Sample Letter in response to Self Magazine article

Lucy Danziger, Editor-in-Chief
Self Magazine
4 Times Square
New York, NY 10036

FAX: (212) 286-6174

Dear Ms. Danziger:

I am a doctor of chiropractic writing about the article "A deadly twist" in your May issue. The magazine appears intent on frightening women and convincing them not to receive chiropractic care.  Although the article itself quotes a leading medical expert as saying that "A stroke following a manipulation is phenomenally rare," your editorial staff chose a misleading and sensationalist headline and teaser to open the story. Such tactics are disgraceful and not in the best interest of your readers.

In order to provide readers with the FACTS about chiropractic and stroke, you should inform them that:

Scientific medical research has shown that the risk of stroke caused by chiropractic adjustments is no more than three per million. Research projects have reviewed more than 110 million chiropractic visits over a 28 year period.

¨      There has been no evidence to conclusively prove even these strokes were caused by chiropractic adjustments. Some occurred weeks after the chiropractic visit.

¨      Some of the "chiropractic" visits linked to strokes in the medical literature were not performed by doctors of chiropractic, but by other practitioners, including medical doctors, osteopaths, physiotherapists and unlicensed health care providers.

¨      According to data obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics, the mortality rate from stroke was calculated to be 0.00057%.  The risk of death from stroke after cervical manipulation has been estimated at 0.00025% -- less than half the risk of fatal stroke in the general population.

¨      As noted in your article, many of the chiropractic visits reviewed in various research projects do not involve cervical (neck) adjustments or manipulation. An often-cited medical research report, published in the May 2001 issue of Stroke journal, was 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."

¨      The Neurology journal research cited in the Self article involved interviews with just 51 stroke victims. There was no definitive evidence linking them to chiropractic and the researchers themselves admitted the strokes in question – called Vertebral Artery Dissection (VAD) – were extremely rare.

¨      The research also shows that chiropractic if far safer than medical treatment. "Indeed, most interventions by allopathic physicians have a higher complication rate than chiropractic interventions," said Philip Lee, M.D., a co-investigator of a research survey presented at the American Heart Association's 19th International Joint Conference on Stroke and Cerebral Circulation.

¨      Based on the scientific evidence readily available today, it is clear that chiropractic adjustments pose no significant risk of strokes and are far safer in this regard than most medical treatments. 

¨      Medical treatment and drug errors account for more than 100,000 deaths each year, according to a report in the April 1998 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Another 350,000 adverse drug reactions occur in U.S. nursing homes each year, many of which are fatal.

¨      Drug companies and other medical firms spend more than $3 billion yearly to fill newspaper and magazine pages, saturate radio and television airwaves, and blanket the Internet with ads. The media has a financial interest in promoting the medical and drug industries

¨      After careful review of the available evidence, the Council on Chiropractic Practice concluded, "The panel found no competent evidence that specific chiropractic adjustments cause strokes."
 

If you are interested in giving your readers accurate and helpful information -- information of true value to assist them in leading healthier, longer, more vital lives -- you should tell them the truth about chiropractic.  The only way to do this is by publishing an accurate and balanced article about chiropractic, perhaps revealing the reasons why the medical and pharmaceutical industries have tried so hard to eliminate it.

Yours truly,