Page 26 - Time Special Edition Alternative Medicine (January 2020)
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ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE THE NEW MAINSTREAM
prema ture infants, and she suspects that an ener- manipulation—a chiropractor’s application of force
gized vagus nerve may explain why. at specific joints of the spine—is a good place to start.
Massage offers the kind of benefits that can cer A study pub lished in the Annals of Internal Medicine
patients can appreciate as well. A study published in showed that chiropractic treatment of neck pain pro-
the Journal of Integrative Oncology found that after vided more relief than over-the-counter drugs like
learning massage techniques in short workshops, aspirin and ibuprofen. Specifically, after 12 weeks of
partners of cancer patients were able to give treat- treatment, more than half of chiroprac tic subjects
ments that reduced anxiety, pain, nausea and other reported at least a 75% reduction in pain, compared
side effects of cancer by up to 44%. As is often the with one third of those in the drug group.
case with complementary treatments, the research- The improvement seemed to last—a year later,
ers hy pothesized that it wasn’t so much the therapy more than 50% of the chiropractic group still re-
itself as the intimacy of the contact that conferred ported a significant decrease in pain. Meanwhile,
the positive result. On the other hand, the Cedars- those patients taking painkillers tended to have
Sinai AVP study found that massage seemed to raise upped their dosage by the time of the follow-up, and
the production of the cancer-fighting white blood that meant an added bonus for the members of the
cells known as lymphocytes, and that is much less chiropractic group: they didn’t have to worry about
likely to be a result of such a placebo effect. the side effects the drug group was contending with.
Neither cancer nor post-op healing is the pri mary Which isn’t to imply that chiropractic treat ment
battleground of massage. The condition that drives is without controversy. Years ago neu rologists no-
more patients to massage therapists and chiroprac- ticed a pattern of people suffering strokes follow-
tors than any other is much more mundane: back ing chiropractic adjust ment for neck pain. Many
pain. According to the American Chiropractic As- implicated the sudden neck-twisting that is cen-
sociation, more than 30 million Americans suffer tral to the treatment, hypothesizing that it injured
from back pain at any given time, and if you’re not the arteries leading to the brain, thus triggering
among them at the mo ment, chances are you will strokes. But more recent research is causing doctors
be eventually. An es timated 80% of us will fall prey to rethink that assumption. One study found that
sooner or later. younger stroke patients were more likely to have
And when you’re hurting, fast relief is all that’s complained about head and neck pain—symptoms
on your mind. Research indicates that spi nal that often precede a stroke—before their visit to the
chiropractor, and that could mean they were already
suffering the effects of damaged arteries before they
under went any manipulations.
If that’s the case, the only significant risk of ma-
nipulative medicine may be to your wallet. Accord-
ing to a 2010 survey by the American Massage Ther-
apy Association, just 3% or so of Americans who got
a massage over the previous five years were covered
by health insurance for the treatment. Massage ther-
apists aren’t considered licensed medical practitio-
ners, which means their work isn’t recognized by
most insurers. On the other hand, almost 90% of in-
sured Americans are covered for chiropractic treat-
ment, because licensed chiroprac tors, like physi-
cians, have undergone four years of schooling.
For now, there is still no national standard for
massage therapists, making it that much more im-
portant to scout out a therapist you can trust. Then
again, anyone who is prepared to lie facedown and
Chiropractic treatment of neck pain may offer naked on an odd table in a room with a stranger has
more relief than over-the-counter pain pills. probably done that due diligence already.
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