 60% of physicians recommended alternative therapies to their patients. Of these doctors 47% used it themselves and 23% incorporated them into their practice. Another amazing fact is that medical schools across the country are taking notice of the increasing interest in alternative therapies. Medical schools including Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and Mount Sinai (and the list goes on) offer courses and seminars on alternative practices that just a few years ago were considered outlandish. The number one alternative to medicine is chiropractic. While we don’t consider chiropractic an alternative to any other form of care these numbers are certainly indicators that American’s are finally realizing the difference between health care and disease care. The growing trend is for people to maintain their health instead of treating the disease. People are joining gyms, eating healthier, drinking bottled water, taking nutritional supplements and visiting chiropractors on a regular basis.
Why the change? Perhaps it’s because traditional medicine has become the third leading cause of preventable death. The preventable causes of death being:
1. Cigarettes
2. Alcohol
3. Medicine
4. Traffic accidents
5. Handguns
Maybe it’s because people are realizing that the only purpose medication serves is to mask the symptoms while the disease process continues. Maybe its because they know that 1.5 million people a year are injured and hospitalized from the side effects of prescription medicines. Some of these injuries are so severe that 100,000 of them die. Maybe it’s because even though a drug is FDA approved it doesn’t make it safe. It is estimated that 51% of approved drugs have serious side effects that were not detected prior to approval (death, cardiac arrest, and cancer.) Maybe it’s because of statistics printed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicating that medicine is responsible for over 180,000 deaths per year (the equivalent of 3 jumbo jet crashes every 2 days). Now let me ask you all a question. If three jumbo jets crashed every two days would you fly?
Perhaps all these reasons are why pharmaceutical companies are spending 2.5 billion a year to market over the counter drugs and 12.5 billion to market prescription drugs. That equates to over 41 million dollars a day. If drugs were so good why does it take 15 billion dollars a year to sell them? Because people are realizing that taking them does not make one healthy and with this whole evolution going on in health care it takes a lot of money to perpetuate the old myths. If drugs made people healthy then the person who takes the most amounts of drugs would be the healthiest, but we all know that is not the case. People are taking responsibility for their own health. They are asking questions and are no longer allowing doctors to have primary control over their health.
People are realizing that symptoms should never be a judge of health. For example, a heart attack is the first sign of heart disease for a lot of people, and cancer can go on for years before its presence is known. A decrease in body function usually exists for quite some time before symptoms arise and a disease can be named. People are also realizing that when symptoms appear they indicate a problem. It is like a built in alarm system telling us that our body is not functioning at 100%. With this knowledge people make one of three decisions. They can ignore it and hope it goes away. They can take medication to eliminate the symptom, or they can do something to correct the cause. This is why more and more people are choosing chiropractic. The logical thing is to take responsibility for ones health and play an active role in becoming healthy. If an alarm when off in your home indicating a fire would you want the fire put out, or would you simply want the alarm turned off? Taking medication when symptoms appear is like turning off the siren and allowing your house to burn down.
It wasn’t that long ago when the American Medical Association set out to eliminate the chiropractic profession. They initiated so much slander that the chiropodist had to relabel themselves as podiatrists. “Chiropodist” looked too much like chiropractor on the sign and people avoided them. In 1991, the Supreme Court found the AMA and other medical associations guilty of conspiring to destroy chiropractic. But like the old saying goes “time will always perpetuate those things that are better for mankind.” The chiropractic principles are being recognized and society, the scientific community and even traditional medicine are accepting the validity of the chiropractic profession.
Chiropractic is based on the scientific knowledge that the nervous system controls all body functions. It controls and coordinates literally every organ, tissue and cell of the body. Nerve impulses flow from the brain, down the spinal cord, and to every organ. Impulses sent back to the brain confirm that the body is working properly. If there is interference to these impulses the overall function of the body is decreased. This is what chiropractors label a SUBLUXATION. Whether or not symptoms are present, the body cannot function properly. A chiropractor is trained to recognize and eliminate these subluxations. It allows the intelligence of the body and the nervous system to maintain harmony and health. Chiropractic focuses on the person with the disease not the disease or the symptom. While traditional health care focuses on sickness, disease and what makes people die, chiropractic is based on health, wellness and what makes people live. A recent study published in JAMA noted that users of alternative health care were generally more educated and that these alternatives were more congruent with their own values, beliefs and philosophical orientations toward health and life. The Journal of Pediatrics stated that chiropractic was the number one alternative to conventional medicine. It also stated that the mothers who chose alternatives (like chiropractic) were again more educated than those who chose conventional medicine. The medical reasons for seeking care were respiratory (like asthma), ENT (like ear infections), musculoskeletal, skin, gastrointestinal (like colic), allergies, and prevention. Factors influencing the choice of alternative medicine are word of mouth, fear of drug side effects, chronic medical problems, dissatisfaction with conventional medicine and more personalized attention.
People are sick and tired of being sick and tired. They are tired of prescriptions, side effects and unnecessary surgery. The world market for anti-depressants totals 6 billion dollars and 5.5 billion of that is consumed in the United States. Are we a nation that needs to depend on Prozac? Alarming rates of children are on Ritalin and other psychotropic (mind altering) drugs. (The long-term effects of Ritalin are just being recognized. One of them is Parkinson’s and a prime example is Michael J. Fox.) Our society is waking up and shifting gears when it comes to health care. The argument used to be that alternative health care providers were unscientific and took advantage of the uninformed, yet all studies indicate just the opposite. Chiropractic has stood the test of time because unlike conventional medicine it is based on sound scientific principles. Chiropractors from 100 years ago can walk into any office and practice today. Take a medical doctor out of practice for 15 years and then put him back. He probably wouldn’t know what to do. That ever so scientific profession is always changing its views. Many doctors today will admit that past practices were considered barbaric. Scientific principles should withstand the test of time. A mathematician, a physicist, or a chiropractor from a century ago can still practice. A medical doctor cannot because it is not scientific. The majority of office visits have been and continue to be made to alternative providers.
While medicine is making advances in the field of trauma and special surgeries they are losing ground when it comes to health and wellness. Their solution is a pill or a potion. Pills and potions only make the pharmaceutical companies rich. The sad thing is that pharmaceutical companies have literally taken over medical schools for their own benefit. Doctors are taught that the only ways to solve problems are with drugs and surgery. Dr. M.F. McCarthy says in the journal Medical Hypotheses, “If this situation does not point out the moral bankruptcy of American medicine, I don’t know what could.” Providing free equipment, computers, supplies, seminars and large grants (money) to professors does have a price. That price is public health. The pill popping approach explains (according to the World Health Organization) why U.S. citizens pay more for health. The sad thing is that our health status ranks fairly low when compared to other nations. Our infant mortality rate is below 20 other nations, and people live longer, on average, in 16 others.
Recent studies done in the U.S. and Canada concluded that only 8% of people under chiropractic care needed the services of an M.D. as opposed to 46% of those who did not. It also stated that people who used the services of a chiropractor were healthier overall, had less incapacitating conditions and required fewer health needs.
Studies done by Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York’s Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine in Environmental Health at New York University, showed that people under chiropractic care had a 200% stronger immune system than the people who were not. These people had a 400% stronger immune system than with cancer or other serious disease. He further went on to conclude that chiropractic care may optimize ones ability to fully resist serious disease.
Studies prove subluxations cause neurological stresses that impair immune response, and can be a factor in aging. Our immune system determines whether or not we get sick or stay healthy. Chiropractic keeps the immune response high. In fact when tested on HIV patients a 48% increase in their CD4 (immune system) cells was demonstrated over the six-month duration of the study. There is not a drug out there that can increase immune function like this.
Research shows that 80% of all infants suffer from nerve interference cause by a subluxation. This study states that out of 1250 babies chosen at random, 211 suffered from nervousness, vomiting, muscular abnormalities, tremors and insomnia. 95% (200) of those children had abnormal cervical (neck) muscle strain indicating vertebral subluxation. When the subluxation was removed it frequently resulted in immediate quieting, cessation of crying, muscular relaxation and sleepiness.
To be healthy, every organ, tissue and cell in the body needs a healthy nerve supply. To give our families and ourselves the chance for a better quality of life, we need to allow our body to function at its fullest potential with maximum nerve supply.
The purpose of our office is to bring chiropractic care to the people in our community. Our goal is to help the sick people get well and to keep the well people healthy. We want to educate as many people as possible on the importance of a healthy nervous system and thus a healthy body. We want our community to make educated choices, get to know what a subluxation is, and how it affects their health.
Chiropractic Care…For Better Health…Better Life…For All People…All Ages…All Reasons!
Dr. George Logothetis practices in Hackensack, NJ
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