Sunday, November 12, 2017

Measuring the Effects of various Manual Therapy Interventions





Here's my response to a reader who is interested in "Measuring the Effects of various Manual Therapy Interventions".

People typically get Manual Therapy to 

*  Increase mobility/flexibility and/or to
*  Reduce Pain.

The reader pointed out - The Effects of various Manual Therapy Interventions typically cannot be tested/measured using cadavers or computer modeling, and often there is no valid “sham” therapy to measure against.

Let's look into this....

First let's start with a few references....

* Standardized Outcome Measures in Manual Therapy

* Cost effectiveness of physiotherapy, manual therapy, and general practitioner care for neck pain: economic evaluation alongside a randomised controlled trial - Commentary: Bootstrapping simplifies appreciation of statistical inferences

* Assessment tools for OT

* Guide to Outcomes Measurement for Patients With Low Back

The effectiveness of manual therapy, physiotherapy and treatment by the general practitioner for chronic non-specific back and neck complaints

Manual therapy followed by specific active exercises versus a placebo followed by specific active exercises on the improvement of functional disability in patients with chronic non specific low back pain: a randomized controlled trial

Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) questionnaires for people with pain in any spine region. A systematic review

Patients' treatment beliefs in low back pain: development and validation of a questionnaire in primary care

Physical Therapy Evaluation and Management of the Shoulder Complex

Effectiveness of Manual Physical Therapy for Painful Shoulder Conditions: A Systematic Review

Efficacy of Manual Therapy

The Science and Practice of Manual Therapy - body language

Immediate Changes Following Manual Therapy in Resting State Functional Connectivity As Measured By Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) In Subjects With Induced Low Back Pain

 * Placebo response to manual therapy: something out of nothing?

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Based on the above...."Measuring the Effects of various Manual Therapy Interventions" might be accomplished by....

*   Ask the patient whether the manual therapy is effective or not.  Listen to their story/narrative.  Observe body language.  Perhaps, use questionnaires.  

*  You can use more sophisticated efficacy measurement tools like fMRI, but these are usually out of the reach of most practitioners.  Stress/Pain Measurement Tools like those used in Biofeedback can be used to test relaxation level (skin conductance and/or heart rate variability).  Since stress/tension increases muscle tightness and increases pain, probably anything to reduce stress/anxiety will help therapy effectiveness

*  The Therapist could increase the perceived effectiveness of the therapy by words/actions.  This is due to enhancing the inherent Placebo Effect, which is a part of any health intervention. 

*  Lastly, if the perceived or measured effectiveness is slow going or non-existant, please consider psychological/emotional reasons for the chronic patient - "Are You “Sick and Tired” of Being “Sick and Tired”?" - Especially see questions therein.

*  I'm sure there are more ways to measure efficacy of Manual Therapy.  Perhaps the Measurement/Testing Modalities of related Health/Medical Interventions might be useful to measure the efficacy of Manual Therapy, too.  Please add your comments to add to this discussion.

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Article is for information only and is not medical advice.  See full disclaimers at TG Ideas LLC.


Thursday, October 5, 2017

Has anyone had their Medicines Blessed to Make Them Seem to Work Better?


Some churches bless pets, houses, boats, etc.  Why not Medicines? - Especially on a Regular Basis, e,g. Weekly, As needed, etc.

Action - If you like this idea, ask your Religious Leader to Bless Your Medicines and Hope the Medicines DO indeed work better.

You might find it work better to have a Religious Leader bless your medicines, instead of yourself.  Your Religious Leader probably has more Healing Power than you do.

By blessing medicine, what do you/we have to lose? Nothing?  
And what might you/we gain? - Relief from Symptoms? 

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I could find all kinds of blessings for all kinds of things, but not much for medicine, treatments, etc.

Could this be an overlooked Alternative/Complementary Healing (CAM) Modality?

Yet, It might be extra powerful, invoking both a Spiritual component, as well as a Placebo Effect Component - working in Unison!    
God probably works in many ways - in the Medicine/Treatment itself and the Belief that the Medicine/Treatment will work....or even work better after blessing.


Might this work for the current Opioid Crisis ? - making Pain Medicine seem to work better and thus reduce medicine usage?

By blessing medicine, what do we have to lose?  And what might we gain?  

I wouldn't think doctors would have any ethical concerns, since the doctors wouldn't be doing the blessings.  Of course, patients should advise doctors of what they are doing.  
Wouldn't it be great if a Patient's Doctor participated in the Blessing Ritual?

Wouldn't this be a great Value-Added Option for Religious  Based Hospitals, Clinics, etc.?  Combining Faith Healing with Traditional Medicine, for those patients who are interested in this powerful combination.

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References -  

Blessings for things

Prayer for Taking Medication

Efficacy of prayer - Medical Views

Blessing

Anointing of the Sick

Blessing of the Throats

"A survey released in May 2004[71] by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, found that in 2002, 43% of Americans pray for their own health, 24% pray for others' health, and 10% participate in a prayer group for their own health." - from Prayer

PRAYER OF BLESSING FOR PILLS, TABLETS AND OTHER MEDICINE 

Prayer When Taking Medication or Chemotherapy

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Disclaimer - Article is for Information only and is not Medical Advice.

 

 

 



Thursday, September 14, 2017

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Managing "Morbid Fears", "Irrational Fears", or Phobias

Definition - A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, defined by a persistent fear of an object or situation.  The word phobia comes from the Greek: φόβος (phóbos), meaning "aversion", "fear", or "morbid fear".


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Here are some resources to that might help manage morbid fears or phobias:

Internet Links....

  1. Phobias: Causes, Symptoms, and Diagnosis - Medical News Today and
    phobia
  2. The Phobia List

  3. The Treatment of Phobias - The Phobia List

  4. Understanding Phobias -- Treatment - WebMD

  5. Phobias - Treatment - NHS Choices

  6. Phobias and Irrational Fears: Symptoms, Treatment, and Self-Help for ...

  7. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Short-term ...

  8. Dealing with a Fear of Death - Uncommon Help

  9. A cure for social anxiety disorders

  10. Social anxiety disorders? Cognitive therapy most effective treatment

  11. The Many Treatment Methodologies for Phobias: Finding the Best Fit ...

  12. Reducing Fear Without Fear Itself

  13. NLP Technique | Fast Phobia Cure

  14. Phobia - Hypnotherapy 

  15. PressTV-Scientists use Virtual Reality to treat phobias

  16. Overcome a Phobia With Self Hypnosis - Health Guidance

  17. Thames Medical Lectures - Phobias Script for Clinical Hypnosis ...

  18. Hypnosis Scripts for Fears & Phobias | Hypnotic World

  19. Phobia Hypnosis Scripts | Hypnosis Tutorials

  20. The Effect of Play Therapy on Phobia in 5-11 Years Old Children Who ...

  21. Prevalence of social phobia disorder in high school students in Abhar ...

  22. Effect of Meta-Cognitive Therapy on Self Assertiveness Skill in ...

  23. Full Text (PDF) - Iran Red Crescent Med J - The Effectivenessof Mindfulness-Based CognitiveTherapy on Iranian Female Adolescents Suffering FromSocial Anxiety


Books....

  1. Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy for Social Phobia: Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Strategies by Richard G. Heimberg, Robert E. Becker, Guilford Press, 2002 
  2. Handbook of Phobia Therapy: Rapid Symptom Relief in Anxiety Disorders by
    Carol G. Lindemann, J. Aronson, 1989 
  3. Phobia: the facts, by Donald W. Goodwin, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1983 
  4. The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, by Edmund Bourne,
    New Harbinger Publications, 2011

Disclaimer - Article is for information only and is not medical or legal advice.