FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 6, 2003

Contact for Reporters: For information, call: World Chiropractic Alliance, 800-347-1011 or email comments@worldchiropracticalliance.org.

Media coverage of chiropractic care and strokes is irresponsible and dangerous,
says World Chiropractic Alliance

Chandler, Ariz., November 6, 2003 -- The media’s continued coverage of a supposed link between chiropractic care and strokes is completely irresponsible and another example of the deteriorating credibility of television news reports, according to a leading chiropractic advocacy group.

“Americans have come to realize that many politicians are bought and paid for by the medical and pharmaceutical industries,” stated World Chiropractic Alliance President Terry A. Rondberg, D.C.. “They now need to recognize that the media also has strong financial incentives for its bias against non-medical health care approaches.”

Medical researchers have often admitted that medical treatment causes far more strokes than chiropractic care. Yet, news reports – relying heavily on medical and pharmaceutical representatives – have repeatedly ignored chiropractic care’s proven safety. Instead, they use fear tactics to scare patients away from alternative health care practitioners.

A recent example of anti-chiropractic bias in the media was a report by WNBC-TV in New York City focusing on the unproven chiropractic-stroke connection. The WNBC reporter, David Marks – a medical doctor – was given the opportunity to interview two well known and respected experts on chiropractic care and strokes, but declined to speak to either of them.

Last month, Marks drew criticism for his similarly biased report on treatment for ear infections, which stated that osteopathic manipulation was gentler than chiropractic adjustments, while ignoring substantial evidence that children who receive chiropractic adjustments often have less frequent and less severe bouts of the common childhood ear problem.

Most medical claims about chiropractic care and strokes stem from a study in the research journal Neurology, which involved interviews with 51 stroke victims. There was no definitive evidence linking the strokes to chiropractic care and the researchers acknowledged the strokes in question – called Vertebral Artery Dissection (VAD) – were extremely rare.

Philip Lee, M.D., a medical researcher and co-investigator of a research survey presented at the American Heart Association’s 19th International Joint Conference on Stroke and Cerebral Circulation concluded that “most interventions by allopathic physicians have a higher complication rate than chiropractic interventions.”

An often-cited medical research report, published in the May 2001 issue of Stroke, was later found to have significant weakness in its protocol. The researchers themselves couldn’t directly link chiropractic care with strokes. “We don't actually know that spinal manipulation was performed during the chiropractic visit,” admitted lead author Deanna M. Rothwell, MSc. “It's quite possible to go in with a neck complaint and not have a manipulation done. Some patients go to a chiropractor without a neck complaint and have a neck manipulation done... we can only infer based on the timing of events.”

Numerous published scientific and medical studies have shown that the incidence of strokes associated with chiropractic care is estimated at between one and three per million adjustments – a number so small as to be statistically insignificant.

Still, the media continues to paint chiropractic care as a dangerous approach and urge people to limit themselves to medical practitioners. The financial incentive for news organizations to support the drug and medical industries is strong. In 2002, pharmaceutical companies spent in excess of $2.8 billion on marketing their products directly to consumers – $1.5 billion on television ads alone.

“If the media hopes to salvage any of its rapidly vanishing credibility, it should break its financial dependence on the pharmaceutical and medical industries and tell the truth about health and wellness,” Dr. Rondberg stated. “There’s no price tag on credibility. Once it’s destroyed, all the drug ad revenue in the world won’t bring it back.”

The World Chiropractic Alliance’s position paper on strokes – available at www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/positions/stroke.htm – includes abstracts of numerous scientific studies.

The World Chiropractic Alliance is an international organization representing doctors of chiropractic and promoting the traditional, drug-free and non-invasive form of chiropractic as a means of correcting vertebral subluxations that cause nerve interference.