Approach to Balance

Appendix B
Home | Cactus Flower | Appendix A / Bio Medical- Vibrational Med- Alt-Comp Med | App B Homeopathic &Chiropratic Medicine; Sound Therapy | App C HTMA & Peer Programs | Trauma | Cellular Memory Release | Journaling | MI & Violence / Criminal Justice | Anger | Mental Illness & Spirituality | Mental Health & Buddhism | Forgiveness | About Us | Contact Us | Comments | Links | Recovery Aids /Books

 

HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE                                                                   

                         CHIROPRATIC MEDICINE                                                                     
                               Origins and History of Chiropractic Care                                       
                               General Information about Chiropractic Care                                
                                Network Spinal Analysis (NSA)                                                       

                         SOUND THERAPY USING TUNING FORKS                                         

 

HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE

Homeopathy sees the body as a whole system. It treats people, not disease. And the whole person includes mental, physical and emotional. In that respect, homeopathy is holistic in nature. Homeopathy does not treat symptoms but sees symptoms only as the outward manifestation of a deeper-level imbalance. Western medicine treats isolated symptoms or events. Western medicine is not holistic in that sense.

Homeopathy recognizes that the body has an ability to heal itself when the energy is balanced. To advance that balance, homeopathy takes advantage of the Law of Similars. The Law of Similars states that "like cures like".


Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was the first to utilize the law of similars in Western culture. In fact, the word "homeopathy" is a Greek derivative. He also happened to give us the "Hippocratic Oath" sworn by all physicians at medical school graduation. Hippocrates, and later others, reasoned and demonstrated that a substance producing a particular symptom in a healthy person would stimulate the body to remove that symptom in a sick person. Hippocrates used homeopathy extensively and 15th century physician Paracelsus documents homeopathic medicines.


It wasn't until a German physician in the late 1700s became disenchanted in the cutting, poisoning and barbaric treatments offered by his contemporaries that modern homeopathy became known. Samuel Hahnemann was a doctor who disapproved of the bloodletting, leeching, blistering and purging that were the main medical practices when he graduated medical school in 1759. Hahnemann worked with herbs and noticed that herbs taken in low dosages cured the same symptoms that those herbs produced when taken in high doses. He experimented on himself with quinine, the herbal cure for malarial fever. When he took small doses of diluted quinine, he became ill with fever. When he stopped, the fever went away. For him, that proved the Law of Similars. Hahnemann began developing his own ultra-diluted medicines. Homeopathy was born. The idea is that if you are sick, a homeopath gives you a medicine containing a diluted substance that would cause the same symptoms as your disease in a healthy person if given in full strength. The body is stimulated to reverse the imbalance that caused the symptoms.


Hahnemann was often attacked by his peers, but homeopathy flourished. It leapt the English Channel and became firmly established in Great Britain. In 1831 cholera swept eastern Europe. Hahnemann studied the symptoms and reasoned that camphor would act as a homeopathic medicine for the disease. Extremely dilute homeopathic solutions were made and the epidemic was stopped. In 1841, England was ravaged by cholera. Statistics showed that four times as many lives were saved by homeopathic medicines than by other conventions of the day. Having succeeded in quashing two serious cholera epidemics in Europe, public acceptance of homeopathy grew. Homeopathy remains tremendously popular in England to this day. So much so, that the Queen herself carries homeopathic remedies when she travels and is attended by homeopathic physicians.


Homeopathy uses medicines in a way totally different than conventional therapy. Western medicines increase their effect when the concentration is increased. The stronger the dose, the greater the effect. Conventional medicine pushes the dose to the point of weighing the side-effects to the benefits. And there are always side-effects in Western medicine. But homeopathic medicines are effective in concentrations as dilute as a million to one. Side-effects are unheard of. Homeopathic medicines are made from substances that are often poisonous in higher doses. (Western medicine uses some poisons as therapy too, such as arsenic, but the philosophy is different.)

With the public desire to find medical practices that are more humane and that work, homeopathy has enjoyed resurgence. In 1970 there were fewer than 200 practitioners in America. At present it is estimated there are over 3500 in the United States. Homeopathic remedies are found on shelves of national chains like Walgreens, CVS and WalMart. The public spends over 300 million dollars a year on homeopathic remedies.


Though many of the homeopathic medicines are available "over-the-counter" and self-medication is common, the best course of action would seem to be to consult a certified professional or naturopathic physician who knows the art of prescription. With so many different applications available, a professional can be of great assistance.

(Source: Homeopathy and the Law of Similars, by Michael Braunstein)


Homeopathic remedies are diluted until the physical properties of the original herb are removed (not even a single atom of the original substance is present) which leaves only the subtle-energies or Vibrational aspect of the original substance. The matching of the frequency of the illness with the frequency of the plant extract is now thought to be one of the principles behind the workings of homeopathic remedies.


The Allopathic Approach: A Trap for Homeopathy
(Source: Obsessive Compulsive Behavior and Neurosis, Part of the Picture of a Special Needs' Child: A Homeopathy Approach -- Luc De Schepper, M.D., Ph.D., Lic. Ac., C. Hom)

Allopathy always seems to remain content with spending endless time to coin a "name" or "broad definition" for any "new" disease, which is usually nothing more than a sophisticated sounding word, extended by a drag net of common symptoms. This now should please the patient as he has been identified as having an accepted disease. There are plenty patients who have a non-accepted illness. I refer for instance to any illness that baffles the scientific community: people who are oversensitive to everything in the environment (now called multiple or universal reactors but for a long time referred to as imposters) or people who react adversely to drugs and get blamed for it.

Carl Jung laments that in his day and age, psychiatry, a step child of medicine, was not interested in what the patient had to say, but rather in how to arrive at a diagnosis, describe symptoms, and compile statistics. Jung says that, for his colleagues and looked at from the clinical point of view, the human personality of the patient, his individuality, was of no importance. Patients were labeled, rubber-stamped with a diagnosis, and for the most part, that settled the matter. I recognize the homeopath in C. Jung when he says, "I have in the course of the years accustomed myself wholly to disregard the diagnosing of specific neuroses, and I have sometimes found myself in a quandary when some word-addict urged me to hand him a specific diagnosis," (C. Jung, 1966, p.86).


Carl Jung practiced homeopathy unconsciously when he advocated "individuality," a word that is shunned by the allopathic community.


The second part in which allopathy shines is its diagnostic endeavors, with which they want to dazzle the public as "the cutting edge of research." All hope is on genetic therapy, but 40 years of this has not resulted in one cure of a patient, yet has lead to multiple deaths of patients. This brings to our memory how Pasteur killed thousands of innocent people with his vaccination for rabies till he reduced the dose, something he should have learned from Hering who in 1840, forty years ahead of Pasteur, already cured rabies with Lyssin. But none of these dazzling and scientific techniques has brought to patients the answer of why they have this illness and most of the time it has not brought forth a therapeutic answer, at least not one that brings a true cure, being an elimination of the diseased terrain to avoid recurrence of the disease.


It is important for the homeopath not to fall into the trap of "this name giving," and as a result to be impressed or even deterred in giving assistance to the patient. This is the main reason why the homeopath should avoid using the allopathic general disease name, and rather focus on what the patient has to say as a "concept." What do I mean by concepts? A concept (or we might use Jung's term ‘complex' -Footnote 1) can be expressed by one or several words, usually considered the main theme reflecting the often long-term suffering linked to painful recollections of the patient. Don't be surprised if the patient expresses this to you, even on your question, "What brings you to me (the CC)?" You will be surprised how patients are very clear in recognizing the crux of their suffering, and will answer you with, "I have lack of self worth," or "I repress my feelings," or "I have problems being intimate with people I love," or even "I have lost all contact with the real world, I am always looking for refuge in a dream world!" These are not disease names, but rather expressions of spiritual or emotional diseases, and homeopaths should welcome these expressions by far above the diagnostic named diseases, "I have manic depressive psychosis," "I have Chronic Fatigue," "I have OCD," "I have a yeast problem," and the countless names allopathy has invented or named after their eminent discoverers of the disease. Now remember the immortal words of Kent, "The more the symptoms determine the allopathic disease name, the less important they are for us in finding our simillimum!" This reference to Aphorism 153 should always be our guide, no matter what the allopathic disease name is.

Footnote 1: A complex (a feeling-toned) is a picture of a psychological nature, often of a traumatic or painful nature, which make up chiefly the contents of the unconscious. They constitute the personal and private side of psychic life. Therefore it is often suppressed (the Natrum elements) or repressed (the Magnesium elements). Whenever someone during the inquiry touches on such a delicate complex in a patient, he might react with silence, anger, irritability, crying, hesitation, stuttering...It corresponds to a painful "Never Well Since" (NWS) in our homeopathic history. It is a cluster of images and ideas around an emotional center, which is the core delusion of the patient. Often negative delusions (i.e. "I am ugly; I am short; I walk on my knees) are high-feeling toned complexes and even "positive" delusions (positive temporarily only for the patient, i.e., "I' m a prince; I am a general") are generated often by a painful NWS.


CHIROPRATIC MEDICINE

 

 

Origins and History of Chiropractic Care


The word ‘Chiropractic’ comes from the Greek words cheir (meaning ‘hand’) and praktos (meaning ‘done’), i.e. Done by Hand. The name was chosen by the developer of chiropractic, Daniel David Palmer. A prolific reader of all things scientific, DD Palmer realized that although various forms of manipulation had been used for hundreds if not thousands of years, no one had developed a philosophical or scientific rationale to explain their effects. Palmer’s major contribution to the health field was therefore the codification of the philosophy, art and science of chiropractic, which was based on his extensive study of anatomy and physiology. Palmer performed the initial chiropractic adjustment in September 1895. Palmer examined a janitor who had become deaf 17 years prior after he felt something “give” in his back. Palmer examined the area and gave a crude “adjustment” to what was felt to be a misplaced vertebra in the upper back. The janitor then observed that his hearing improved. From that first adjustment, DD Palmer continued to develop chiropractic and in 1897 established the Palmer School of Cure, now known as the Palmer College of Chiropractic, in Davenport, Iowa, where it remains today. Following the first adjustment, many people became interested in Palmer’s new science and healing art. Among his early students were Palmer’s son, Bartlett Joshua (BJ), as well as members of the older healing arts of medicine and osteopathy.


The first state law licensing chiropractors was passed in 1913, and by 1931, 39 states had given chiropractors legal recognition.  Today, there are more than 60,000 active chiropractic licenses in the United States. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands officially recognize chiropractic as a health care profession. Many other countries also recognize and regulate chiropractic, including Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Australia, Japan and Switzerland.

 

General Information about Chiropractic Care

 

As evidence supporting the effectiveness of chiropractic continues to emerge, consumers are turning in large numbers to chiropractic care — a non-surgical, drug-free treatment option. A few interesting facts on this increasingly popular form of health care:

 

Chiropractic is the largest, most regulated, and best recognized of the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) professions. It is the third largest doctoral-level health care profession after medicine and dentistry.

(Meeker, Haldeman; 2002; Annals of Internal Medicine)

 

There are more than 60,000 active chiropractic licenses in the United States. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands officially recognize chiropractic as a health care profession.

 

In 2002, approximately 7.4 percent of the population used chiropractic care – a higher percentage than yoga, massage, acupuncture or other diet-based therapies.(Tindle HA, Davis RB, Phillips RS, Eisenberg DM. Trends in use of complementary and alternative medicine by US adults: 1997-2002. Altern Ther Health Med. 2005 Jan-Feb;11(1):42-9.)

 

Doctors of Chiropractic undergo at least four years of professional study. The Council on Chiropractic Education, an agency certified by the Department of Education, currently recognizes 15 chiropractic programs at 18 different locations. In addition, Doctors of Chiropractic must pass national board examinations and become state-licensed prior to practicing.

 

Doctors of Chiropractic provide care in hospitals and other multidisciplinary health care facilities. A few notable examples of chiropractic integration into today’s health care system include the chiropractic department at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and the care provided to veterans, active-duty military personnel, and Medicare patients.

 

 

Who is the typical chiropractic patient? *

More than 35 percent of patients receiving chiropractic care were being treated for mid or low-back pain, and almost 20 percent were being treated for neck pain. More than half of those surveyed said that their symptoms were chronic.

 

Approximately 60 percent of all chiropractic patients are female.

 

Conditions commonly treated by chiropractors include, but are not limited to, back pain, neck pain, headaches, sports injuries, motor vehicle accident injuries, and repetitive strains. Patients also seek treatment of pain associated with other conditions, such as arthritis.

* Some data provided by the 2005 Job Analysis of Chiropractic, which is published by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners, www.nbce.org.

 

 

For Headaches “Cervical spine manipulation was associated with significant improvement in headache outcomes in trials involving patients with neck pain and/or neck dysfunction and headache.” -- Duke Evidence Report, McCrory, Penzlen, Hasselblad, Gray (2001)

 

“The results of this study show that spinal manipulative therapy is an effective treatment for tension headaches. . . Four weeks after cessation of treatment . . . the patients who received spinal manipulative therapy experienced a sustained therapeutic benefit in all major outcomes in contrast to the patients that received amitriptyline therapy, who reverted to baseline values.” ‘-- Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Boline et al.(1995)

Cost Effectiveness “Chiropractic care appeared relatively cost-effective for the                               treatment of chronic low-back pain. Chiropractic and medical care performed comparably for acute patients. Practice-based clinical outcomes were consistent with systematic reviews of spinal manipulative efficacy: manipulation-based therapy is at least as good as and, in some cases, better than other therapeusis.”– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Haas et al.(2005)


Network Spinal Analysis - Network Chiropractic


Network chiropractic is an approach that has been developed by Donald Epstein, D.C. It draws upon chiropractic's traditional adjustment techniques and works with the body's Innate Intelligence. Its uniqueness lies in its use of a unified system of twelve techniques with special attention to their timing and sequencing. Using light, supple movements,       practitioners adjust each vertebra in relationship to the rest of the spine, since they believe that spine protects an essential channel of energy and information to the body.       Dr. Epstein's system of Network Spinal Analysis integrates points of agreement from diverse chiropractic approaches. He observed from clinical experience that not all subluxations of the spine are the same. There are two types of subluxations, structural (arising from physical stresses) and facilitated (arising from emotional stresses). The practitioner addresses them in different ways.

Network chiropractic combines a variety of chiropractic techniques to enable the practitioner to adjust subluxations with the precise amount and type of force suggested by clinical findings. This is different from attempting to match the vertebra being adjusted to a specific technique. The difference lies in the sequence of the adjustments and the networking of the various methods.

 

Main Uses: Spinal misalignment, Muscular stiffness, Stress, Improved well-being

 

Wellness Benefits associated with Network Care and NSA

      

A self-reported retrospective characterization of 2818 patients under Network Care has been previously reported. The results of that study describe the Network Care recipients as predominantly female and similar in socioeconomic status, and higher educational characteristics to those seeking other forms of alternative health care (Eisenberg, as cited in Blanks, et al.). The Network Chiropractic recipients reported significant retrospectively recalled" improvement in self-rated perceptions of health, and overall quality of life. The reported outcomes associated with Network Care reflects a large positive clinical effect in every health-related domain investigated. Moreover, Network Care is association with significant improvement in self-rated perceptions of                   "wellness," which was positively correlated with length of time under care. This means that patients who had been under care the longest time reported greater perceived improvement in wellness.


Milestone: The retrospective characterization reflected an epidemiological study which could set a benchmark for future investigations in a number of disciplines relative to                   assessing health and wellness related outcomes among patients involved in holistic health care.

Milestone: While the findings of the retrospective study are significant, of equal importance is that the survey instrument designed for the study has present a means of non-medical assessment heretofore unavailable. The instrument has exhibited a high level of internal validity, and has currently been used in a study in New Zealand, and is expected to be used by two other U.S. chiropractic colleges for research/and or patient assessment.

Milestone: Bases on the outcomes revealed through the retrospective characterization of Network Care, Dr. Epstein, its developer, elected to reconfigure Network Care into the                   paradigm of Network Spinal Analysis (NSA). A year long longitudinal study of NSA has just been completed. This study was undertaken to test the validity of findings in           the retrospective study, as well as to evaluate the association between duration of care and related health benefits. While the data is still undergoing analysis, preliminary findings support the positive benefits retrospectively reported.

 

FAQ on Health & Wellness Benefits

 

Q: How does one evaluate health?

A: There are two distinct models Biomedical model Holistic or Wellness model The Biomedical model considers the symptoms of  a person and their laboratory test results to assess their condition or disease. The Holistic wellness model considers the person, their extent of function, their perceptions, and their overall quality of life.

 

Q: Have health professionals studied their patients to demonstrate the changes across both models of health?

 

A: Some studies have been done in various professions. Members of the Association for Network Chiropractic have participated in a study conducted by researchers within the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine. One objective of this study was to develop a patient reported questionnaire to evaluate health and well being through a wide range of Biomedical and Wellness indicators incorporating both models. This survey bridges the Biomedical and Wellness assessments. The study evaluated a population of over 2800 patients in the U.S. and abroad under Network Care. It represents the largest                   study to date assessing the health and wellness benefits of a specific form of chiropractic care. Seventy-six percent (76%) of the patients studied reported improved combined wellness changes in all categories assessed.

Q: What is Network Care?


A: Network Care utilizes Network Spinal Analysis (NSA). NSA is a system of assessing and contributing to spinal and neural integrity, as well as health and wellness. Practitioners employ gentle force applications to the spine to assist the body to eliminate mechanical tension in the neurological system. The body naturally develops strategies for dissipation of stored tension/energy, thus enhancing self-regulation of tension and spinal interference.


Q: What trends were seen in patients receiving this form of care?


A: An increasing percentage of patients reported progressively greater improvements in the areas assessed, as a function of duration of care. That is, in the population studied, there was no "ceiling" to the results over time, for the health and wellness categories investigated. The benefits reported among patient respondents were evident from those under care as recent as 1-3 months, to those under care for as long as 3 plus years. These results have led the investigators to conclude that "within the boundaries of this study design, these findings provide substantial evidence that Network Care should be included among those practices with established health benefits."


Q: What Categories relating to health and wellness have been investigated, and with what results?

A: The following categories, with examples from each section, all showed statistical and clinically significant benefits:

1.  Improved Physical State:
         Less physical pain

      Less tension or stiffness of spine 

          Improved allergies, eczema, skin rashes

          Fewer incidence of colds and flu

          Fewer headaches

          Less menstrual discomfort

 

 2. Improved Mental/Emotional State:

          Positive feelings about self moodiness, less angry outbursts less depression, more
          interest in life
      Improved ability to think and concentrate

      Less anxiety and concern about vague fears

      Improved ability to stay on task
      Less distress about pain

 

  3. Improved Response to

                        Stress:

                        (Less stress relative to:)

                          Family, Significant relationship, Health, Finances, Daily problems, Work

                          General well being

4. Improved Life Enjoyment:

                          Openness to guidance by "inner voice feelings"

                          Experience of relaxation and well being 

                          Positive feelings about self Interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle

                          Feeling open when relating to others

                          Confidence when dealing with adversity

                          Compassion for, acceptance of others

                          Incidence of feelings of joy or happiness

 

                              5. Improved Overall Quality of Life relative to:

                                Personal life

                                Oneself

                                Extent one adapts to change

                                Handling of problems in life

                                Actual life accomplishments

                                Life as a whole

                                Overall contentment with life

                                Significant other

                                Job

                                Life being what one wants it to be

                                Romantic life

                                Actual work done

                                Co-workers

                                Physical appearance

 

 

 

In addition to these categories, there was also a significant increase in health promoting practices and a decrease in health detracting practices.

                  Literature produced by the:

                  Association for Network Chiropractic

                  444 North Main Street

                  Longmont, Colorado 80501

                  [Tel] 303 678-8101 [Fax] 678 8089

                  www.associationfornetworkcare.com

 

Journey to Wellness          Recovery from Trauma, Mental Illness and Overwhelming Stress