Online Medical Journals?

[kelownagirl]

I want to research reputable medical journals that look at the use of chiropractic adjustments in the treatment of ADHD. A friend is trying to convince me that my son's ADHD was caused from spinal misalignment due to birth trauma (suction during birth). I have seen her 'proof', all in the form of data from chiropractors themselves but I'd like to see non-biased data from a quality medical journal and don't know where to look. If there is a proven correlation in proper scientific studies, I'll pay closer attention to the info she's giving me. Any suggestions?

PS I'm not looking for advice on how to treat or not treat my son's adhd.

Thanks.

[mimitabby]

perhaps you can access stuff at a university near you?
when i was attending Antioch University, I had access to all kinds of libraries on line.

[kelownagirl]

perhaps you can access stuff at a university near you?
when i was attending Antioch University, I had access to all kinds of libraries on line.

Yes, very true. I was thinking online from home at this point but if I have to, I can head to the Uni or the library.

Thanks Mimi.

[Flybye]

I am a social worker and generally rely on the National Institute for Mental Health web site (NIMH) for information. I did a quick search for chiropractic and ADHD and came up empty handed.

Here is the general ADHD link for NIMH http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publi...lication.shtml

The other place I generally go to is the FDA web site. They review and research everything from SAD lamps to dog food to laser surgery. I can't seem to find anything there either. I will have to ask my husband (he is a pharmacist) if there is another door in to the site because the page I keep pulling up is different than the more research based one that I am used to seeing.

He also knows several online medical sites and I will get those for you as well. I am pretty sure that you have to have access to the sites and don't know what that entails.

I haven't ever heard of that used as a treatment personally, but I will ask the counselors that I work with if they have.

Sounds interesting, to say the least. From a risk/benefit analysis, the only real risk that I see is losing money and time (and anything physical, which is always a risk whenever anyone messes with the body).

[Flybye]

Here is something that sites some research:

http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54025

I just remembered that pubmed and medline are two sites that he frequents. I think that they are sister sites.

[berkeley]

PubMed gives you free access to a lot of medical journals, with a search function... (related to the NIH link above);
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

[jobob]

Definitely try PubMed, as berkeley & flybye suggested.

There's also Science Direct - you'll have limited access to it as a non-subscriber but I think the free version might be useful.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/

[jobob]

Hey KG -

I'm a little bored at work so I ran a search in one of the databases we subscribe to, looking for references with the combination of ADHD and birth injury (which is a generic term the db uses for birth trauma).

It brought up a couple of dozen hits. Not all of them contain abstracts but glancing through there might be some relevant articles.

PM me with your email address and I'll email the results to you.

- Jo.

[kelownagirl]

Thank you everyone! I hadn't thought about going to the ADHD websites themselves. And on the National Resource Centre on ADHD, I found info about alternative treatments, including this:

Chiropractic

Some chiropractors believe that chiropractic medicine is an effective intervention for AD/HD.28, 29, 30 Chiropractic is based on the belief that spinal problems are the cause of health problems and that spinal manipulations ("adjustments") can restore and maintain health. Advocates of this approach believe that imbalance of muscle tone can cause an imbalance of brain activity, and that spinal adjustments as well as other somatosensory stimulation, such as exposure to varying frequencies of light and sound, can effectively treat AD/HD and learning disabilities.31

Other chiropractors believe that the skull is an extension of the spine and advocate a method called applied kinesiology, or Neural Organization Technique. The premise behind this approach is that learning disabilities are caused by the misalignment of two specific bones in the skull, which creates unequal pressure on different areas of the brain, leading to brain malfunction.32 The bones are the phenoid bone at the base of the skull and the temporal bones on the sides of the skull. The theory says that this bone misalignment creates unequal pressure on different areas of the brain. This misalignment is also said to create "ocular lock," an eye-movement malfunction that contributes to reading problems. The advocates argue that since eye muscles are attached to the skull, if the cranial bones are not in proper position, malfunctions in eye movement (ocular lock) occur. Treatment consists of restoring the cranial bones to the proper position through specific bodily manipulations.

These theories are not consistent with either current knowledge of the causes of learning disabilities or knowledge of human anatomy, as even standard medical textbooks state that cranial bones do not move. No research has been done to support the effectiveness of chiropractic approaches for the treatment of AD/HD.

[berkeley]

Google scholar is another good shot: scholar.google.com

[wolfak]

Okay, so I am one of those in the middle of this problem. I'm a graduate student in pharmacy, and have had courses in complementary and alternative medicine (aka CAM). Additionally, I am a regular chiropractic patient - I get monthly adjustments and it has greatly helped with a neck injury I sustained from an unfortunate endo.

I definitely agree with the suggestions of PubMed, accessing your nearest university library, Google Scholar, etc. I might also suggest that if your nearest university has a medical school you talk to them and see if they have a CAM practitioner to give you a helpful evaluation of the literature. Perhaps it could make a nice project for a student as well.

As far as choosing chiropractors, it sometimes comes down to luck. You might want to look around for one who specializes in NUCA [neck and upper cervical (neck, not cervix) a-something] treatments. I'm surmising your friend assumes your child's affliction is related to the upper spinal cord.

Best of luck in your information quest!

[kelownagirl]

Okay, so I am one of those in the middle of this problem. I'm a graduate student in pharmacy, and have had courses in complementary and alternative medicine (aka CAM). Additionally, I am a regular chiropractic patient - I get monthly adjustments and it has greatly helped with a neck injury I sustained from an unfortunate endo.

I definitely agree with the suggestions of PubMed, accessing your nearest university library, Google Scholar, etc. I might also suggest that if your nearest university has a medical school you talk to them and see if they have a CAM practitioner to give you a helpful evaluation of the literature. Perhaps it could make a nice project for a student as well.

As far as choosing chiropractors, it sometimes comes down to luck. You might want to look around for one who specializes in NUCA [neck and upper cervical (neck, not cervix) a-something] treatments. I'm surmising your friend assumes your child's affliction is related to the upper spinal cord.

Best of luck in your information quest!

Thanks for info from both sides. I support chiropractics for mechanical problems, and possibly even other medical issues as well, but I start to question its use for other seemingly unrelated problems. That being said, if I could find some good research that shows some relevancy, (and I did find one study by the way), I might buy into it. So far, I have found very little support though.

The young lady in question tends to get all wound up about stuff and comes armed with lots of 'data' that is often biased and/or is simply "testimonial". She's still young and doesn't know how to evaluate the things that she reads or hears. (Not to suggest that I know everything either... )

[NbyNW]

I don't know anything about chiropractics and even less about ADHD . . . but in terms of practitioners there's also osteopathy. I think osteopaths and chiropracters have very different training and are licensed/regulated differently.

I go to an osteopath for alignment issues related to a back injury, and I know my doc has a number of patients who are kids and dealing with some chronic issue . . . I guess the theory is that osteopathic treatment might help the body's natural healing mechanisms? I've never really asked about it.

Just another type of doc you might want to look into . . .

[Crankin]

I hate to sound like the voice of doom, but I believe this is just another way to take parents' money. There are no substantiated studies that using chiropractic treatments cure ADD. It's like the optometrists who say "vision training" cures learning disabilities. I am a huge believer in complementary medicine, but no way on this one. I have a lot of experience with ADD; both of my kids have it and I was a special needs teacher for half of my teaching career. So far, we haven't found the magic bullet for ADD, but, I hope your friend does not spend money on this.

[bmccasland]

I had a Chiropractor (the stereotypical Quack-o-practer) tell me he could cure my vertigo, which is the result of head trauma with neural damage, if I came in for treatment 3x / week for several weeks, then 2x / week...... Yeah right. He manipulated me into one of the worst ever migraines I ever had. Took a different Chiropractor to fix the dammage. Chiro #2, also would periodically work on my microscope neck (hours sitting at a 'scope), with me leaving his office feeling much better. Stuck with #2 until I moved away. #1 advertised heavily, #2 never advertised.

Osteopaths - I used to work in an Osteopathic hospital - it's a 4 year medical school, with internships, residencies, etc. just like traditional Medical school. Graduates are DO not MD. They are licensed as full fledged doctors. Some states have them as MD on the license. They tend to look at the body as a whole, and more keen on alternative medicine techniques.