Founded in July 1996, the Institute of Health Freedom (IHF) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational center designed to provide a forum for exchanging ideas and present a case for strengthening personal choices about health care. Just over a year after its inception, IHF has gone online with a World Wide Web site.
"We have created a user-friendly web site full of information about health freedom issue," said Sue Blevins, IHF president. "We are truly a resource for citizens, legislators, and the news media. This is a site you won't want to miss."
The site contains a growing number of features, including an interactive map of the U.S. that provides links to all 50 state governments; articles on health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid; links to national agencies such as AHCPR and HCFA; and an announcement list that will automatically send IHF news to your e-mail address. IHF can be visited on the World Wide Web at [url=http://www.ihf-healthfreedom.org]http://www.ihf-healthfreedom.org[/url].
Back in January, the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association (PCA) initiated the formation of the Allied Health Care Provider Group (AHCPG). Representing a wide variety of health care providers, ranging from chiropractors and osteopaths to medical suppliers and optometrists, the AHCPG reviews all proposed and introduced legislation in the state.
The most recent focus of the group has been Senate Bill 100, also known as the Quality Health Care Protection Act. The bill, introduced by state Senator Tim Murphy, addresses certification of HMOs; notification to enrollees; access to service; utilization review; grievance procedures; financial incentives; confidentiality; and point-of-service, among other issues. The AHCPG's goal is to ensure stronger point-of-service language within the legislation. Representatives of the group have already met with Senator Murphy and have testified at statewide public hearings in support of the bill.
The formation of such a group is a historic event in Pennsylvania, and could shape the future of health care delivery in the state for years to come. Dr. Roy Love, president of the PCA, said that the allied health care groups working together with patients "will make a dramatic effect legislatively on the issue of fair and equitable access to chiropractic care." For more information, contact the PCA state office at (717) 232-5762.
The benefits of chiropractic to athletes has often been touted in Dynamic Chiropractic: most recently the stories of top performers Donovan Bailey, Barry Bonds, Dan O'Brien, and Tiger Woods have been published. Many athletes who benefit from chiropractic, however, don't always make the news. Let's catch up with a few athletes and see how chiropractic helps them.
Australian chiropractor Dr. Dale Richardson, coordinator of the sports medicine service for the PGA Tour Australasia, was asked by four prominent golfers, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer and Robert Allenby, to come to Augusta, Georgia to provide treatment for them during the U.S. Masters golf tournament.
Dr. Richardson provided adjustments to all four golfers in preparation for the event, working with each golfer for approximately one hour a day, and with the defending champion, Nick Faldo, for the entire week leading up to the tournament. The results seemed to especially benefit Bernhard Langer, who had been plagued with forearm pain for the previous two years. Langer ending the Masters in seventh place, one of his highest finishes in recent years. After the tournament, Langer remarked that the chiropractic care was "the best care he had received anywhere in the world."
Dr. Richardson, past president and current vice president of the Chiropractors' Assoc. of Australia Sports Council, is a member of the Federation Internationale de Chiropratique Sportive, and is pursuing a masters in sports chiropractic at RMIT University in Melbourne.
Joel Jonson, DC, of Wichita, Kansas, recently had a double-header: adjusting former Atlanta Braves pitcher Jose Alvarez and former professional boxer Marvis Frazier on the same day.
Marvis Frazier, son of legendary heavyweight champion "smokin'" Joe Frazier, compiled a 19-2 record as a professional, competing against some of the best in the game (Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes) before undergoing neck surgery that forced him to retire. While being treated, he informed Dr. Johnson that many of today's top boxers rely on chiropractic to keep them in peak condition during training. After being adjusted, Frazier commented, "I feel 100% better, Doc!"
Jose Alvarez played professional baseball for 16 years. In 1988, the Atlanta Braves named him their team's most valuable player for his efforts on the mound. Two years ago, he retired to try a career in professional golf. While in Dr. Johnson's office, Jose mentioned how all three of his children had been treated by a chiropractor since they were infants, remarking that chiropractic care contributed greatly in keeping his children from having tubes put in their ears. Dr. Johnson also treated Alvarez's wife and two boys that day.
Tony Szabo, a star with the New Jersey Rockin' Rollers of Roller Hockey International, recently sought the help of Lyndhurst, New Jersey chiropractor Dr. Robert J. Haley to help him prepare for the upcoming season. Last season, Szabo broke the RHI record by scoring at least one goal in 15 consecutive games. Because of Szabo's appreciation of chiropractic, Dr. Haley was also able to render care to other members of the Rockin' Rollers.
For years, Louisiana chiropractor James Rippel, DC, has worked with weightlifter Walter Imahara, applying a number of adjusting techniques to keep his spine healthy. Dr. Rippel's care, combined Walter's diligent workout regimen, has helped the lifter win 17 consecutive American Masters Championships, and set five world records in open, drug-free competition. In 1996, competing in 55-59 age group in the 154 lbs. division, Walter broke four American records.
The annual California Police Olympics, one of the largest gatherings of amateur athletes in the state, was held in Fresno, California. Law enforcement officers from all over the state showed up to compete in boxing, watercraft events, motorcross and wrestling, among other events.
More than a dozen chiropractors from the surrounding area signed up to provide care at the games. An example of the kind of instantaneous, positive effect chiropractic can have on an individual is the case of San Bernardino police officer Tom Bielaszka, who complained of low back pain and tight muscles. David Sommer, DC, a volunteer chiropractor from Simi Valley, treated officer Bielaszka with some pre-event stretches, adjusted him, and sent him off to visit the massage therapists. "That afternoon," Dr. Sommer reported, he came back with a gold medal wrapped around his neck and claimed it was because of our help that he won."
Chiropractic continues to garner respect, from both athletes and couch potatoes. Albeit anecdotal, it's nice to hear the testimonials and be appreciated.
Members of the "Masters" erected a peace pole this August in Yosemite valley.
On August 17, 1997, a group of chiropractors who have participated in a program for personal development ("The Masters") has planted a six foot high "peace pole" at Tenaya Lodge in the Yosemite valley in California. The private ceremony was attended by 70 DCs, their spouses, and chiropractic assistants.
The pole the DCs planted is one of 720 recently donated to the United States by the Japanese Peace Pole Project. There are more than 5,000 of these hand-crafted peace poles already in the U.S., each carrying the message: "May Peace Prevail on Earth." Participants placed their own notes for peace and health around the world inside the pole before it was set into the ground.
DCs Perry and Pamala Mitchell of San Antonio, Texas were selected as chiropractors for the TNT movie "Rough Riders." The movie was shot in various locations in San Antonio, including the Fairmont Hotel and the Scottish Rites Temple. The Mitchells went on location to adjust members of the crew, assistant directors, hairdressers, and actors during the making of the movie.
The production crew, in appreciation, invited the Mitchells onto the sets while filming took place. "We were so close to the actors that if I stuck out my hand I would have been on camera," said Perry.
"Movie making is very hard work! These people definitely need chiropractic treatment," noted Pamala.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
