Connecting DCs to Relief Agencies

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) sends its thoughts and prayers to the victims and survivors of the deadly tornadoes that struck the southern and midwestern regions of the country recently. Reports indicate that the storms killed as many as 247 people in six states. Many more have been impacted by the disaster.

The ACA has attempted to reach out to state associations in affected areas to learn more about the impact on the chiropractic profession. At this time, no loss of life has been reported within the chiropractic community; but sadly, some homes and business have been damaged or destroyed.

“My heart goes out to everyone affected by these devastating storms,” said ACA President Dr. Rick McMichael in response to the news. “But I know that the chiropractic community will band together and provide support to colleagues in need during the difficult weeks and months ahead.”

For doctors of chiropractic who wish to donate or volunteer, and to those who may have been affected by the tornadoes, below are useful links to Red Cross and FEMA resources and information.


AMERICAN RED CROSS
www.redcross.org

- Donate to support relief efforts
- Become a volunteer
- Learn how to help

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (FEMA)
www.fema.gov

- Disaster Areas

- 2011 Federal disaster declarations
- Alabama
- North Carolina

Waterloo Music Festival on May 14 & 15

Waterloo Village is coming alive again through the efforts of the Friends of Waterloo Village, which will present the Waterloo Music Festival Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15. Headlining on Saturday night at 7 p.m. is the Chapin Family. Tom, Steve and Jen and their bands will delight the audience with their incredible musical talent and their wonderful songs and stories. This multi talented, Grammy award winning family will delight you with their warmth, easy style and friendly manner.

The event will feature live music both days.

The Waterloo Music Festival is an event sponsored by the Friends of Waterloo Village in collaboration with the Spirit of the Arts Foundation for the purpose of raising funds for the restoration and revitalization of Waterloo Village, a National Historic Site situated on the Morris Canal in Byram Township.

The festival will include food vendors, beer and wine, business and craft vendors and more. Come by and say hello to us at our booth. Optimal Family Chiropractic will be located in the vendor section of the Village.

Gates open 11 a.m. each day. The kids (including you) will love to visit the Indian Village and the Canal -- all at no additional cost. You might even remember going there as a child yourself...

Ticket information is available at www.WaterlooMusicFestival.com. Reserved seating is available for both days. Reserve your tickets now. For further information, call Sandy at 973-875-2068.

Maintenance Care for Low Back Pain

Third-party payers, medical-model providers and other health care stakeholders who question the value of maintenance care, particularly for low back pain (LBP), should consider findings from a new study published in the journal Spine, which asks (and then answers) the question, "Does Maintained Spinal Manipulation Therapy for Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain Result in Better Long-Term Outcome?"

The study suggests patients with low back pain of at least six months duration experience greater improvement following one month (12 treatments) of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) followed by "maintenance spinal manipulation" every two weeks for nine months than subjects who receive one month of SMT only (12 treatments) or 12 treatments of "sham" SMT for one month. Patients in the manipulation and manipulation-plus-maintenance groups improved with respect to pain and disability after one month compared to the sham group. After 10 months, only the group receiving maintenance care reported significant improvement, whereas the one-month-only group's pain and disability scores had returned "near to their pretreatment level."

According to the investigators, even greater differences were seen with respect to disability scores over the duration of the study: "By the end of the first phase [one month], SMT significantly reduced the disability score in the no-maintained-SMT group and maintained SMT when compared to the sham group. Analysis of the data after the 10-month period showed that while the disability score of the patients in the no-maintained-SMT group returned back nearly to their pretreatment level, the score was significantly lower in patients who received maintenance SMT. In the maintained SMT group, the disability score was reduced by an average of 18.98 points lower than baseline level."

Measurements of forward bending and lateral bending also revealed sustained improvements in subjects receiving maintenance SMT, while improvements in the no-maintenance group during the initial phase of care decreased to near the pretreatment level by the end of the second phase.

Source: Adapted from Senna MK, Machaly SA. Spine (published ahead of print), Jan. 17, 2011. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181f5dfe0