Chiropractic

DACBR stands for Diplomate, American Chiropractic Board of Radiology. This denotes a doctor of chiropractic who also has a board-certified specialty in diagnostic imaging. A chiropractor who has DACBR status will have:

- 4 year undergraduate college/university degree

- 4 year doctorate in chiropractic

- 3 year postgraduate radiology residency

The chiropractic radiologist is thus a graduate doctor of chiropractic who has completed additional postgraduate specialty education. Many chiropractic colleges throughout the world offer formal, 3-year radiology residency programs for chiropractic radiologists. Entrance into such residencies require applicants to hold a doctor of chiropractic degree (D.C.), as well as successfully passing a pre-residency admission examination. The residency involves intense didactic education in all forms of diagnostic imaging. Each semester is usually devoted to imaging of one major system, and often many semesters are needed to cover an entire topic. The resident also participates in educational programs at various off site imaging facilities at teaching medical hospitals, private imaging facilities, medical grand rounds, and private tutorials.

Interestingly, a recent study revealed that chiropractic trained radiologists were equally as effective at reading radiographs as medical trained radiologists:

Reliability and Validity of Lumbosacral Spine Radiograph Reading by Chiropractors, Chiropractic Radiologists, and Medical Radiologists. Spine. 2002. Volume 27, Issue 17, pp 1926-1933

I need to know what type of tumor I have. I believe I have been misdiagnosed

I have all the symptoms of a sarcoma tumor but, don't really know.

I have been to a vascular surgeon and they told me that I have a hemangioma

tumor but was not born with a strawberry birthmark and do not have the

traditional symptoms of a hemangioma. I need help?

_____________________

ANSWER

Sarcoma is a general term for a malignant tumor of connective tissue. Soft tissue swelling is not 100% indicative of a sarcoma. The first thing I would want to know is whether or not you have pain in the area of soft tissue swelling during the night that keeps you awake. If there is no pain in the area, then you are getting excited about nothing, it is likely benign as the surgeon suggested. Another indication of something that may be malignant is whether or not it is changing. Have you noticed the mass getting bigger? or new masses showing up? If you do have pain even when you are resting, or if the mass is changing (growing or multiplying) then you go to the next step, have imaging done on the area. A malignant tumor will have very characteristic signs that a doctor will be able to identify.

Besides what I have mentioned, there is not much I can tell you based on the limited information you have provided. If imaging has been done and the surgeon has said it is benign, or if there is no pain, then dont stress out.

Note: If you have pain in the area, or if you are concerned that you have been misdiagnosed, then there is nothing wrong with going to another doctor to get a second opinion. In fact, it may be a good idea to ease you mind, as stress is very unhealthy. If a second opinion can reduce your stress than that would definitely be my suggestion.

Definition of chiropractic according to the World Federation of Chiropractic:

A health profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, and the effects of these disorders on the function of the nervous system and general health. There is an emphasis on manual treatments including spinal adjustment and other joint and soft-tissue manipulation.

More extensive Summary:

Doctors of Chiropractic are experts in the field of non-surgical spinal health care. In addition, they are doctors who specialize in the function of the joints and nervous system. Chiropractors treat most neuromuskuloskeletal conditions. Common conditions that chiropractors treat are back pain, neck pain, headache, leg/arm pain, peripheral joint problems (eg: impingments, strains, sprains), peripheral neuropothies (eg: carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome), vertigo/dizziness, whiplash, etc. Chiropractors are also well trained in nutrition and exercise, and as such can offer a range of advice/services that may relate to these.

To treat the neuromusculoskeletal conditions, chiropractors use spinal manipulation, physiotherapeutic modalities (cold laser, ultrasound, shockwave, IFC, TENS), deep tissue massage (ART-like), exercise (for rehabilitation and prevention), dietary advice, lifestyle advice, etc.

Their primary treatment, and what they are best known for, spinal manipulation, is used to induce motion into restricted joints, calm spastic musculature, induce neural reflexes that can result in global short-term pain relief, etc.

Chiropractors differentiate themselves from physiotherapists by their ability to diagnose (they are doctors), use imaging (x-ray), incorporate dietary advice, their expertise in manipulation, etc. Chiropractors differentiate themselves from medical doctors by their hands-on approach, their use of exercise and dietary advice and their expertise in the neuromuskuloskeletal system. Moreover, a major distinguishing factor between medical doctors and doctors of chiropractic is that drugs are a first choice form of treatment for all conditions by medical doctors, whereas doctors of chiropractic believe drugs should be used only when manual therapy or self care (exercise) has not helped, or when the condition is not amenable to manual therapy (eg: cancer, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, etc).

A good chiropractor will cooperate with a patients medical doctors to ensure their patients get the best care for their specific condition. For example, consider a patient that needs medication (cancer patient) and who also has back pain. The cooperation between a medical doctor and chiropractor can reduce the total number of drugs the patients must take by treating the back pain manually rather than with medication. This way, the dugs are used to treat cancer only, and there are less drugs in total in the patients body...less risk of overdose, less risk of drug interactions, less side effects from drugs, but instead a patient receiving the best care possible from 2 cooperating health care professions!!