Not a Real Doctor Peter Miller (Chiropractor) pushes some scary stuff!

My wife and I were enjoying a leisurely morning, reading the morning paper and catching up on the week's activities when she said "There's an article in here that you have to read..." which, almost assuredly means "prepare your woo-woo detector for 'extreme'".  In this instance, she wasn't kidding.

In the Wednesday, March 10, 2010 edition of "Sarnia and Lambton County This Week", is an "advertisement/editorial" (advertorial) by Not a Real Dr. Peter Miller (he's a chiropractor) on "Study on Heart Rate Variability".  (His regular "advertorial" is called "On Health and Wellness" in case you want to look him up.)

The article is as follows (with my thoughts inserted - refer to the end of the article for links):

The Story of David...
I would like to tell you about a young man named David who suffered from severe headaches since the age of 9.  David was 14 years of age when he first came to see me.  He had been through a number of several test including MRIs, CTs, and blood test.  Everything turned up negative.  His mother was very concerned because David was falling behind in school; he missed about a total of 2 years of school over the last 5 years.  She was also concerned about how his personality was changing (He's 14 for god's sake (non-existent god, that is) - hello hormones, girls and high school.).
David use to play hockey and soccer prior to obtaining headaches.  His mother also explained how his birthing process was very difficult (14 years later, do you think the mother really remembered and thought about the birthing process being difficult? Or do you think the doctor suggested it in questioning? Reference to the birthing process is a definite sign of woo-woo when it comes to chiropractic. Many chiropractors (of the woo-woo kind) suggest that children should be brought to chiropractors as soon as possible (within days of birth!)).  What happened to David?  Why did David start to get headaches?
David had a condition in his neck where his first two bones beneath the skull were not aligned properly.  This most likely occurred due to fall, a hit or from his difficult birthing process.  After I did a complete evaluation it was determined that David's slight neck misalignment was causing a tremendous amount of pressure on the nervous system in that area (Fake Dr. Peter Miller is referring to an indemonstrable claim - chiropractors often call these "subluxations" - but studies have been done that show chiropractors can't even reliably detect them. The same patient examined by multiple chiropractors will receive a variety of different diagnoses. See Chirobase.org for more information on subluxations.).  This misalignment was only off by several millimetres but is [sic] was enough to cause a change in the never function (It is not physiologically possible for 'subluxations' or 'misalignments' to cause what Fake Dr. Miller is trying to suggest. There is no scientific evidence to support such claims.).  This change can be compared to like having a poor radio connection, where the connections are working but not enough to get a clear message across.
David was treated in my office for a period of time and was re-evaluated on several occasions.  David is now 20 years of age; he is in his second year of University and has not suffered from a single headache in 6 years (Wholly batshit. No headaches in 6 years? I call bullshit on this one but that'd probably be the smallest lie that Not a Real Dr. spews in this article. Oddly, I also had migraines and serious headaches growing up - for about 6 or 7 years of my life - until I was about 14 or 15. What did I do to get rid of them? I grew up. (And yes, I had a number of tests done) (I feel like I need to explain things like "self-limiting", "natural history of a disease", "causation/correlation fallacies" and much more.)).
Over the years, I have personally take care of hundreds of children with similar situations as David (That's scary. Why the heck are parents taking their kids to chiropractors? The science behind what chiropractors do slightly support benefits relating to musculoskeletal problems - and nothing more. Children, almost without exception, should not be seeing chiropractors for anything but that (if even that). See Canadian Pediatric Society for more.).  I have seen unbelievable changes happen to children who were once labelled as "sick".  I have seen children who once suffered from chronic episodes of colds, ear infections, headaches and tonsillitis year after year to it becoming nonexistent (This is pure bullshit. Chiropractors can not cure or prevent colds, ear infections or tonsillitis. Any claims to the contrary are bogus (Cheers to Simon Singh for using the word "bogus" and almost, nearly single-handedly, completely discrediting the British Chiropractic Association. See this, this and this.) Also see... Would Adults Be Healthier with Chiropractic Adjustments from Birth Onward?).
The question I must ask the parents, who checks your child's spine?  I am not talking about broken bones, cancers, or any type of pathology of the spine etc... I am talking about the alignment and its proper function (Fake Dr. Miller, you do not know what you're talking about.).  Just like a Dentist is trained to check for cavities, only a chiropractor is trained to detect spinal problems like David's, and this is the reason why it gets missed in so many people.
Unfortunately, spinal misalignments like David can go undetected for years and maybe even a lifetime for many.  Recently published on WebMD, you can read about how the same type of misalignment that David had is causing High Blood Pressure in adults (The study that Not A Real Dr. Peter Miller is referring to is a (very) SMALL study - 25 patients in each group (chiropractic and sham chiropractic - but isn't most chiropractic sham?). The study was published 3 years ago and there has been no replication of the study. Such promising capabilities for chiropractic would change the opinion of many if it were true but since the paper is hardly cited (1 time, woohoo!), hasn't been replicated (negative studies often don't get published) and was too small to be convincing, it is not likely the case. Science Based Medicine's Resident Chiropractor talks about this study and the potential for benefit.).  If problems like these are corrected, it can drastically improve a person's health and life forever.
Questions or Comments?
Not a Real Dr. Miller B.Kin B.Sc D.C is a local chiropractor that can be contacted at 519-542-9244
www.(not_a_real)drpetermiller.com

Links in this posting:

Subluxation: Chiropractic's Elusive Buzzword 
Canadian Pediatric Society - Chiropractic care for children: Controversies and issues
A Carnival of Bogus* Chiropractic
The End of Chiropractic
McTimoney Chiropractors told to take down their web sites
Would Adults Be Healthier with Chiropractic Adjustments from Birth Onward?
Science Based Medicine's Resident Chiropractor talks about this study and the potential for benefit.