Meghan Dhond

11 AP
IR 2
10/16/18
Turn in #7
Compiled Annotations

Jones, Callie. "Chronic Pain Sufferer Shares Story." ​Journal Advocate​, 13 Sept.
2018, www.journal-advocate.com/sterling-local_news/ci_32136721/
chronic-pain-sufferer-shares-story.
This article talks about a personal story about a girl who has chronic occipital neuralgia

and is encouraging others to do the various methods of treatment mentioned. Many

patients with this condition were using opioid drugs as a source for pain relief. Recently,

the CDC placed a ruling that all opioid drugs must be tapered. This left many people

using the drug for pain relief in a bad position. Brae Wilson, who’s story is the basis of

the article, was one of the people who had to give up her opioid drug which she used for

pain relief leaving her with limited options. She claims that she is being denied her

human rights to care and is participating in a rally in retaliation of this rule.

Stark, Lisa. "Doctors Use Surgery to Relieve Lingering Concussion Pain." ​ABC

​News,​ 3 May 2013, abcnews.go.com/Health/

doctors-surgery-relieve-lingering-concussion-pain/story?id=19095339.

This article is about a girl who has a severe concussion who kept having lingering

headaches and could not find a cure. She was recommended for nerve decompression

surgery after finding out she was diagnosed with occipital neuralgia. After getting the

surgery her headaches were immediately gone. The surgery was to open up room for her

nerves to swell down.

Peled, Ziv. "Whiplash and Occipital Neuralgia: What‘s the CONNECTION?" ​Peled Migraine Surgery​, 26

Dec. 2014, peledmigrainesurgery.com/blog/

entry/whiplash-and-occipital-neuralgia-what-s-the-connection-1.html.

This article mainly focuses on the correlation between a whiplash injury and occipital neuralgia.

The relationship has to do with the fact that a whiplash injury is when the head is jerked back

and forth causing the nerves in the neck to tighten up. This can cause chronic headaches and

neck pain left untreated. The article also talks about how occipital neuralgia is underdiagnosed

and that some patients are left untreated to the point where the pain is prolonged. MRI machines

aren’t able to detect these type of nerves since the nerves are not being pinched and they are only

being strained and tightened.

Hess, Klaus. "Whiplash and Concussion: Similar Acute Changes in Middle-Latency

SEPs." ​Cambridge,​ 2 Dec. 2014, www.cambridge.org/core/journals/
canadian-journal-of-neurological-sciences/article/
whiplash-and-concussion-similar-acute-changes-in-middlelatency-seps/
D6DF054A086EF09DE320C0D227521C55.
This article briefly talks about an experimentation that focuses primarily on the similarities of

concussions and whiplash injuries. The experiment was to test and see if the symptoms degrade

after three months if it was a concussion versus if it were a whiplash injury. They found that

those who had a concussion were less likely to have had a prolonging injury. However they also

found that those with a whiplash injury could have all the serious head trauma that come with a

concussion.

Neurology Advisor.​ 27 Sept. 2018, www.neurologyadvisor.com/

headache-migraine-advisor/
greater-occipital-nerve-block-bupivacaine-acute-migraine-metoclopramide/article/
800863/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2018.
 This article focuses on a nerve block that can help with acute migraines that are still

occurring after various treatment options. A test was done to see if a GONB was effective in

emergency patients. The results showed that 31% of the people that were sampled mentioned

how beneficial the nerve block actually was. The test was conducted over a 31 month period in

which the people who had been in car accidents had been injected with a drug that blocked the

nerves freeing up the pain for some people. The first round was noted to not be beneficial to

most patients that had taken the drug but after the second round, it had been more effective.

​Clinical Pain Advisor.​ 12 Dec. 2017, www.clinicalpainadvisor.com/

migraine-headache/

occipital-nerve-blocks-effective-for-chronic-headache-in-children/article/

718856/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2018.

This article is about children with occipital neuralgia who are forced to alter their life due

there being no known cure for occipital neuralgia. Nerve blocks are crucial for this type of injury

as it can heal a cluster of headaches. These nerve blocks are now being used on children as a way

to relieve them from the chronic and constant migraines that they get due to the occipital nerve

being inflamed or damaged. These headaches normally come after concussion or whiplash

injuries.

"What Chiropractic Patients Want To Know About Occipital Neuralgia." ​Family

​Chiropractor​, 2 Feb. 2018, www.valparaisochiropractor.com/
what-chiropractic-patients-want-to-know-about-occipital-neuralgia/.
Accessed 8 Oct. 2018.

This article talks about another treatment method for occipital neuralgia which is

chiropractic care. It was once considered as an alternative care for occipital neuralgia but now it
more commonly used instead of surgery. The process of curing occipital neuralgia is a lengthy

process in which the nerve must be detached from the muscle or tissue in order to provide relief

and avoid the invasiveness of surgery. Surgery does the same thing by going in and physically

cutting out the tissue. This makes the process faster but can lead to a longer recovery time and

with every surgery there are multiple risks and side effects. Going a chiropractic route helps open

up the space allowing the nerves to have room to decrease in inflammation. This process is much

more time consuming but is less invasive and provides the same results. The surgical procedure

requires a 3 month rehab period which comes after the surgery.

Hofheinz, Elizabeth. "INFINITY OCCIPITOCERVICAL-UPPER THORACIC SYSTEM LAUNCHED."

​RY Ortho​, 8 Oct. 2018, ryortho.com/breaking/
infinity-occipitocervical-upper-thoracic-system-launched/. Accessed 9 Oct.
2018.

This article is about a new method to simplify post-cervical spine surgery. Surgery

applies a lot of pressure on the body and with this method, it can bring efficiency to the surgery

and move the process along faster. Since it is a surgery near or on the spinal cord, every step

must be precise as a patient’s life is affected by this. It is a system placed in order to provide a

simpler and safer way to have spinal cord surgery.

Mammis, Antonios. "Occipital Nerve Simulation." ​E Medicine​, 11 Oct. 2018,

emedicine.medscape.com/article/2094731-overview. Accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

This article talked about another method of treating occipital neuralgia through the use of

nerve stimulators. The process that it goes through starts out with placing electrodes onto

different places on the skin to better contract the muscles and release the joints. They also place

electrode implants inside the skin or tissue. This method was very successful and dates back to
1933. It was one of the only things that cured occipital neuralgia at the time. The impulse is

placed near the C2 section of the spinal cord also known as your cervical spine. The stimulation

also decreases pressure around the inflamed nerves and relaxing joints that have been tensed up

which could be the cause of occipital neuralgia.

"Living With Occpital Neuralgia." Harvard Health, 20 June 2016,

www.health.harvard.edu/blog/

living-with-chronic-headache-a-personal-migraine-story-201103051601.

Accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

This article is about a person who has to deal with occipital neuralgia for the rest of his life. The

effects that this condition can have is truly shocking as one small injury can turn into a lifelong

battle of migraines and neck pain. The article is very helpful as it gives a perspective of someone

who has chronic symptoms and has to deal with the consequences of this issue.

KeyWords: Alternative treatment; natural remedies

Citation: ​"Alternative Therapies for PN." ​Foundation for PN,​ 6 May 2014,
www.foundationforpn.org/living-well/integrative-therapies/. Accessed 23
Oct. 2018.

The article focuses on alternative ways to therapeutically heal nerve related injuries such

as neuralgia and neuritis. The article opens up by providing a definition of alternative therapy in

general and how it can sometimes be better than surgically or medically aiding the pain. There

are four different types of medicine being practiced today. The four types are conventional,

complementary, alternative, and integrative. Conventional is standardized medicine used by

practitioners. Complementary is through the use of conventional medicine. It is closely related to

alternative treatment. Alternative treatment is used in place of conventional medicine. Integrative

is essentially just the same thing as conventional treatment. The article then dives into natural

remedies that can help but are not proven to be sure cures of nerve pain. One of the main ones is

Manipulative and Body-based practices which are manipulating bones and joints so that they

relieve tension such as chiropractic care.

This article is very useful for my topic as my topic is narrowed down to one specific idea.

My topic is are alternative therapies as effective as medicine for serious conditions such as

neuritis. This article shows the different alternative medicines that are currently being used to

control the pain but my topic is to see can it fully cure it the same way medicine does.

Key Words: avoiding disabilities; deadly diseases

Citation: ​Sullivan, Thomas. "Modern Medicine Vs. Alternative Medicine: Different Levels of
Evidence." ​Policy and Medicine​, 6 May 2018, www.policymed.com/2011/08/
modern-medicine-vs-alternative-medicine-different-levels-of-evidence.html.
Accessed 30 Oct. 2018.

This article talks about how surgical and medical enhancements can cost a lot more than

expected. This is why the use of alternative medicine is used. Alternative medicines are typically

not prescribed by regular doctors as doctors like to go the more traditional route with medication.

According to some doctors, alternative medicines are dangerous as the results can sometimes be

unknown and can cause different side effects among people. Around $3.5 billion is spent on just

alternative medicines alone. Elizabeth Blackburn, a biologist at the University of San Fransico,

says that modern medicine is solely meant for fighting infectious diseases but alternative

medicines have proven not to do that. She also says that doctors will have to spend more time on

patients which means frequent visits that could be costly. Alternative medicine practices take

away from the amazing medical breakthroughs that have advanced with medicine.
 This article is useful for my topic because it serves as a counterclaim to my topic. It

shows the faults with alternative medicine and how it can be essentially more expensive than

regular treatment. After reading this article, my position still stands on which side I would take. I

still believe that alternative medicine in certain cases can do treatment much better than regular

medicine can. However, this articles has opened up many doors as to what could possibly go

wrong when using alternative medicines.

Citation: ​Eisenberg, David M. "Trends in Alternative Medicine Use in the United States."
​Jama Network,​ 11 Nov. 2005, jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/
188148. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.

This article mentions the study being done on the amount of alternative medicine used

every year. It was a national survey that was being done on the effectiveness of alternative

medicine in the United States. According to the survey, a 20% increase in usage of alternative

medicine has been significantly impacting the medical world today. The survey was a tool to see

the trends in alternative medicine in common households. There was a 50% increase in the

amount visits to an alternative medicine practitioner as compared to the early 2000’s. Australia

was shown to have the biggest use of alternative medicine within its population at around 46%.

However, the conductors of the study had interviewed different households to ask about the

insurance coverage of alternative therapies that they used. Unfortunately, most households said

that insurance will not cover the treatment of alternative medicine as it is a new and upcoming

trend that has not been approved by the FDA and not much research has been conducted on it.

The rates of use of alternative medicine throughout the years ranges from 32% to 50% which is a

drastic increase due to the more advanced research being done. Alternative medicine was found

to be more adjusted towards adults and is mainly focused for external injuries.
Citation: Hoskins, Wayne. "Effect of Chiropractic Intervention." BMC, 8 Apr. 2010,
bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2474-11-64.
Accessed 27 Nov. 2018.

This article primarily focuses on the use of chiropractic therapy in Austrailia to prevent

injuries to the back and lower limb. It started with researchers conducting a trial on Austrailian

football players. In the Austrailian football League or, AFL, lower limb injuries occur 35% per

season. Although that is not nearly as much, the lower limb injuries already occurring in players

are becoming more and more frequent. The study was conducted to use chiropractic therapy

intervention to stop the number of injuries produced. It only consisted of players who have

already had knee or hamstring injuries in the past. Before the study, it was taken into account

that players would normally miss 5 games from a small hamstring injury. After the chiropractic

intervention was placed, players were returning to the game at a much faster pace and were

completely healed by the time they went back. The intervention also decreased the number of

future injuries occurring by 42%. However, this intervention did not work as well with

non-contact knee pain or hamstring injuries as hamstring injuries primarily deal with pulled

muscles, not tense muscles.

Bronfort, Gert. "Chiropractic: In Depth." ​NICCH,​ nccih.nih.gov/health/

chiropractic/introduction.htm#hed9. Accessed 21 Jan. 2019.

This article focuses on the actual statistics of chiropractic therapy. Many people fear chiropractic

therapy and the article also makes sure to clear up any misconceptions by people. It mentions the

origin of chiropractic therapy as well as the skepticism behind it. The article mentions how the

use of chiropractic care is only increasing and is more common among adults. According to the

article, many patients feel little to no complications with spinal manipulation. Chiropractic
therapy is mainly focused on the cervical/lower back area but has been used for carpal tunnel

syndrome. The education required for a chiropractor consists of a doctorate in chiropractic

therapy as well as a licensed certificate.

Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research. "Chiropractic: A Profession at the

Crossroads of Mainstream and Alternative Medicine." ​Pub Med,​ 5 Feb. 2002,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11827498. Accessed 22 Jan. 2019.

This article’s main focus is to talk about the up and coming research for chiropractic care. They

say that chiropractic therapy is ​improving its educational and licensing systems and substantially

increasing its market share in the past two decades. This effort has helped bring spinal

manipulation out of the investigational category to become one of the most studied forms of

conservative treatment for spinal pain. Chiropractic theory is still controversial, but recent

expansion in federal support of chiropractic research bodes well for further scientific

development. Medical fields have not fully accepted the fact that the chiropractor is an actual

doctor and only views them as apart of the complementary medicine field.

Starr, Joel. "Why Don't MDs Refer to Chiropractors?" ​American Chiropractor,​ 6

Apr. 2011, theamericanchiropractor.com/

why-dont-mds-refer-to-chiropractors/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2019.

The revolving truth around whether or not doctors have a grudge against chiropractic therapy is

the main focus of this article. The article says that the main reason why doctors do not support

chiropractic therapy is due to the alarming fact that chiropractors take business away from

doctors which is astonishing to hear doctors say that. They also feel that chiropractors are not

actual doctors in the sense that they don’t go through medical school. However, chiropractors

must go through