11.1.1 Reasoned Analysis and Empirical Claims

Reasoned Analysis

Question at Issue:

How much have the origins of chiropractic medicine impacted its modern day science today?

Evidence and Information:   

• Studies and research about the origins of chiropractic medicine
• Studies and research on the effectiveness
• Historical and modern use of natural ways to heal the body

Assumptions: 

• Chiropractic medicine is not rooted in real medicine, nor real science, and the practices can harm patients’ bodies.

• Cracking of the body and the neck causes recurrence of injury.

Point of View:  

• Doctors
• General public
• Physical therapist
• Chiropractors
• Patients

Implications and Consequences:  

• This standard practice will not help and benefit everyone.
• Some people may react negatively to this treatment and others may react positively.

Conclusions and interpretations:

• Chiropractic medicine is backed by legitimate science.
• Pros to this treatment, as 77% of people who visit a chiropractor say it’s “very effective”.

• Annually, 35 million people go see a chiropractor, meaning that approximately 27 million people think it’s effective, and only 8 million do not.

• Chiropractic medicine is not only for relief of pain or manipulation of the spine. People also use it for:

•  Brain development for pediatrics
• Allergy relief
• Carpal tunnel
• Migraines

Disciplinary Lenses: 

History:  

Question at issue:

How have the origins of chiropractic medicine affected its general perception?

Evidence and Information:  

• Historical documents
• Written records
• Primary sources

Purpose: 

• To understand how the origins of chiropractic medicine affect how the general public views it now.
• To understand how the way chiropractic medicine started has affected how many people haven’t undergone chiropractic methods, even with constant pain and injury.

Implications and consequences:  

• If people don’t go through with chiropractic treatment because of how it began, they may be missing out on improvements in their pain and injuries.
• If people continue to go through with chiropractic methods when they are not really improving, they are wasting their time and money.

Conclusions and interpretations: 

• People are unsure about using chiropractic medicine as a true practice when feeling pain or having injuries. This is because chiropractic medicine began with only a theory or idea, rather than beginning with scientific or medical evidence that proves it can improve injuries.

Orthopedics:

Question at issue:

Can chiropractic medicine help with musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal problems?

Evidence and Information: 

• Studies and research on the effectiveness of musculoskeletal problems.
• Studies and research on the effectiveness of non-musculoskeletal problems.

Assumptions: 

• Chiropractic medicine mainly focuses on spinal problems.
• If not done correctly, chiropractic adjustments can cause injury or worsen pre-existing conditions (Noisch, 2012).
• Training and regulations are different for chiropractors and other medical professionals.

Point of View: 

• Orthopedic surgeons
• Orthopedic doctor

Implications and consequences:  

• Some people may react negatively to chiropractic treatments.
• If chiropractic manipulations are done incorrectly, it can cause injury or worsen pre-existing conditions.

Conclusions and interpretations: 

• Many Orthopedic surgeons believe that chiropractors can act as complementary healthcare providers that help patients manage many non-surgical musculoskeletal issues. However, they believe that chiropractors are ineffective when treating non-musculoskeletal issues.

Exercise Science: 

Question at issue:

How effective is chiropractic medicine in treating individuals within sports?

Evidence and Information:  

• Studies/ research on the effectiveness of chiropractic medicine
• Historical and modern day use of natural medicine to help athletes
• The study of anatomy and the human body
• Statistics of chiropractor involvement and jobs

• To help understand how chiropractic medicine helps treat athletes with pre-existing injuries or pain.

Implications and consequences:  

• Chiropractic medicine is not a “one shoe fits all”, as people will have different reactions to chiropractic medicine.
• If an athlete has previously broken a bone, they will most likely be a patient.

Conclusions and interpretations:  

• 90% of world-class athletes use chiropractic medicine to prevent injuries and boost performance.
• “Treatment of sport injuries showed that chiropractic is significantly more effective than conventional treatments in prevention of lower limb muscle strain…and lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)”.

Empirical Claims:  

Deductive Reasoning:  

True Premise 1: All medical professionals are subject to the Hippocratic Oath

True Premise 2: Hippocratic oath states to do no harm to patients

True Premise 3: Chiropractors are medical professionals

Statistic 1: 40 injuries for every 100,000 patients is the likelihood of receiving an injury from chiropractic care.

Statistic 2: A 2003 survey of US chiropractors by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners reported that 12% of patients felt headaches or facial pain from chiropractic treatment.

Statistic 3: In a test with 1,000 people, 75% reported describing chiropractic medicine being effective in alleviating chronic pains.

Weak Prediction: Since there is a slight chance of the recurrence of injury through chiropractic care, people should avoid the use of it to ensure safety.

Strong Prediction: While the chance of further worsening injury from chiropractic medicine is possible, this is only the case if you have broken bones, fractures, and torn ligaments. Under these circumstances one must consult with a doctor to get X-rays to ensure none of these have occurred and get cleared to be worked on by a chiropractor. The downsides of chiropractic medicine are very slight compared to the greater return chiropractic care can provide you in the removal of chronic pain.

Logical Fallacies 

Appeal to Authority:

People of higher power saying it is not a real science. For example, people will believe doctors, as they have many years of education and schooling, if they say chiropractic medicine isn’t a legitimate science. Suppose a group of doctors sign a petition, claiming that chiropractic medicine is wrong. If someone cites that these doctors are against chiropractic medicine, then chiropractic medicine must be wrong, so they’ve committed an appeal to authority fallacy (Cleave, 2016).

Circular Reasoning:

People go to chiropractors with underlying problems, visit the doctor later, just to find out something was wrong. However, they often circle it back and blame it all on the chiropractor. For example, we talked to a source that said they visited the chiropractor for back pain, and after a few visits, it wasn’t getting better. So, they visited the doctor. At this appointment, they got x-rays and figured out they had a fracture in their spine from overuse of their bones in sports. Therefore, it indeed was not the chiropractor’s fault.

Fake Experts:

Doctors in other fields that aren’t chiropractic medicine say that this practice isn’t real even though they didn’t specialize in it.

False Equivalence:

Doctors go to school to learn surgical techniques, as a handful go on to become surgeons. However, chiropractors don’t have to learn surgical skills because it is a different career path. According to the University of Bridgeport, chiropractic school emphasizes manipulation and biomechanics. In medical school, they have multiple rotations in medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and many different specialties.

Genetic Fallacy:

People judge chiropractic medicine based off its origins and history, since it was based on a theory at first, instead of looking at them as actual, professional doctors in today’s society.

Bandwagon Fallacy:

A big group of people say that chiropractic medicine is a pseudoscience, so therefore everyone believes it is a pseudoscience.