Chiropractic: What Is Chiropractic Manipulation?

Chiropractic manipulation, also known as chiropractic adjustment, is a form of alternative medicine. A trained chiropractor applies sudden force to spinal joints to correct structural alignment and improve physical function.

Most often, patients seek chiropractic adjustment to relieve various types of back, neck and head pain, although it has been trialed for a wide variety of conditions.

Chiropractic manipulation has faced controversy and receives a mixed response from health care practitioners. This is predominantly due to a lack of evidence for some of its claims and its metaphysical belief system.

Here are some key points about chiropractic manipulation…

• Chiropractic treatments were first designed in the 1800s
• Chiropractic is the largest discipline within alternative medicine
• According to chiropractic medicine, vertebral subluxations are the root of many illnesses
• The evidence for chiropractic medicine being beneficial for anything other than certain types of back pain is weak
• There are two types of chiropractic practitioners: "straights" and "mixers"
• The treatment they offer is referred to as chiropractic adjustment
• Chiropractic adjustment consists of controlled, sudden pressure being applied to specific regions
• Chiropractic adjustment is safe for most patients.

Chiropractic medicine aims to fix mechanical problems in the musculoskeletal system, believing that these issues affect health and well-being by impacting the nervous system.

It is the largest alternative medical profession. Of all the alternative forms of medical treatment, chiropractic has attained the largest degree of success in regards to its size and visibility.

Between 1972 and 1998, 160 million office visits were made to chiropractors. Today, there are more than 60,000 chiropractors practicing.

Despite the prevalence of chiropractic practitioners, the treatment has not convinced much of the mainstream medical world. The major reason for this rejection lies in the unproven theoretical framework upon which it sits.

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Women: 6 signs you’re having a heart attack

When a heart attack strikes, it doesn’t always feel the same in women as it does in men.

Women don't always get the same classic heart attack symptoms as men, such as crushing chest pain that radiates down one arm. Those heart attack symptoms can certainly happen to women, but many experience vague or even “silent” symptoms that they may miss.

These six heart attack symptoms are common in women:

1.) Chest pain or discomfort. Chest pain is the most common heart attack symptom, but some women may experience it differently than men. It may feel like a squeezing or fullness, and the pain can be anywhere in the chest, not just on the left side.

2.) Pain in your arms, back, neck, or jaw. This type of pain is more common in women than in men. It may confuse women who expect their pain to be focused on their chest and left arm, not their back or jaw. The pain can be gradual or sudden, and it may wax and wane before becoming intense. If you're asleep, it may wake you up.

3.) Stomach pain. Sometimes people mistake stomach pain that signals a heart attack with heartburn, the flu, or a stomach ulcer. Other times, women experience severe abdominal pressure that feels like an elephant sitting on your stomach.

4.) Shortness of breath, nausea, or light-headedness. If you're having trouble breathing for no apparent reason, you could be having a heart attack, especially if you're also having one or more other symptoms.

5.) Sweating. Breaking out in a nervous, cold sweat is common among women who are having a heart attack. It will feel more like stress-related sweating than perspiration from exercising or spending time outside in the heat.

6.) Fatigue. Some women who have heart attacks feel extremely tired, even if they've been sitting still for a while or haven't moved much.

Not everyone gets all of those symptoms. If you have chest discomfort, especially if you also have one or more of the other signs, call for help immediately.

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The 4 most important things to expect from your next physical

Here’s the truth: most of what you know about the annual physical is wrong. A physical matters in ways you may not expect and knowing what to ask and what’s important can make a big difference in your health.

So regardless of what you’ve been told, here is what really matters and what you should expect from your physical:

Most of the physical isn’t actually physical.

In fact, the non-physical parts matter just as much, if not more in some cases. The list of must-check physical issues is actually pretty short: blood pressure, weight, height, cholesterol, and maybe a blood sugar test depending on your specific risk factors or family history. That hammer reflex thing? Utterly useless if you aren’t having unusual or new symptoms.  And the eyes/ears/nose/throat/neck/belly check? They provide little value in determining your overall health status.

No, you don’t need all those blood tests.

It’s true that your provider may order some blood tests, but more testing is not always better. You may be asking, “what’s the harm?” Well, the harm can be pretty significant, actually. The truth is most of the tests available aren’t 100 percent accurate. That means the possibility of a false positive can be a major problem. It’s crucial to understand that you don’t need every blood test under the sun to prove your healthy status.

What matters most is what’s important for your health.

We do have certain guidelines that recommend what we should cover during the physical, but a good provider is one that tailors those parameters to you and your health goals. Building a trusting relationship with a primary care provider who knows you well is possibly the biggest benefit of the time spent in an annual physical. Ideally, you want this relationship to be a long-term one. Even if you don’t see this person often, you want to make sure he or she is someone you trust, who listens to you, and with whom you feel comfortable collaborating.

Cancer screening, cardiovascular risk assessment and immunizations are musts.

These parts of the physical are the high-value items, but many people are surprised to find they don’t necessarily have to be annual. For most women getting a mammogram every other year is fine and despite what many men believe, prostate screening may not even be something they need at all. Once you’ve built that trusting relationship with your provider, they will help guide your choices and keep you up to date on all the important stuff.

Whether you haven’t been to a doctor in years or you’re ready to establish a relationship with a provider, be sure the care you’re getting is customized to fit your needs. Your actual health is more important than checked boxes or outdated guidelines.

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The top 4 most shocking medical stories

This catalogue of medical oddities, miraculous recoveries, open questions and unsolved mysteries is so complex and fascinating, that millions of books and articles have been written about them.

While oddities are not particularly desirable, miracles make us happy and strengthen our faith. 

Unfortunately, many medical mysteries remain unsolved. They are similar to an intriguing puzzle, but with most of the pieces missing. They make us realize how much we still need to learn about something we thought we knew so well: the human body.

Here is the top 4 list of the most shocking medical stories that are both captivating and unbelievable!

Miraculous Recovery after Falling 47 Stories

The Moreno brothers, Alcides and Edgar, were working on a window-washing platform attached to a skyscraper in New York, when the platform collapsed. The 16-foot-long aluminium swing to the roof failed and sent Alcides and Edgar Moreno falling 47 stories, Edgar didn’t survive, but Alcides cheated death.

The doctors performed at least 16 surgeries, after Moreno broke his ribs, both legs and his right arm, plus he badly injured his spine. The medical staff described the victim’s recovery as “miraculous” and “unprecedented.” Doctors predicted that Moreno’s recovery would be complete in one to two years.

Teen Survives 118 Days Without a heart

D’zhana Simmons is literally a walking, talking medical miracle. The brave teenager lived for about four months without a heart, as she a waited a new, functional heart to replace the damaged one. 

Simmons suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), meaning her weak and enlarged heart wasn’t pumping blood efficiently. The surgeons performed an initial transplant, but the heart malfunctioned and had to be quickly removed. Meanwhile, D’zhana was kept alive by a custom-built artificial blood-pumping device.

Allergic to H2O

Whether it’s taking a hot bath, brushing your teeth, cleaning the house, or simply quenching your thirst, water is an essential part of our daily routine. We just cannot live without water! That is why it is a wonder to us that people can be allergic to water.

Alexandra Allen developed a one in 230 million skin disorder – Aquagenic Urticaria. If her skin comes in to contact with water, itchy red welts, lumps and blisters appear all over the body. Showering is a really painful experience for her. Alexandra cannot drink water, coffee or tea, she cannot even eat fruits because they trigger the burning rash on the skin and make her throat swell up, but her body seems to tolerate Diet Coke.

Giving Birth to a Mummy

Zahra Aboutalib delivered a child she’d been carrying for almost half a century. This shocking yet fascinating story began in 1955 when Zahra went into labour. She was rushed to a hospital, but after watching a woman dying on the operation table during a Caesarean section, Zahra fled back to her small village outside Casablanca. After the pains were gone and the baby stopped kicking, Zahra considered him a “sleeping baby”. “Sleeping babies” are, according to Moroccan folk belief, babies that can live inside a woman’s womb to protect her honour.

When Zahra was 75, the excruciating pains occurred again. Doctors performed an ultrasound test and discovered that her “sleeping child” was actually an ectopic pregnancy. What is even more amazing is how Zahra survived and how the dead foetus was accepted by the body just like another organ. 

Generally, this doesn’t happen. If not discovered in time, the growing foetus will eventually strain and burst the organ that contains it. Under these circumstances, the mother has few surviving chances. After nearly five hours, the surgeons successfully removed Zahra’s calcified foetus.

The world of medicine is full of tales of the bizarre from the rarest and mysterious diseases to the oddest medical anomalies. Every so often, doctors encounter a patient with a problem so unusual that tests the limits and mysteries of the human body.

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