Acupuncture For Sciatica & Adolescent Cannabis Use And Academic Achievement

The Chiropractic Forward Podcast: Evidence-based Chiropractic Advocacy

CF 350: Acupuncture For Sciatica & Adolescent Cannabis Use And Academic Achievement Today we’re going to talk about Acupuncture For Sciatica & Adolescent Cannabis Use And Academic Achievement But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music

Purchase Dr. Williams’s book, a perfect educational tool and chiropractic research reference for the daily practitioner, from the Amazon store TODAY!

OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are giving evidence-based chiropractic a little personality and making it profitable. We’re not the stuffy, elitist, pretentious kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. So grab you a bushel. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast. I’m so glad you’re spending your time with us learning together. Chiropractors – I’m hiring at my personal clinic. I need talent, ambition, smarts, personality, and easy to get along with associates. If this is you and Amarillo, TX is your speed, send me an email at [e-mail] If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.

• Go to Amazon and check our my book called The Remarkable Truth About Chiropractic: A Unique Journey Into The Research. It’s excellent resource for you and is categorized into sections so the information is easy to find and written in a way that is easy to understand for everyone. It’s on Amazon. That’s the Remarkable Truth About Chiropractic by Jeff Williams.
• Like our Chiropractic Forward Facebook page,
• Join our private Chiropractic Forward Facebook group, and then
• Review our podcast on wherever you listen to it
• Last thing real quick, we also have an evidence-based brochure and poster store at chiropracticforward.com

You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #350 Now if you missed last week’s episode, we talked about Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation & SMT Adverse Events. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class.

On the personal end of things….. I missed last week annd I’m sorry about that. I was heading down to San Antonio for the MCM Mastermind weekend. As a result of taking two days off last week, everyone was jammed into just a few days and there just wasn’t enough time to get last week’s episode handled. So, my apologies. The weekend was great with my Mastermind family. It was the last one of the year. It was the last one of the year which means we have a few leaving and we have a few coming in to take their place. Which is exciting. For example, we have a large integrated clinic owner that is transitioning out of the group this year but have another bigger integrated clinic coming into the group. We have a great sports chiro going out but we have the team chiro for Clemson coming in. So we’re excited. And the ones leaving, we’re still besties. We’re not magically losing each others’ phone numbers just because they’re leaving the group. These are connections that will last a lifetime. Inside or outside of the group. I know the East Mastermind is full but the West Mastermind is not full and has plenty of available spots. If you’re interested, email Dr. Kevin Christie at [e-mail] and he’ll get you all the info set. I’m still playing catchup from being gone last week so I’m going to keep it short this week and go ahead and hop into the episode.

Item #1 Our first one this week is called, “Acupuncture vs Sham Acupuncture for Chronic Sciatica From Herniated Disk A Randomized Clinical Trial” by Jian Feng Tu, et al and published in JAMA Internal Medicine on October 14, 2024. And holy face of the sun, it’s a hot one today! Remember, the citations can be found at chiropracticforward.com under this episode.

Tu J, Shi G, Yan S, et al. Acupuncture vs Sham Acupuncture for Chronic Sciatica From Herniated Disk: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. Published online October 14, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.5463

Why They Did It Sciatica is commonly caused by herniated lumbar disc and contributes to severe pain and prolonged disability. Although acupuncture is widely used by patients with chronic sciatica, the evidence of its efficacy is scarce. The wanted to investigate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture in patients with chronic sciatica from herniated disk.

How They Did It This was a multicenter 2-arm randomized clinical trial conducted in 6 tertiary-level hospitals in China of patients with chronic sciatica from herniated disk.

Interventions Participants were randomly assigned to receive 10 sessions of acupuncture (n = 110) or sham acupuncture (n = 110) over 4 weeks. Participants, outcome assessors, and statisticians were blinded.

Main Outcomes and Measures The 2 coprimary outcomes were changes in visual analog scale (VAS) for leg pain and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) from baseline to week 4. Secondary outcomes were adverse events.

What They Found A total of 216 patients were included in the analyses. The VAS for leg pain decreased 30.8 mm in the acupuncture group and 14.9 mm in the sham acupuncture group at week 4 The ODI decreased 13.0 points in the acupuncture group and 4.9 points in the sham acupuncture group at week 4 For both VAS and ODI, the between-group difference became apparent starting in week 2 and persisted through week 52 No serious adverse events occurred.

Wrap It Up This randomized clinical trial found that in patients with chronic sciatica from herniated disk, acupuncture resulted in less pain and better function compared with sham acupuncture at week 4, and these benefits persisted through week 52. Acupuncture should be considered as a potential treatment option for patients with chronic sciatica from a herniated disk. Item #2 Our last one this week is called, “Cannabis Use During Adolescence and Young Adulthood and Academic Achievement A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” by Chan et al and published in JAMA Pediatrics on October 7, 2024. Es muy en fuego, mi amigos!

Chan O, Daudi A, Ji D, et al. Cannabis Use During Adolescence and Young Adulthood and Academic Achievement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Pediatr. Published online October 07, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.3674

Before we hop in here, you see me talk about cannabis research when it pops up. Why would I do that? Well, I have lots of kids and parents come in my office every month smelling like the devil’s lettuce. I see more and more politicians acting like legalization for recreation is the way to go and I don’t agree. And research is clear as to why none of us as healthcare providers should agree.

The common smoker’s retort is that it’s better than alcohol and less dangerous. On most accounts, you’re not wrong. But, we tried to outlaw Alcohol back in the early 1900’s and guess what? It didn’t work out so well. It was called Prohibition. Crack open that history book and take a stroll or watch some documentaries. So, if we already have that harmful product legally in circulation, why in the HELL would we ever voluntarily legalize another harmful substance? Because some like living in an altered state at all hours of the day?

Might as well make it normalized. Because we want yet another way to make our populations tired and unmotivated? Yay!!! Sign the bill! I realize this makes me uncool in 2024 but I’m not on the recreational legalization train and never will be. I think it’s one of the dumbest things these 3 or so generations have every come up with. Now, medicinal, properly prescribed use? All day every day, folks. We use morphine medically when appropriate. Why wouldn’t we use cannabis in the same way? But recreational….what are you smoking?

Why They Did It Cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood may affect academic achievement; however, the magnitude of association remains unclear. Objective To conduct a systematic review evaluating the association between cannabis use and academic performance.

How They Did It Data Sources CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to November 10, 2023. Study Selection Observational studies examining the association of cannabis use with academic outcomes were selected. The literature search identified 17 622 unique citations. Main Outcomes and Measures School grades, school dropout, school absenteeism, grade retention, high school completion, university enrollment, postsecondary degree attainment, and unemployment.

What They Found Sixty-three studies including 438,329 individuals proved eligible for analysis. Moderate-certainty evidence showed cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood was probably associated with lower school grades; less likelihood of high school completion, university enrollment, and postsecondary degree attainment; and increased school dropout rate and school absenteeism. Absolute risk effects ranged from 7% to 14%. Low-certainty evidence suggested that cannabis use may be associated with increased unemployment, with an absolute risk increase of 9%. Subgroup analyses with moderate credibility showed worse academic outcomes for frequent cannabis users and for students who began cannabis use earlier.

Wrap It Up Cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood was probably associated with increases in school absenteeism and dropout; reduced likelihood of obtaining high academic grades, graduating high school, enrolling in university, and postsecondary degree attainment; and perhaps increased unemployment. Just a tip from your completely uncool Uncle Jeffro Alright, that’s it. Keep on keepin’ on. Keep changing our profession from your corner of the world. The world needs evidence-based, patient-centered practitioners driving the bus. The profession needs us in the ACA and involved in leadership of state associations. So quit griping about the profession if you’re doing nothing to make it better. Get active, get involved, and make it happen. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.

Store Remember the evidence-informed brochures and posters at chiropracticforward.com.

Purchase Dr. Williams’s book, a perfect educational tool and chiropractic research reference for the daily practitioner, from the Amazon store TODAY!

The Message I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventatively after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!

Key Point: At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!

Contact Send us an email at dr dot williams at chiropracticforward.com and let us know what you think of our show and tell us your suggestions for future episodes. Feedback and constructive criticism is a blessing and so are subscribes and excellent reviews on podcast platforms. We know how this works by now. If you value something, you have to share it, interact with it, review it, talk about it from time to time, and actively hit a few buttons to support it here and there when asked. It really does make a big difference.

Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.

Website http://www.chiropracticforward.com

Social Media Links https://www.facebook.com/chiropracticforward/

Chiropractic Forward Podcast Facebook GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1938461399501889/

Twitter https://twitter.com/Chiro_Forward

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtc-IrhlK19hWlhaOGld76Q

iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/chiropractic-forward-podcast-chiropractors-practicing/id1331554445?mt=2

Player FM Link https://player.fm/series/2291021

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-chiropractic-forward-podcast-chiropractors-practicing-through

TuneIn https://tunein.com/podcasts/Health–Wellness-Podcasts/The-Chiropractic-Forward-Podcast-Chiropractors-Pr-p1089415/

About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (FIANM) and Board Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Professionals (DABFP) – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger

The post Acupuncture For Sciatica & Adolescent Cannabis Use And Academic Achievement appeared first on Chiropractic Forward.