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The Concept of Hygiene in Chiropractic

The Concept of Hygiene in Chiropractic. A Return to Ancient Wisdom? Victor G. Strang, D.C. “Hygiene” has roots dating to the Greeks:. Aesculapius. Was a healer/priest who was eventually deified, becoming the Greeks’ god of healing Temples became destinations for the sick seeking healing.

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The Concept of Hygiene in Chiropractic

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  1. The Concept of Hygienein Chiropractic A Return to Ancient Wisdom? Victor G. Strang, D.C.

  2. “Hygiene” has roots dating to the Greeks:

  3. Aesculapius • Was a healer/priest who was eventually deified, becoming the Greeks’ god of healing • Temples became destinations for the sick seeking healing

  4. Aesculapius’ symbol: • Aesculapius carried a staff about which were entwined two snakes • Origin of the medical caduceus • Serpent a symbol of regeneration/healing

  5. Panakeia • One of Aesculapius’ several mythological daughters • Represented to the Greeks the application of an immediate healing by actions of the healer/priest • Origin of the “panacea”

  6. Hygeia • Another of Aesculapius’ mythical daughters • Instructed the Greeks that lifestyle contributed to illness • Stressed “balance” in one’s life

  7. Hygeia: • Stressed personal hygiene, including cleanliness, as important factor in health • Exercise, fresh air, positive thinking also aspects of the hygienic lifestyle • “mens sana in corpore sano”

  8. Hygiene became linked with sanitation, particularly in post-Pasteur times; “hygiene and sanitation” • Became associated with a number of rules, including some laws and ordinances to enforce them • Hygiene is now primarily equated with sanitation

  9. B.J. Palmer did not reject the value of public hygiene and sanitation measures (from The Bigness of the Fellow Within)

  10. BJ Palmer on “Hygienic Living:” • “The restoration of natural conditions, as far as possible, in the midst of civilized circumstances, is the meaning of the word hygiene in chiropractic.” • “Hygiene, chiropractically, is the restoration of naturaland healthful environmental conditions which have been made abnormal by the necessities of civilized life.” Source: Stephenson, Textbook of Chiropractic, 1927, pp. 133-4

  11. BJ on “Civilization:” • “Civilization is the sacrifices that individuals must make in the matter of personal likes and dislikes and even of necessities, in order to have community living; to avoid infringing on the rights of others, to give service in coordination.” Stephenson, Textbook of Chiropractic, 1927, p. 133

  12. One contemporary definition of Hygiene: • 1. The science that deals with the promotion and preservation of health. 2. Conditions and practices that serve to promote or preserve health. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2000

  13. Another contemporary definition of “hygiene:” • The practice or principles of keeping yourself and your environment clean in order to maintain health and prevent disease • The degree to which people keep themselves or their surroundings clean, especially to prevent disease Cambridge Dictionary of American English, 2003

  14. Which definition of “hygiene”does contemporary health care use, and what is happening as a result?

  15. What are “natural” conditions in our relationships with “germs” like bacteria and viruses, and what are we now discovering about the modern “medical” way of dealing with them? Is “sanitizing” our immediate environment working?

  16. Asthma and Exposure to “Germs” • “children who attended day care in their first six months or had two or more older siblings were about half as likely to have asthma at 13 as youngsters who had one or no older siblings and did not attend day care until they were older”

  17. Bacterial or viral infections occurring during infancy as a result of exposure to many children may provide important signals to the newborn’s maturing immune system and guard against asthma • The theory is that if the immune system isn’t stimulated early in life by germs, it overreacts later to allergy-inducing substances

  18. “This echoes the hot new hygiene theory that says children who do not get outside and get dirty every now and then are not being exposed to enough germs to stimulate proper development of their immune systems” • Source: New England Journal of Medicine 2000; August

  19. Food-born, Oral-Fecal Infections Tied to Lower Hay Fever, Asthma Risk in US: • -decline in exposure to food-borne and orofecal infections has contributed to the increase in hay fever, asthma and atopy in developed countries • -the findings “support the hypothesis that hygiene is a major factor contributing to the increase in …atopic sensitization in westernized countries.” Source: J Allergy Clin Immunology 2 002;110:381-387.

  20. Exposure to Dirt and Bacteria in Infancy Helps Immune System Develop Properly: • children who live on farms much less likely to have allergies and asthma than urban children • the higher the levels of bacterial components found on a child’s mattress, the less likely the child would have allergies and asthma • strongest evidence yet for the “hygiene hypothesis” Source: New England Journal of Medicine 2002;347:112

  21. The “hygiene hypothesis”: • reduction of early childhood infection due to widespread vaccination of children and use of antibiotics, coupled with trends of smaller family size and urbanization, has led to an increased prevalence of allergic diseases, such as asthma • “…the key factor might be the overall frequency of childhood illnesses, rather than any single infectious disease.” (i.e., measles, etc…) Source: JAMA January 19, 2000; 283:3

  22. Virgil V. Strang, D.C.Essential Principles of Chiropractic, 1984

  23. The Calisthenic DynamicVirgil V. Strang, D.C. (1984) • The human body is designed to adapt to continuous environmental change • As the body is exposed to its environment at or near its limits, it increases its capability (“training” effect) it does not get weaker • Chiropractic therefore rejects the idea that we need to “control” our environment to eliminate possible causes of disease

  24. What can happen when we overly rely on external treatments for infections? (i.e.. Use antibiotics when not essential)

  25. Antibiotic resistance in bacteria, with increasing numbers of strains that are virtually invulnerable to antibiotics: “superbugs”- a well-documented phenomenon

  26. Asthma and Antibiotics: • If ever used by a child, 2.74 times more likely to develop asthma compared to child with no antibiotic use. • If used in the first year of life, 4.05 times more likely Wickens et al, “Antibiotic use in early childhood and the development of asthma.” Clin Exp Allergy 1999;29:766-771

  27. What happens when we attempt to prevent infections in an “unnatural” way? (i.e…vaccinations)

  28. Vaccines and Asthma: • A study of nearly 14,000 children showed vaccination against DPT or tetanus was associated with a 2.0X greater rate of asthma, 1.81X higher rate of sinusitis, and 2.22X greater rate of nose/eye symptoms than in the unvaccinated Source: Hurvitz & Morgenstern, JMPT 2000; 23:1-10.

  29. Are there benefits to naturally-occurring infections? (besides improving overall immune capability)

  30. Could Chicken Pox prevent brain tumors? • 134 glioma (the most common kind of brain tumor) patients were 60% less likely to have antibodies to varicella-zoster virus than a matched group of healthy individuals • A person who has had chickenpox may have an immune system that is primed to fight gliomas “before they become dangerous.” Source: Am J of Epidemiology 2001;154:161-165.

  31. Early childhood viral exposure due to having younger siblings and risk of Multiple Sclerosis • The more time a person had spent with a sibling under the age of 2 in the first six years of life, the lower the risk of MS later • Possible mechanism is the incidence of viral infection and subsequent protection against virus-associated MS Source: Ponsonby et al, JAMA , January 26, 2005

  32. The most significant implications to date of the “Hygiene Hypothesis”: • 9/2005: Researchers from Sweden and Finland report to the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery: “improved hygiene in early childhood might partially explain the greatest epidemic of the 20th century, coronary heart disease”

  33. Hygiene linked to heart disease: • Researchers “found a consistent linear trend between the number of childhood infections and the reduction in coronary risk” • Six viral infections (varicella, scarlet fever, measles, rubella, mononucleosis, mumps) reduced risk of CHD by 90%! (4- reduced 60%; 2- reduced 40%)

  34. The Emergence of Evolutionary Biology • The hypothesis that there is purpose in the body’s design, including its responses to environmental challenge • Symptoms such as fever, loss of appetite, fatigue, vomiting, and diarrhea are adaptive responses, and as such, enhance survival value

  35. Evolutionary Biology: • The body’s design is not flawed; it is perfectly designed to adapt to it’s environment • What is needed is a restoration of the “natural” environment the body is suited for • The speed of environmental change has exceeded the pace of evolution of the body

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