This time, we will talk about chiropractic and immunity.
Since the COVID-19 epidemic, I feel that there has been an overabundance of products and services related to "immunity" in the world.
Although immunity has been discussed in the past, it used to be seasonal, but now we hear about it all year round.
And there are people who are taking advantage of this situation to sell complementary medicine by using phrases that work against the immune system as advertising phrases.It doesn't matter if it's COVID-19 or not, there are regulations on advertising claiming health benefits, and there are several laws related to it.
I don't know if they don't know about them or know about them and ignore them, but we should avoid taking advantage of them and suffer unexpected damages.
The study I am going to introduce deals with chiropractic and immunity, so it will be relevant to this story.
The study
This will be a study of the approach used by the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) to support the opinion of those who claim that chiropractic adjustments affect the immune system.
The ICA's claim was to compare the results and conclusions of one systematic review of the literature on the effects of spinal manual therapy on autonomic nervous system activity and two systematic reviews related to the effectiveness of manual therapy on chiropractic care and prevention.
According to the ICA report, this means that chiropractic adjustments can boost the immune system through their effects on the nervous system.
This claim has become one that is based on two assumptions.
Chiropractic adjustments have a beneficial effect on the nervous system and chiropractic adjustments improve the immune system via the nervous system.
However, these assumptions are not supported by solid evidence that chiropractic adjustments are effective, or efficient, in improving immune function.
Therefore, it is clearly irresponsible to declare the benefits of chiropractic adjustments and spinal manipulation on immunity during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it must be said that there is a lack of understanding of the science, the coronavirus pandemic, and the public health risks.
What can be gleaned from the report suggests that they used the results of basic scientific research to create a positive narrative about the effects, which would be convenient for ICA.This is not uncommon and is a warning sign that it is pseudoscience, but this approach fails to respect the established boundaries that exist between basic and clinical research.
Making extraordinary claims without providing extraordinary evidence raises serious concerns about the scientific validity of the position.
In their report, they described that individuals who received chiropractic care during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 were 51 to 91 times less likely to die than those treated by physicians.
These effect sizes are too large to be reliable and are pseudoscience, as extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
It is scientifically and socially irresponsible to use data from a century-old, closed, non-randomized controlled trial to suggest that chiropractic adjustments reduce mortality from influenza.Pseudoscience can be misleading and misinformed at any time.
Measures that can be taken with COVID-19 include, but are not limited to, regular hand washing, good manners regarding breathing, distance, staying home, limiting travel outside the home except to obtain food and medicine, and wearing a mask if symptoms are present.
Explanation
If you read the article, you will understand most of what it says, but I will just write down the main points.
Chiropractic manipulation improves immunity, according to the International Chiropractors Association.
There is a suspicion that the reviews on immunity are manipulated in favor of chiropractic.
→The reason for this suspicion is that the evidence derived from pseudoscience, such as excessive effect sizes and past events without evidence, was used as the basis for this study.
This was the story.
Since the pandemic, scientific evidence has been added to a variety of information.
At first glance, this may seem reassuring as an indication of evidence and an opportunity to use the information, but what if the evidence itself is a lie? But what if the evidence itself is false?
Conspiracy theory? It's not a conspiracy theory or anything like that, it's just that they are saying things out loud that have no basis in fact.
It doesn't matter if you are a specialist or not, you can find out these things by doing some research, but many people may not usually do that much research.
In such situations, people often blame others for their choices without admitting their own faults, which I think is a problem, but I also think it is a problem when a famous association like this one says strange things.
Pierre Côté,corresponding author1,2,3 André Bussières,4,5 J. David Cassidy,3 Jan Hartvigsen,6,7 Greg N. Kawchuk,8 Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde,9 Silvano Mior,2,10 Michael Schneider,11,12 and more than 140 signatories# call for an end to pseudoscientific claims on the effect of chiropractic care on immune function immune function
Summary
I would like to conclude by saying that we need to be cautious about medical services with words that make us expect too much (miraculous, innovative, latest, etc.).
