News Clip on CLEAR Doctor
Dr. Clayton Stitzel of Pennsylvania, who is one of the leading lecturers for the CLEAR Institute Scoliosis Correction seminars, had his work in scoliosis correction featured in a recent Channel 8 Newscast. To see this brief video clip, please click the following link:
Still Not Convinced!
Recently, scientists at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children announced that they had discovered a genetic link in scoliosis (read an article about this at:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=69066). While we certainly applaud the dedicated efforts of every scientist working to understand this enigmatic disorder, there are a couple of important points to consider before accepting genetics as the causatory factor in scoliosis.
First, it has been universally recognized in recent years that attempting to attribute a genetic basis to any disease is an exercise in futility. While there may be such a thing as a genetic
predisposition, the presence of a genetic marker for a specific disease is in no way a guarantee that the carrier will ever express that particular gene. An article featured in the July 2005 issue of
Scientific American, entitled, "Identical Twins Exhibit Differences in Gene Expression," is an appropriate confirmation of this concept
(read this article at: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0001616A-93A1-12C5-93A183414B7F0000). Even amongst identical twins, gene expression differs over one-third of the time.
Second, an entire branch of genetics, termed "epigenetics," has arisen to describe the environmental factors that regulate the repression or expression of particular genomes. An excellent article on epigenetics that delineates the inherent difficulties involved in prescribing a genetic basis to disease was written by Richard C. Strohman at the University of California, Berkeley, excerpted below:
"The major assumptions of biomedicine [may be listed] as follows:
- Genes determine diseases.
- Genes determine aging.
- Genetic analysis provides diagnosis and therapy for disease and aging.
These assumptions underlie the human genome project, the multi-billion dollar national project to sequence, clone, and map the 100,000 genes in the 23 pairs of human chromosomes.
But fundamental rules governing population genetics stand in at least partial opposition to the uniqueness equation and to the assumptions. Essentially, the unique relationship between genes and phenotypes is flawed because most complex phenotypes (including diseases) have a unique genetic basis. Rather the relationship between genome and phenome is characterized by great complexity involving interaction between many genes, gene products and environmental signaling. This interaction may involve 10, 100, 1,000 or more genes for any common disease like cancer or the heart diseases. In addition, the interaction will be function of personal natural history and present environmental setting, so that even in simplified cases, where genetic connections may be traced, the genes will have different effects in different environments. Population genetics shows that a precipitating environment is required to produce disease manifestation across the entire range of genetic variation. For cardiovascular disease, most cancers, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and most mental diseases, there is no evidence for single-gene causality -- and certainly none that would support the uniqueness equation.
Disease natural history conflicts with genetic determinism. Diseases determined at fertilization, as Thomas McKeown has made clear, are based in genetic abnormalities of one kind or another. Examples are sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. There are literally thousands of these diseases, but they occur within the human population at extremely low frequency and account for less than 2 per cent of our total disease load. So, only 2 per cent of the time does the 'bad gene causes disease' mechanism operate, while 98 per cent of the time humans are born with genetic constitutions capable of supporting a life span of over 100 years, an average life expectancy of about 85 years, and an old age relatively free of morbidity. The human genome needs to find itself in an environment for which it has adequate representation - proper nutrition, housing, and sanitation, to name the obvious requirements - but the deterministic/mechanistic model of sabotage from within is not adequate to explain most human diseases."
Another excellent article on environment influencing the expression of genes can be found online at
www.mercola.com:
The bottom line is, even if a genetic link to scoliosis is discovered, the question of why it is expressed in certain individuals and not in others remains to be solved.
"Birth in America," by Dolly Garnecki
An article disputing a genetic cause for scoliosis must surely be followed by a more holistic counterpoint to this mechanistic model. CLEAR Institute maintains that mechanical trauma to the cervical spine is responsible for interfering with the nerves that coordinate the motor input from the body with the sensory input from the brain, and scoliosis is simply a biophysical adaptation to this neuro-muscular miscommunication. One of the main sources of this trauma is childbirth, especially when medical intervention enters the picture. We believe that by calling attention to the trauma experienced by an infant undergoing even a "normal" hospital birth, more people will begin to understand the value of chiropractic care for children, and many developing cases of scoliosis will be corrected before they ever manifest as spinal deformities. In this endeavor, we are assisted by the generous contributions of Dolly Garnecki, founder of the Scoliosis Mentorship Program (
www.scoliosismentors.org) at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Daytona Beach, Florida.
In her article, "Birthing in America," she describes how, for the first time in four decades, infant mortality is on the rise in the United States. Our modern-day system of pharmacological & surgical intervention in the normal birthing process has subjected the most innocent of our society to undue harm, trauma, & even death. Challenging the assumption that hospitals are the only safe places to have a baby is a study, mentioned in an excerpt from her article below, that comes terrifyingly close to demonstrating the exact opposite:
"The largest prospective study of planned home birth with a direct-entry midwife indicates that homebirth is as safe as hospital birth for women with low risk pregnancies, yet home birth accrues a much lower rate of medical interventions, including Cesarean section. Planning a home birth attended by a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) offers as safe an outcome for low-risk mothers and babies as does a hospital birth. This study is the largest yet of its kind. The researchers used prospective data on more than 5400 planned home births in the United States and
Canada attended by Certified Professional Midwives during the year 2000.10
The researchers analyzed outcomes and medical interventions for planned home births, including transports to hospital care, mortality rate, medical intervention during labor, breast feeding and maternal satisfaction and compared these results to the outcomes of 3,360,868 low risk hospital births.10 Findings include:
• 88% of the women birthed at home, while 12% transferred to a hospital.
• Planned home birth carried a rate of 1.7 infant deaths per 1,000 births [that's over 4 times less than the national average of 7.0 infant deaths per 1,000 births!], these rates were "consistent with most North American studies of intended births out of hospital and low risk hospital births. Medical intervention rates for planned home births were lower than for planned low risk hospital births.”
• There were no maternal deaths.
• “Compared with the relatively low risk hospital group, intended home births were associated with dramatically lower rates of medical intervention: episiotomy rate of 2.1% (33.0% in hospital), cesarean section rate of 3.7% (19.0% in hospital), forceps rate of 1.0% (2.2% in hospital), vacuum extraction rate of 0.6% (5.5% in hospitals), induction rate of 9.6% (21% in hospital), and electronic fetal monitoring rate of 9.6% (84.3% in hospital).
• 97% of over 500 participants who were randomly contacted to validate birth outcomes reported that they were extremely or very satisfied with the care they received. For a subsequent
birth, 90% said they would choose the same midwife, 9% another certified professional midwife, and 1% another type of caregiver."
If you are interested in learning more about the advantages of natural, midwife-assisted deliveries outside of a hospital setting, please contact
care@clear-institute.com for a free copy of the full article.
Phrenology?... Not Quite!
Following up on our biomechanical, neurological rationale of scoliosis etiology, we would like to mention another talented & dedicated individual whose breakthroughs in chiropractic care will forever change the way that chiropractors view the bones we find
above the spine.
Dr. Roger Turner of the CATS Workshop seminar series has disproven the centuries-old, mistakenly-held belief that the bones of the skull fuse after childhood, and cannot be moved. EEG studies performed as a patient was being adjusted by Dr. Turner have confirmed changes in brain-wave activity, verified by changes in clinical dianoses & physical evaluations, and further clinical research has demonstrated that misalignments of the cranial bones can affect the neurophysiology of the brain & spinal cord. Combining our clinical observations of scoliosis patients with Dr. Turner's groundbreaking new work has already resulted in the identification of a common pattern: roughly seventy percent of the time, a scoliosis patient will present with a left occipital bulge, a right parietal frontal indent, and a left translation of the sphenoid. Pathological correlations to this finding will most certainly be given a top priority in our continued research efforts & future collaborations with Dr. Turner in regards to scoliosis treatment.
For those interested in finding out more information about Dr. Turner's Cranial Adjusting technique, please go online to
www.catsworkshop.com.
Scoliosis World
One of the best resources for scoliosis patients on the web is
www.scoliosis-world.com. Unlike many other websites, which may conceal a hidden bias for surgery & traditional medical approaches to scoliosis correction, Scoliosis-World is an open, neutral forum where people of all ages & philosophies may post their opinions & compare their results. Founded by a gentleman who himself has a loved one with scoliosis, this website is a rare and moving glance into the souls of those who truly understand what it is like to live with scoliosis everyday. Please take a moment to explore this excellent resource, and don't forget to visit the message board to review & respond to the comments of people around the world living with scoliosis.
"Do not be afraid to take a big step. You can not cross a chasm in two small jumps."
-David Lloyd George